Thing that make you go...Hmmm

[mpdive]

Dewinterized and put the new ladder on my 2003 180lx. Had the battery on a tender which showed fully charged. Installed the battery and nothing. No click, nothing. All connections are tight. Anyhow, I jump it off the wifes car get it running to make sure everything is ok and she runs fine. Shut it off and try to restart and nothing. Ok. Bad battery I'm thinking. My wife already parked the car when I realized I need to put the trim back up. I hit the switch and trim goes up fine. Plenty of power. Turn the blowers on and they are blowing hard and fine. Turn the key to start and the starter clicks and the blower goes off. Wait 30 seconds blower comes back on. Try to start and same thing. Click. Blower goes off and then 30 seconds later comes back on. I'm thinking the overload is tripping but dont know why. Also with a jump it started fine. Half of me says bad cell in the battery while the other half wants to know why the overload is tripping. Cant see why I would trip an overload. I have two red positive cables and two neg cables. There is also a brown wire with an inline rubber molded fuse holder which I dont remember where it came off of when I removed the battery in the fall. Any ideas?

 

[Don S]

Re: Thing that make you go...Hmmm

Bad connection somewhere. Could even be a faulty battery cable, loose corroded ends at the crimp?

 

[mpdive]

Re: Thing that make you go...Hmmm

Thats what I'm leaning towards to Don. Cant understand throwing the overload unless I'm spiking. By the way.....How the heck ya been?

Haven't been on since the new pickup truck was stolen. Got that all resolved though. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Grandad]

Re: Thing that make you go...Hmmm

Turn the key to start and the starter clicks and the blower goes off. Wait 30 seconds blower comes back on. Try to start and same thing. Click. Blower goes off and then 30 seconds later comes back on. I'm thinking the overload is tripping but dont know why. Any ideas?

The blower turning off when the starter clicks tells me that the voltage suddenly dropped when your starter motor drew more current than the system could supply. You stated the connections are tight and I assume they are clean. I say your battery is shot. The 30 second delay for the blower restart could be the normal recovery time of residual voltage in a battery that's just given its all to the starter. Although the voltage does recover gradually, there is a tipping point in the rise at which point there is enough voltage to overcome friction in your blower and get it "suddenly" spinning. - Grandad

 

[Pete104]

Re: Thing that make you go...Hmmm

Well, if you have 1 left over, they aren't all hooked up & tight, are they? There is no "overload" built into the wiring in a boat! Let alone a delay for a blower!:facepalm:

By the way, your battery is probably fine!

 

[mpdive]

Re: Thing that make you go...Hmmm

Well, if you have 1 left over, they aren't all hooked up & tight, are they? There is no "overload" built into the wiring in a boat! Let alone a delay for a blower!:facepalm:

By the way, your battery is probably fine!

The leftover is the automatic bilge pump. Just remembered. The connections are clean. There was a lot of protective grease left on the posts though. It is the battery corrosive protection grease. If it is not dielectric, do you think it would cause a bad connection?

 

[mpdive]

Re: Thing that make you go...Hmmm

The blower turning off when the starter clicks tells me that the voltage suddenly dropped when your starter motor drew more current than the system could supply. You stated the connections are tight and I assume they are clean. I say your battery is shot. The 30 second delay for the blower restart could be the normal recovery time of residual voltage in a battery that's just given its all to the starter. Although the voltage does recover gradually, there is a tipping point in the rise at which point there is enough voltage to overcome friction in your blower and get it "suddenly" spinning. - Grandad

Thanks for the reply Grandad. I am going to reclean and double check connections first before doing anything. It popped right over with a jump so I was leaning towards a bad cell. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I will update progress.

 

[Pete104]

Re: Thing that make you go...Hmmm

Absolutely! All of the connections must be "shiny" clean & tight. Then put your "salve" wherever you want! When I say tight, I mean the wrech on the HEX nut, no wing nuts!

 

[mpdive]

Re: Thing that make you go...Hmmm

Absolutely! All of the connections must be "shiny" clean & tight. Then put your "salve" wherever you want! When I say tight, I mean the wrech on the HEX nut, no wing nuts!

Thanks Pete. I will redo and let you know. This boat gets preventative maintenance and I try to keep everything in top notch condition.
Thanks again for the response.