saltydogjeff
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- May 12, 2013
- Messages
- 145
I am in the middle of creating a working boat. Boat specs in the signature.
Since I have begun rewiring, there has been very little time to actually test the battery. After wiring the gauges, new interior lights, and the stereo, I decided it was time to start flipping stuff on. I turned on the interior lights last night, they worked great, I was ecstatic. Today, I turn the battery switch on, and go to turn on the interior lights, no lights. I checked the battery voltage ~ 12.6, I check the terminal voltages forward in the dash, ~3.4, I check the accessory panel voltage, reading in mVs. I say ok, now I am going to continue wiring, but I am going to put the battery on charge. I finish up the dash with the 12V common line, the common ground, and the gauge back lights hooked up to a switch. That goes to accessory panel. I say ok, maybe the battery had just been out there for too long since I previously charged it, tried turning the engine over (which is stuck), maybe a couple of weeks with little power output. I look at the battery on the charger, theres a green light giving me the go ahead, then the green light disappears. Obviously cycling on the charger. I say ok, maybe this battery is like on the verge of being fully charged, lets give it a go. Install battery. Battery voltage ~12.8 V. Great. Flip switch, nothing burns. Great. Check hot line into ignition switch ~12.8V. Lights turn on. I then continue by trying to see what happened to the music. I have all this battery shouldn't I be able to get music now? No music. Flipped switch off to investigate. Flipped switch back on, checked voltage under dash at ignition switch, 4.3V. Checked voltage at accessory panel ~1V.
So, theory is, the initial charge is enough to get the line going, and then push the electrons through the accessories, except when the (+) line gets too saturated (i.e. music, gauge back lighting). And then when I secure the battery using the switch, the battery then doesn't have enough power to power the line again. The voltage differential between points seems a little extreme, 8 volts just to go forward and ~3 volts loss for 2 feet of 10 gauge. And, after the charge the ignition read the same voltage (12.8V) which would indicate very little line loss. I previously cleaned the connections to make this thing efficient.
Since I have begun rewiring, there has been very little time to actually test the battery. After wiring the gauges, new interior lights, and the stereo, I decided it was time to start flipping stuff on. I turned on the interior lights last night, they worked great, I was ecstatic. Today, I turn the battery switch on, and go to turn on the interior lights, no lights. I checked the battery voltage ~ 12.6, I check the terminal voltages forward in the dash, ~3.4, I check the accessory panel voltage, reading in mVs. I say ok, now I am going to continue wiring, but I am going to put the battery on charge. I finish up the dash with the 12V common line, the common ground, and the gauge back lights hooked up to a switch. That goes to accessory panel. I say ok, maybe the battery had just been out there for too long since I previously charged it, tried turning the engine over (which is stuck), maybe a couple of weeks with little power output. I look at the battery on the charger, theres a green light giving me the go ahead, then the green light disappears. Obviously cycling on the charger. I say ok, maybe this battery is like on the verge of being fully charged, lets give it a go. Install battery. Battery voltage ~12.8 V. Great. Flip switch, nothing burns. Great. Check hot line into ignition switch ~12.8V. Lights turn on. I then continue by trying to see what happened to the music. I have all this battery shouldn't I be able to get music now? No music. Flipped switch off to investigate. Flipped switch back on, checked voltage under dash at ignition switch, 4.3V. Checked voltage at accessory panel ~1V.
So, theory is, the initial charge is enough to get the line going, and then push the electrons through the accessories, except when the (+) line gets too saturated (i.e. music, gauge back lighting). And then when I secure the battery using the switch, the battery then doesn't have enough power to power the line again. The voltage differential between points seems a little extreme, 8 volts just to go forward and ~3 volts loss for 2 feet of 10 gauge. And, after the charge the ignition read the same voltage (12.8V) which would indicate very little line loss. I previously cleaned the connections to make this thing efficient.