2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

[Rich Hargis]

I recently sold my Wellcraft with a Zuke DF 200 to a friend of mine, it was time to change out the batteries so he bought 2 high quality marine batteries. With the engine running on the hose for a few minutes the SMIS gauges both say "Low Battery Voltage" and kills the engine. Did a search and found a few comments on checking the white wire from the main harness. The connecter at the battery looked to be corroded so we cut the wire back and put on a new eyelet. Another thing that was strange is that the temp gauge was reading higher than normal temps so we shut it down, the alarm never went off so we checked the heads with an infrared thermometer and found that it was still in the safe range. Started the motor up and watched the temp gauge go to 215 while the infrared said 150-160, after about 10 minutes we thought we had fixed the problem because she kept running.So we decided to go ahead and reconfigure the gauges to see if that would clear up the temp issues but then the motor quit with the Low Battery Voltage alarm again. Impeller was changed out a month ago and now we are going to change out the thermostats just for piece of mind. Any ideas why this is happening now? I never had any issues with this motor and now this popped up.
BTW: Batteries read 12.7 volts with motor not running and 14.8 when running checked at batteries with a voltmeter.

Thanks for any input. Rich

 

[Silvertip]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

That's fine that the batteries check ok at the batteries. How about further upstream like at the starter solenoid, at the ecm, at the ignition switch, etc. The ecm is detecting low voltage so there is a bad connection somewhere in that supply path. You need the engine wiring diagram to follow the juice.

 

[lakensea]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

How are your batteries configured? With a battery switch? What type and size batteries? Where is the battery sub wire (white wire) connected?

 

[Rich Hargis]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

That's fine that the batteries check ok at the batteries. How about further upstream like at the starter solenoid, at the ecm, at the ignition switch, etc. The ecm is detecting low voltage so there is a bad connection somewhere in that supply path. You need the engine wiring diagram to follow the juice.

Great idea, we will check that next.

 

[Rich Hargis]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

How are your batteries configured? With a battery switch? What type and size batteries? Where is the battery sub wire (white wire) connected?

Dual batteries with a Perko switch: Off -bat 1- bat 2- Both. White wire is connected directly to bat 2. Napa Gold group 27 marine batteries

 

[lakensea]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

I'll bet you were running on battery 1.

 

[mikey1041]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

I'll bet you were running on battery 1.

howdy y'all. new guy here....thanks for pointing me here Rich.

It actually did the same thing whether on Battery 1, 2, or both.

I am going to land the "white wire" onto the common terminal at the Perko switch and see if it makes a difference, also going to cut it way back because its got an extra 3 or 4 feet of length.

I did not know that Yamaha and Suzuki were related! (the harness has a Yamaha logo)

anyway, thanks for the help Rich, I am sure we'll figure it out. Look forward to participating on the forums when I have pertinent info to share....

 

[mikey1041]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

Might have found a part of the problem. The engine harness (#2 positive, #2 negative, and #10 "sub positive")was about 4 feet longer than necessary. In remaking the corroded connection on the sub positive wire, cutting it back revealed that the wire has corrosion. Not the green stuff, but the wire appears black.
Wanted to clean up to battery area, and redo a few connections, so cut back the larger wires as well.....found the same condition. I thought I would eventually get back to "clean" wire, but no.

I was able to scuff up the wire enough so that I had somewhat clean copper in contact with the new 3/8" copper ring terminals, compressed correctly and protected with ancor heat shrink. however, could not get it clean enough to take solder.....

My concern is that if this wire is in this condition all the way back to the engine, I may have to replace it completely.......ugh. :grumpy:

anybody seen this before in a factory wire harness?

 

[Rich Hargis]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

Replaced thermostats for piece of mind, installed new main harness and ran the motor for 10 minutes on the hose before the Low battery voltage alarm went off again. Running out of ideas. Any other suggestions?

 

[99yam40]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

you need to be checking with a good hand held volt meter at different points to see where you have low voltage.

Bad connection somewhere leading back to ECU and electronics if charging system and batteries are seeing proper voltage

 

[mikey1041]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

thanks.

I have replaced all battery cables from the batteries to the switch, and to the engine. Still have the problem. So, began poking around under the helm, found a loose "main" positive feed to the buss, fixed that but no joy.

I did however, find some more stuff that I just wont sleep well knowing its there.....(I'm an electrician and probably a little "anal" about wiring)......so I guess I'll just go ahead and take the time to rewire most of it. It may or may not really need that, but I am thinking that during the course of this work, I'll find the problem.

One thing I do not understand is why the engine would shut off if it "sees" low battery voltage? I mean, if I found a battery or electrical issue while underway, the LAST thing I would ever do is shut off the engine!

anyway, running a looooong negative #12 right to the battery (connecting to the neg lead on the DVM) and going to go scouting around for low voltage under the helm......

thanks all. Will reports back, if for nothing else than saving someone else some time in the future......

 

[lakensea]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

Does the engine start right up again after shutting off? If not what do you have to do to get it to start?

 

[99yam40]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

not sure about the DF Suzuki but some motors with ECU's when the ECU sees voltage too low it shuts things down to avoid problems as it can no longer get good info from anything and most things that need 12 volts to work properly will have major problems if there is not 12 volts to it. Pumps will draw too many amps with low voltage

 

[mikey1041]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

Does the engine start right up again after shutting off? If not what do you have to do to get it to start?

yes, it restarts immediately, but only runs for a minute or two before shutting off again.

poking around with the DVM last evening, I find good voltage everywhere on the helm. I cannot really test the ignition switch without damaging the wires, as its a sealed unit, but verified that I have good voltage TO the switch from the harness.

waiting for wiring diagram so I can test voltage at the appropriate place on the motor to verify whether there really is a low voltage condition.

 

[lakensea]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

Did this start to happen right after changing the batteries? Is so, try putting the old batteries back in if you have them. What type/size batteries did you put in?

 

[mikey1041]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

Did this start to happen right after changing the batteries? Is so, try putting the old batteries back in if you have them. What type/size batteries did you put in?

Yes, it did. Unfortunately, turned the old dogs in as cores when I purchased the 2 NAPA Gold Group 27 Marine Batteries.....

 

[lakensea]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

We use Napa 8304 Group 24 starting batteries. If the Gold group 27 is a deep cycle battery, that could be your problem - Suzuki advises against using deep cycle batteries, although I have seen them used without issues.

Here's what I think you should do. Get a known good battery of 1000 cranking amps. The engine does not need that much cranking power, however you need a battery that size to get enough reserve capacity for the computer to operate correctly until the charging system catches up. Hook the engine and battery sub wire (always attach this to the battery post first) only to the battery - no switch, no house. Run the engine and see if the problem goes away.

Anytime a problem appears right after changing something, the first thing you should do is put it back to the way it was to see if the change is what caused the problem.

The V6 and DF150/175 ECM's get their power from the battery sub wire - not the main battery cable. The ECM's are very sensitive to voltage deops, however your engine is not exhibiting any symptoms of an poor battery sub wire connection. If the above does not work, check all your engine ground connections. I would then bring to a dealer that will swap out your ECM with a known good unit.

 

[mikey1041]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

thank you. Picked up a new battery, and going home soon to see if that fixes it....

I sure appreciate your detailed response! Will check in later this evening....

 

[Rich Hargis]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

Mike replaced a battery with a starting type one and it is still doing the Low battery voltage alarm. One thing that is strange is the temp gauge goes up to 215 degrees. We know that the engine is not running that hot and the temp alarm does not sound. Could the ECM think that the engine is way over heated and shut the motor down instead of going into the "SLOW" mode?

 

[lakensea]

Re: 2007 DF200 dies with Low Battery Voltage alarm on the SMIS gauges

Could the ECM think that the engine is way over heated and shut the motor down instead of going into the "SLOW" mode?

No.

It's time to bring it into a dealer so they can hook the laptop diagnostics up to the ECM and see just whats going on.