Couple of rectifier questions......

[Barry63052]

Ok, I have an 1991 18' bass buggy with a 1991 Evinrude 40 horse. The model number on the motor is TE40ELEIA. Well, now that we got all that out of the way....

I just got the boat a couple of weeks ago. Everything seemed to be pretty good with it, needs redecking, but mechanically sound. Two weekends ago, it had a little melt down. It seems that the auto style driving lights that somebody else had hooked up over heated the ground wire. It melted the wire behind the dash and down to the plug. See this thread: http://forums.iboats.com/pontoons/new-boat-new-problems-615934.html

I went back to the boat last weekend and rewired everything that was bad, but didn't get a chance to try it out.

Put it in the water this weekend and everything worked, kinda. The tach was acting strange, Saying that I was at 2000 rpm's even though I was only idling, dropping to 0 rpm's at wide open throttle, ect. So, I got on here and found out that the tach runs off of the electrical current. And if the tach stops working, the first thing to check is the charging of the battery. So, I did just that. Found out I was only at 11.88 volts while running. So, pull the boat out of the water, again.

Get the boat back to my lots, take the hood off and start looking for anything obvious. Mind you, this is my first boat ever and know next to nothing about boat, but I did find a black box looking thing on the side of the motor that was loose. Figured it wasn't that big of a deal, but decided to tighten it up any way. Take the two screws off of the top of the cover, remove the cover, and WOW, that's a lot of wires and stuff in there! Then, I get to looking, and there is a black bar looking thing with some screws hold wires down, and the red one is fried! Insulation is burnt off of it and even broke in two! Again, Im NOT a boat mechanic, but even I know that's not right!

So, I take out this thing, come back on here, and figure out its a rectifier! And the rectifier not working will make the tach mess up and not charge the battery. So I think I found and solved the problem. I just wanted to run it by the experts on here and see if you think I am on the right path.

Also, do you think the rectifier went out and caused the short with the ground wire? Or the lights caused everything to over heat? Or have any other ideas?/

 

[Daviet]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

It sounds like you are on the right path. Shorts in the electrical systems can take out a rectifier. You can check the charging system by running on a hose, just don't rev the engine over 2000 RPM.

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

The rectifier changes AC current from the stator to DC current to charge the battery. Yes, I think you're on the right track and no, I don't think the rectifier caused the short. I'm thinking the short fried the rectifier. Hooking up the positive and negative cables to the wrong battery post is a common cause. I'd start checking for a short to ground somewhere if it were me.
BTW===I"m no expert so hopefully you'll get another response,
JBJ

 

[Vic.S]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

The bar you are looking at is just terminal block.

The rectifier is cylindrical object about an inch diameter and a similar height with 4 wires. A red one and 3 yellow ones, 1with a blue stripe and 1 with a grey stripe. The red one is the DC positive output, the yellows are the AC input and are connected to three similarly coloured wires coming from the stator coil.

There are some instructions in the engine faqs for testing the rectifier but if the red wire from it is fried its pretty certain that the rectifier is too.

Rectifier on a much smaller engine in the centre of the picture below

 

[Barry63052]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

Good deal. Its nice to hear that I'm headed on the right path. I will start looking for a new rectifier and pick it up this week. Thanks for the help.

 

[Barry63052]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

OK, got the new rectifier on. On the new one it had the one red wire and three yellow wires, all just plain yellow. It also had "special instructions" that more less said it didn't matter on the three yellow wires, that they could be interchanged. So, I put it all together, put it in the water, fired it up, and the tach still don't work and its still not charging.
I'm thinking the stator is the next step? Is there a way to test it before buying a new one? I did find a link to a cdi site, but my phone won't open it up. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[Bosunsmate]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

You can test it for resistance and output. You need a multimeter that can read peak ac to get the proper output reading but you can use a normal digital meter to get a resistance reading. Im not sure what the readings a for your motor, but if it was an open reading the stators bad. You can also visually inspect the stator for burning evidence

 

[Barry63052]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

So, test for resistance between each of the wires to ground? And each of the wires to each other? I do have my digital volt meter with me.

On a side note, I am quickly discovering that having lake lots is a pain in the butt. Never know what tools to bring with me!!!

 

[bonzoscott]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

Although this diagram is for a smaller motor, it may help. Looking at the diagram, there is a red wire coming from the stator to the terminal block. It screws down on another red wire leading down stream through your cable harness / battery. That is what charges your battery. In your pic, the red wires are screwed on different posts, so I'm not sure about your motor. Point I wanted to make is: You stated Red Wire was fried. Which one - one from stator or one from battery? Either way, could be insulation broke and and exposed the wire to ground somewhere, thus frying the cable. Inspect all the red wire and make sure all connections are clean.

 

[Barry63052]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

Thanks for the reply. The red wire that was fried came from the rectifier and went to the junction block.

 

[Barry63052]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

OK, just did some checking. With the battery unhooked, and the rectifier unhooked, I had no resistance between any one of the wires to another wire. Also, checked each wires resistance to ground, all good there too. Then I checked resistance between the red wire on the solenoid and the red wire on the rectifier, zero resistance. So, from what little I know, the rectifier and the stator is good. But still not charging.....

 

[Barry63052]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

After re-reading that, I wanted to clarify. With the battery and the stator and the rectifier all unhooked, I checked for continuity on the stator. There was 0.0 resistance across all three yellow*wires coming out of the stator. They were also not shorting out to ground.

Also, I just did the "small rectifier test" in the FAQ section, it tested good. Figured it would being brand new, but you never know.

And, from what I understand, the red wire coming out of the rectifier is the one that charges the battery. I tested for continuity from that wire all the way back to the battery, 0.0 resistance. So its not that.

 

[bonzoscott]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

You may want to get an OEM service manual. I'm still thinking both red wires should be on same post at terminal, but manual will tell plus tell testing procedure. Having no resistance in wires is good but doesn't really nail a problem. If the motor will run, you should get some DC voltage reading on red wire at terminal. That number, I don't know? and will increase with RPM. With that being said, don't know why it fried the wire. Usually a poor connection or short to ground.

 

[Barry63052]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

I'm not real sure which two red wires you mean. The red wire from the rectifier is screwed to the same terminal as the red wire that goes to the starter soilniod. Now, there is a red wire with a blue stripe on the last terminal. It runs down to a very short glass fuse, not sure where it goes from there. But I would love to know, if you have any ideas??
And, its fixed!!! I swapped out batteries with a buddy of mine, and everything works fine. It still doesn't charge as much as I would like it to. But it does charge. When I rev the motor, the charge increases, the tach works. I can't really explain it, but it must be a bad battery....

 

[Barry63052]

Re: Couple of rectifier questions......

Well, its another day. Yesterday, after changing the battery, everything worked fine. Went out for several hours, stopped and started the boat numerous times, no problems at all. Parked it last night, went down this morning, and the problem is back. The tach is all over the place. Didn't actually check the charging yet, was to disgusted. But I would assume its not charging. Will find out here in a little bit.