Need help

[Nelsonr]

2007 Merc 60 4 stroke. Ran the starting battery down. Used the trolling motor battery to get off the lake. Tilt worked until I recharged and replaced the starting battery. Now the gas gauge shows way over full and jumps a little when the key is off and I bump the tilt switch. The ignition doesn't even beep, and the tilt relays hum, but the tilt doesn't work. The battery shows fully charged and there's 12.86 volts on both sides of the 5 amp Smartcraft data bus circuit, and 20 amp main relay/accessories circuits, but no voltage at either the 20 amp fuel pump/ile air control/fuel injector, or 25 amp ignition coil circuit fuses. The only thing I've not tried yet is hooking up the trolling motor battery again.
Thanks for any help.

 

[Nelsonr]

Re: Need help

There's an old saying about finding things in the last place you look. Swapped in the t/m battery and everything works just fine. The other battery tests 12.86 volts, shows fully charged on the charger, and doesn't have enough power to even bump the voltmeter. Interstate battery bought in June 2011. Go figure. Thanks and sorry to bother. Maybe somebody can benefit from this experience.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: Need help

I have in my tool collection: A load tester and a cell tester.Along with spark testers and a compression guage.
All tools that you might find usefull when you have a boat.
Batteries will show voltage but fail under a load test.
Thanks for the update,most get it fixed and just go away!!!


Harbor Freight $25 load tester.

 

[Nelsonr]

Re: Need help

Thanks. I've looked at the HF load tester. Been boating 50 years, never saw a battery behave like that. Like I said, didn't want to believe it was the battery. Besides, I'd already put the T/M battery back in a painful place and didn't want to drag it out of there again. Think maybe it was bad from the start (June 2011). Fishing Lake Michigan last summer, kept getting low voltage warnings on the depth finder and inaccurate readings on the tach. Boat was on warrantee. Dealer said the volt meter was causing problems. Battery always appeared to charge fully and I touched it up with slow charge whenever we didn't use the boat for a few weeks. Probably a sulphating issue. Maybe too many charge/discharge cycles. Maybe just a poor unit. Anyway knowing how a load-challenged battery acts is just another trick in the old book. Thanks again JJ05.
Bob