Volt Meter Reading 16v

[jbing81]

I recently noticed my volts for my engine batteries were showing 16v at the helm. My house batteries have a normal reading of 14. I was wondering where I should look first? Put a meter on the batteries? Check the gauge? If there was a regulator issue would both engine and house gauges show high volts?

'03 Tiara w/ twin 8.1's

Thanks

 

[dwco5051]

First check your battery cable connections. My last problem with a high reading showed up on my depth finder shutting down do to high voltage. Got home that night and took the covers off the batterys and was going to start checking with a know good volt meter. Pushed the tilt button to drop the motor and noticed arching on one of the connections. Cleaned and tightened both posts and never had the problem show up again.

 

[mike_i]

Are you reading 16volts on a gauge on the dash? If so they're known for not being accurate, I would verify with a digital voltmeter before I'd do anything else. Was the engine running when measuring 16 volts?

 

[jbing81]

My helm has a house battery and a engine battery volt gauge. The engine gauge was showing 16v. The gauge for the house was showing 14 while under way. I would imagine since both banks of batteries are charged at the same time when the engines are running that if there was a regulator issue both house and engine batteries would show high. I'll put a meter on the engine batteries and see what I'm getting.