1990 Johnson Tracker 60 charging issues

[Mike_WI]

My motor seems to have stopped charging the battery while running. I started it today and checked the voltage at both the battery and the positive terminal on the starter solenoid. It only showed 12.3-12.5 volts, which should be batery voltage fully charged. Where do I start troubleshooting this issue?

 

[Vic.S]

Re: 1990 Johnson Tracker 60 charging issues

If fully charged and rested for 12 hours you should have battery volts of 12.7 -12.8

If the engine is charging the volts should quickly recover after startng and rise to about 14.2 - 14.4 when fully recharged and with a non regulated rectifier continue to rise well above that.

You can check the AC volts going to the rectifier from the stator coils by measuring between the yellow and yellow/gray wires. You should get well above 12volts ... 18 or more when revved a bit.

you can if necessary check the continuity of the stator coils once disconnected. You should have a low ohms reading between yellow and yellow/gray

You can check the rectifier by following Joe Reeves intructions on the engine FAQs board http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=190638 BUT if you use a digital meter use the "diode test" setting as they often do not work on the ohms ranges for diode testing.

Start though by checking all connections!

 

[Mike_WI]

Re: 1990 Johnson Tracker 60 charging issues

Thanks for the reply Vic. Battery was charged a couple weeks ago and has sat since, guess that is why it was only showing 12.3 to 12.5 volts. I have checked all connections and they are all clean and tight. I believe the link you posted is my problem, I had an issue with the battery cables being mislabled(shame on me for not marking them last fall) and accidently hooked the battery up wrong. According to Joe's post, the rectifier diodes can not handle reverse polarity AT ALL, so I guess I'll be buying a new one. D'OH!! I will, of course, do a continuity test too just to be sure.