voltage

[ag1057]

Took my boat out with my buddy for the first time today.have a bayliner 19 ft.whenever i hit a wave in the water the volt guage needle jumped.i had to hook battery up was sitting for a month.if i hooked cables upside down could this have been the problem?

 

[5150abf]

Re: voltage

Sounds like a loose conection to me, can't think of anything else that would make the meter jump.

 

[F_R]

Re: voltage

If you reversed the battery cables, you have a lot more trouble than the volt gage to worry about.

 

[bhammer]

Re: voltage

If you reversed the battery cables, you have a lot more trouble than the volt gage to worry about.

If that is the case, I dont think he would have gotten it started. I think he said the cabels upside down which would cause an issue unless they are not tight.

How much did it move? Anything else turn off and then back on?

Make sure all your connections are tight around the battery and any fuses are pulled out and placed back in and tight. Make sure the wires into the voltage gauge are tight as well.

 

[Boatist]

Re: voltage

Hope you did not blow your alternator when the battery disconnected.


Bodega Bay weather 4-30-2008
Wind NW 320 degrees at 31.1 kts with gust to 36.9 kts
Seas NW 11.2 foot at 6.1 sec Very steep

 

[bhammer]

Re: voltage

Now that is a very good posibility if it truely came disconnected for any lenght of time. I am under the impression that the needle just moved a round a bit, which I don't think would impact the alternator.

 

[ag1057]

Re: voltage

I had them unhook battery when i picked the boat up.they only had the negative side unhooked.when i hooked up negative side it semmed tight.when i went out hit some rough water it seemed the needle jumped a little on the voltage meter the gas needle moved also.but only when i hit some major bumps.could the alt belt be loose?or maybe just a loose wire?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: voltage

maybe the impact just caused the needle to jump.

 

[tmitchell5188]

Re: voltage

If you removed the cable with the engine running, you could of put a huge power surge through your boat and electronics. I have outboards on my boat, and the regulators went bad, and my volt meter would go up. My bow light would burn out all of the time. My mercs had 2 regulators each, and I ended up having to replace all 4 last year.

The new ones from merc had an additional ground wire on them, so I suspect that they had a problem with losing grounds. Of course, all of the parts were made in China!

Check all of your grounds/

 

[Boatist]

Re: voltage

If the boat has a alternator and the battery becomes disconnected for even a fraction of a second then with no load the voltage will go up so that it blows the rectifier or voltage regulator. If you have enough load on other than the battery then it may survive. Can also blow all the light bulbs and electronics so make sure all the battery connections are clean and tight.

Bodega Bay Weather on May 2 08 Improving Launch but watch the weather.
Winds NW 310 degrees true at 25.3 knots with gust to 29.2 knots
Seas 6.2 feet with swells every 16 sec and chop every 4.6 sec Sea Temp 49.1 degrees.
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=46013