This is a bit convoluted to how I got where I am, but if you can help me out with advice I would appreciate it:
I threw a different battery in my new to me '88 Sea Ray 130hp I/O last year after the battery that was in it tested poor. The battery I put in was a trolling motor battery that I had laying around, about 2.5 yrs old at the time (3.5 now). Never gave me any trouble after I put it in, but it is a 405CCA/500 Marine CA/75 battery whereas Sea Ray specified a 500CCA/725Marine CA/95 battery for this boat. One thing to note although my gauge consistently reads 13.5V while engine is running, my fishfinder occasionally, usually after an hour or more of use, will throw a "LOW VOLTAGE WARNING" message across the screen....
SO:
On the second to last day of our vacation week at a cottage where we ran the boat every day, I added a 12V power supply outlet to my dash to power a Sevylor inflator for pumping up innertubes/charge my phone for emergencies use if needed etc (no I am not big cell phone user!). When I hooked it up I wired it to the back of the engine bay to the breaker directly above and to the starboard side of the motor. This breaker is blue with a big red reset button on it and a + and - terminal under it. These terminals are the source of 12VDC for my cigarette lighter style power supply. I chose this spot rather than the battery because the wires I bought were about 4' short of reaching the battery, in all honesty this was a shortcut on my part. Everything worked fine so we were having a good old time for a day and a half no changes.
Late the next day the boat wouldn't start. Turn the key, single click, nothing. Spent a minute farting around with the little-bit-finnicky shifter to assure it was in neutral, etc and then it started. Figured the shifter was not reading neutral consistently and kept boating. The next time I started it it wouldn't start at all until I rapped on the starter with a wrench. So I am thinking the starter is shot.
Returning home I decided I should really get a new battery of the proper size and rating in the boat, bought a 875CCA/1000 Marine Starting motor, charged it for 90min, installed and ran the boat a few hours of tubing with the kids, only using the inflator when the boat engine was running. Toward the end of the day the "LOW VOLTAGE WARNING" came back on despite the 13.5V on the boat gauge, then awhile later the boat wouldn't start. Immediately rapped on the starter and still nothing. Then it started when I rapped on the starter while my wife turned the key.
So, if you are still with me thanks! I have three questions:
1) is my 12V power supply in a bad spot that is somehow weakening the supply to the starter or draining the battery?
2) is my next step plan of testing the starter right? It seems clear the starter is dying but what do you all think?
3) could it be the alternator? Perhaps the battery is weakening due to no alternator or weak alternator and the only way it can supply enough juice to overcome the startup friction in the starter is if the starter is jolted to assist. This makes sense given the low voltage warning on the fishfinder.
Or am I missing something else altogether?
I threw a different battery in my new to me '88 Sea Ray 130hp I/O last year after the battery that was in it tested poor. The battery I put in was a trolling motor battery that I had laying around, about 2.5 yrs old at the time (3.5 now). Never gave me any trouble after I put it in, but it is a 405CCA/500 Marine CA/75 battery whereas Sea Ray specified a 500CCA/725Marine CA/95 battery for this boat. One thing to note although my gauge consistently reads 13.5V while engine is running, my fishfinder occasionally, usually after an hour or more of use, will throw a "LOW VOLTAGE WARNING" message across the screen....
SO:
On the second to last day of our vacation week at a cottage where we ran the boat every day, I added a 12V power supply outlet to my dash to power a Sevylor inflator for pumping up innertubes/charge my phone for emergencies use if needed etc (no I am not big cell phone user!). When I hooked it up I wired it to the back of the engine bay to the breaker directly above and to the starboard side of the motor. This breaker is blue with a big red reset button on it and a + and - terminal under it. These terminals are the source of 12VDC for my cigarette lighter style power supply. I chose this spot rather than the battery because the wires I bought were about 4' short of reaching the battery, in all honesty this was a shortcut on my part. Everything worked fine so we were having a good old time for a day and a half no changes.
Late the next day the boat wouldn't start. Turn the key, single click, nothing. Spent a minute farting around with the little-bit-finnicky shifter to assure it was in neutral, etc and then it started. Figured the shifter was not reading neutral consistently and kept boating. The next time I started it it wouldn't start at all until I rapped on the starter with a wrench. So I am thinking the starter is shot.
Returning home I decided I should really get a new battery of the proper size and rating in the boat, bought a 875CCA/1000 Marine Starting motor, charged it for 90min, installed and ran the boat a few hours of tubing with the kids, only using the inflator when the boat engine was running. Toward the end of the day the "LOW VOLTAGE WARNING" came back on despite the 13.5V on the boat gauge, then awhile later the boat wouldn't start. Immediately rapped on the starter and still nothing. Then it started when I rapped on the starter while my wife turned the key.
So, if you are still with me thanks! I have three questions:
1) is my 12V power supply in a bad spot that is somehow weakening the supply to the starter or draining the battery?
2) is my next step plan of testing the starter right? It seems clear the starter is dying but what do you all think?
3) could it be the alternator? Perhaps the battery is weakening due to no alternator or weak alternator and the only way it can supply enough juice to overcome the startup friction in the starter is if the starter is jolted to assist. This makes sense given the low voltage warning on the fishfinder.
Or am I missing something else altogether?