OK, here's a dumb question: when I bought my boat, the dealer installed a used '88 9.9 high-thrust Yamaha 4S, electric start as a kicker on my boat. Near as I can figure out, he hooked it up directly to the battery switch. Works great, thank you, and starts everytime. Of course, when I'm running it, I turn off the ignition on the main engine (200 Johnson). When the kicker is running, I've turned the ignition key to "on" and noticed the amp gauge shows 14+, so the kicker must have an alternator working. <br />My question is this: is the Yamaha kicker also charging my battery, and if so, what's the output? I don't have a manual, so am not sure if my batteries are being drained while the kicker is running alone.