witenite0560
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2008
- Messages
- 216
I have a 68 Crestliner Del Rio with a 1970 115hp Evinrude. Went up in the mountains to go fishing and when I put the boat in, no start. Hmmmm? Thought I must have left something on and drained the battery. So, I used my little emergency jumpstart battery and she fired right up. Drove around the lake a bit, probably 30 - 45 minutes, figured that would give it a fair charge. Made sure everything was off and went to bed. Next morning, no start and my little jumpstarter didn't have enough left in it either. Thought that I hadn't run it around and let it charge enough the evening before. Since I'd been told that jumping them is not a good idea and didn't want to press my luck, I pulled the battery, took it to my pickup and hooked jumper cables to it and charged it for 30 - 40 min. Worked great, until late that afternoon! I was trolling at idle against the wind and then shutting the motor off and drifting the other direction with the wind. After a drift I went to start the motor and no go!! I'd been using the CD player and depth finder, but didn't think they'd draw too much. Fortunately, I was only about 150 - 200 yds from the ramp, but had a pretty strong breeze broadside that wanted to blow me out into the lake. So, I pointed the bow at the ramp, set the motor/rudder slightly to starboard, broke out the canoe paddle and started paddling like mad!! I had anchored as soon as I realized I was in trouble and could have waited for some fellas who were trolling about 1/2 mile behind me to come by and ask for a tow. But, looked like we were going to get a thunderstorm and I figured if I couldn't make any headway I'd throw the anchor back out and wait. I was pretty beat, but I only missed my mark by a couple of yards. So, I pulled the battery again and charged it with the pickup, again. Put it back in and it started great. But, not wanting to paddle anymore, I loaded her up.
Before I did though, I got out my multimeter and checked a few things and I'm puzzled. Ok, with the key off, the battery showed 12.8v. With the engine running I got nothing on the volt meter. Shouldn't I at least get battery voltage, even if the alternator isn't working? If the alternator is working won't I get whatever the alternator output voltage is?
So, I got home and into my book. Checked the rectifier and sure enough, it appeared that one diode was bad. Checked the yellow and yellow/gray wires from the alternator and they show no shorts and just slightly higher than spec for resistance (book says .75 +/_ .2, I got 1.2 I attributed that to maybe a not so accurately calibrated meter and that the engine was warm, so the coils were too. Thoughts?) Anyway, got a new rectifier and installed it. Took the boat down to the lake near home. Checked battery voltage with key off (12.8v), checked battery voltage with engine running (nada, zip, zilch!). I'm confused!! Granted, I'm presuming that, like a car, you should show alternator output voltage at the battery, if it's working and just existing battery voltage, if the alternator is not putting out. Am I wrong? Any insight will be appreciated!!
By the way, I had decided to install a Voltmeter. Even picked one up, just not sure where to wire it in now.
Before I did though, I got out my multimeter and checked a few things and I'm puzzled. Ok, with the key off, the battery showed 12.8v. With the engine running I got nothing on the volt meter. Shouldn't I at least get battery voltage, even if the alternator isn't working? If the alternator is working won't I get whatever the alternator output voltage is?
So, I got home and into my book. Checked the rectifier and sure enough, it appeared that one diode was bad. Checked the yellow and yellow/gray wires from the alternator and they show no shorts and just slightly higher than spec for resistance (book says .75 +/_ .2, I got 1.2 I attributed that to maybe a not so accurately calibrated meter and that the engine was warm, so the coils were too. Thoughts?) Anyway, got a new rectifier and installed it. Took the boat down to the lake near home. Checked battery voltage with key off (12.8v), checked battery voltage with engine running (nada, zip, zilch!). I'm confused!! Granted, I'm presuming that, like a car, you should show alternator output voltage at the battery, if it's working and just existing battery voltage, if the alternator is not putting out. Am I wrong? Any insight will be appreciated!!
By the way, I had decided to install a Voltmeter. Even picked one up, just not sure where to wire it in now.