1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

bamguy

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Aug 24, 2010
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I have a 1984 Rinker with an 3.0 OMC Stringer out drive. Purchased boat from someone who had partially restored the boat, mainly the cosmetics (upholstery, etc...) He said he had replaced the plugs and wires but I am not sure of the type or quality at time of writing this. I Bought and installed a new DieHard marine battery (when I bought boat the battery was dead). Everything works as far as accessories and the boat will crank and start/run with the outdrive in the lower position. The problem is this: If the out drive is in the up position, I turn the key to "on" to allow the raise/lower switch to work, and then I lower the out drive all the way which instantly drains a fully charged battery. I can then quick charge the battery with the drive in the lower position and everything fires back up. Brought battery back to Sears, bench tests fine. So to recap, when I lower the out drive it instantly drains a fully charged Marine starting battery but a quick charge brings it back up and the boat and it's functions work fine. This motor also has the tilt/trim option on the motor itself. I can send pictures and provide additional details. What would cause this issue? And yes I know electrical issues can be difficult to trace but any thoughts would be great.
 

Bondo

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Re: 1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

The problem is this: If the out drive is in the up position, I turn the key to "on" to allow the raise/lower switch to work, and then I lower the out drive all the way which instantly drains a fully charged battery.

Ayuh,.... That's Extremely unlikely,...
That's Alotta amps in a very short time...

I'd sooner think you've got a wiring problem...
probably corroded wiring ends somewhere...
 

subcrx

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Re: 1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

When they tested the battery did they use a small handheld device or a large device that can put a load on the battery
 

southkogs

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Re: 1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

When you say "fully" drains, and a "quick charge" - are you actually testing that out, or just going on the basis of stuff working or not working? The reason is that the Stringer's tilt system is a power-sucker. If you're battery is mildly charged up, you can still crank the starter - but the tilt probably won't have enough juice to go. A quick charge might be pushing you just over the "it'll work" mark, until you run it ... and then it's too dead to do any more than lower it again. See what I mean?

Stringer tilt system requires a pretty charged up battery.
 

Howard Sterndrive

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Re: 1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

The tilt motor is fused at 50A, so that's the most it can possibly draw. Lowering the drive should take about 5 amps, but even if there is a big issue with the tilt system, the fuse should pop at any draw higher than 50A

A new DieHard battery should be able to supply 50A for 1 hour continuous....

To fully drain a healthy new battery in less than 5 minutes would most definitely involve a lot of smoke and fire, and possibly a battery explosion.

subcrx is right on the money...Those capacitance type battery testers are not the best way to test a battery. A proper carbon pile or toaster type load test is required for many battery issues to show.
 

bamguy

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Re: 1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

First of all thanks for the responses, I haven't gotten any notifications of new replies so I apologize for the delay in response. The battery I am using is a DieHard Marine starting. The battery drain issue happened the first time I installed it and operated the tilt. Remember that I purchased this boat used. I immediately took the battery back to Sears where it was bench tested under load in front of me and checked out fine. Over the summer I was launching the boat with the outdrive tilted all the way up and the battery fully charged. I lowered the outdrive all the way and then had no power to crank, not even a click. I got the boat over to the dock, charged it about 15 minutes and it started and ran fine for days after that. Could this be a bad drive/lift motor? I have access to it (lift motor) now because I am changing the transom seal. I am an amateur when it comes to D/C current so any suggestions on tracing the issue or checking the motor/ battery with a multimeter? I would be happy to send pictures or video if it helps and again thanks for your help.
 

bamguy

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Re: 1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

To be clear I literally purchased the battery, installed it, and had an issue right away. One more clarification. It takes around 5 seconds to lower the outdrive from the "trailer" position to fully lowered. It is at the end of this cycle that I have no power to crank the motor. That is what I meant by "instantly" drains battery.
 

Howard Sterndrive

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Re: 1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

your problem is a corroded battery cable connection. It has nothing to do with tilt, and the battery is fine.
When the outdrive slams at the bottom of it's travel, it shakes some corroded connection. When you jostle the battery hooking up a charger, you "fix" it.
Remove all your heavy cables from the starter and the ground connection to the block. File the terminals shiny and refasten everything tight. This is 5 year maintenance on a boat.
If you have post terminals, clean them with a wire brush. If you have wing nut ends, file them too, and always use pliers to tighten the wing nuts. Hand tight is no good.

just for reference, this is what a battery looks like when fully discharged in 5 seconds:
MVC-172F.JPG
 

bamguy

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Re: 1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

The terminals on the battery are new and well secured but I will check the remaining connections.
 

superbenk

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Re: 1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

Something doesn't add up here. There is nearly zero resistance on the downward throw. If anything the the gears and motor slow the dropping of the drive. There's no way dropping the outdrive would drain the battery at all. I think even the 5A draw suggested above is more than it takes to drop the drive.
 

Howard Sterndrive

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Re: 1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

Something doesn't add up here. There is nearly zero resistance on the downward throw. If anything the the gears and motor slow the dropping of the drive. There's no way dropping the outdrive would drain the battery at all. I think even the 5A draw suggested above is more than it takes to drop the drive.
the way it comes down, the tilt motor might even be generating a charge for the battery :) :)
 

boobie

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Re: 1984 OMC Stringer: Battery drains almost instantly when lowering outdrive

From reading all of this it's sounds like you have a loose, dirty or corroeded connection some where.
 
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