78Ranger91
Cadet
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2013
- Messages
- 6
So I have a 91 evinrude (model # te90tleie) that will not charge correctly. I diagnosed it myself as a faulty regulator and purchased one online. This did not fix the issue, so I took the boat into the shop. They replaced the regulator and the boat now charges. What is driving me nuts is that the batteries are not charging at 13+ volts. On the R.O. from the repair shop it says "cables from engine to batteries may need to be shortened or smaller gauge cables installed"...
I'm guessing they are aware that the battery was not charging as designed and are blaming the long cables as the problem. So I pick the boat up and the battery had 11.6 volts. I was pretty pi**ed off, but used a jump pack and checked charging voltage. It was only 12.1 Volts at the battery. I then checked charging voltage at the electrical buss bar after the regulator and the output was only 12.3 volts. I figured the voltage drop from the engine to the battery is only 2 tenths of a volt and not enough to prevent it from charging. I wrote this nasty letter to the boat repair shop. Before returning the boat and letter to the repair shop I decided to grab another battery and a set of 2 gauge jumper cables. I hooked the cables to the ignition coil and engine ground and started the engine with a battery charged to 12.5 volts. The battery charged at12.9 volts at idle and 13.2 volts at 4000 rpms. Then I unhooked the battery and the regulator immediately stopped sending voltage to the battery. When testing with my volt meter there was no voltage drop from the ignition coil to the engine ground when I unhooked the battery and the engine was running. Then I hook the battery back up and my voltage drop from the ignition coil to the engine ground is 2 tenths of a volt higher than battery voltage, which tells me the engine is trying to charge the battery. WTF?????
Why in the hell does the regulator stop charging when I unhook the battery..
Even more weird. Why would the regulator attempt to take a battery at 11.6 volts and charge it to 12.0 volts...One would think the stator output is weak or the regulator can't keep up with the amount of juice needed to send a higher voltage. Then when I have a battery at 12.5 volts it tries to charge it to 12.9 volts. I'm trying to figure out why it's not always just charging at 13.5-14 volts like a car.. Are my readings normal?? I use the battery for fish finders, trolling motor and lights 90% of the time, so the engine needs to charge the battery at more than just .4 volts more than the battery voltage. If I run the battery down to 12.0 volts I need the engine to charge to 13.0-13.5 volts so that my battery will charge to at least 12.6 volts.
I'm pretty upset at the repair shop either way. If my problem is because the battery was dead, then the repair shop wasted 4 hours of my time because they gave me a boat with a dead battery. If my charging system is not working correctly I am pi**ed they returned a boat to me that wasn't fixed.
I'm guessing they are aware that the battery was not charging as designed and are blaming the long cables as the problem. So I pick the boat up and the battery had 11.6 volts. I was pretty pi**ed off, but used a jump pack and checked charging voltage. It was only 12.1 Volts at the battery. I then checked charging voltage at the electrical buss bar after the regulator and the output was only 12.3 volts. I figured the voltage drop from the engine to the battery is only 2 tenths of a volt and not enough to prevent it from charging. I wrote this nasty letter to the boat repair shop. Before returning the boat and letter to the repair shop I decided to grab another battery and a set of 2 gauge jumper cables. I hooked the cables to the ignition coil and engine ground and started the engine with a battery charged to 12.5 volts. The battery charged at12.9 volts at idle and 13.2 volts at 4000 rpms. Then I unhooked the battery and the regulator immediately stopped sending voltage to the battery. When testing with my volt meter there was no voltage drop from the ignition coil to the engine ground when I unhooked the battery and the engine was running. Then I hook the battery back up and my voltage drop from the ignition coil to the engine ground is 2 tenths of a volt higher than battery voltage, which tells me the engine is trying to charge the battery. WTF?????
Why in the hell does the regulator stop charging when I unhook the battery..
Even more weird. Why would the regulator attempt to take a battery at 11.6 volts and charge it to 12.0 volts...One would think the stator output is weak or the regulator can't keep up with the amount of juice needed to send a higher voltage. Then when I have a battery at 12.5 volts it tries to charge it to 12.9 volts. I'm trying to figure out why it's not always just charging at 13.5-14 volts like a car.. Are my readings normal?? I use the battery for fish finders, trolling motor and lights 90% of the time, so the engine needs to charge the battery at more than just .4 volts more than the battery voltage. If I run the battery down to 12.0 volts I need the engine to charge to 13.0-13.5 volts so that my battery will charge to at least 12.6 volts.
I'm pretty upset at the repair shop either way. If my problem is because the battery was dead, then the repair shop wasted 4 hours of my time because they gave me a boat with a dead battery. If my charging system is not working correctly I am pi**ed they returned a boat to me that wasn't fixed.