hi battery

[chadchurchill]

Last week I installed a Standard Horizon Quest VHF radio because my other one was old and died. Went out fishing today and after about an hour and a half I decided to hail a friend to see where he was fishing. The unit wouldn't let me switch to "hi" power and a message at the top of the screen read "hi battery". Then I looked at my voltage guage and it was pinned on 16v and the manual for the radio says that the "hi battery" message means it is getting at least 17v. I found that if I turned on the cockpit lights, nav lights and the bilge pump, the "hi battery" message would disapear. Is ther any kind of voltage regulator that you can install to keep the volts down or do you think it is a faulty battery(it's probably 3 or 4 years old)? By the way it is an Interstate Marine/ RV Cranking battery.<br /><br />Thank You!

 

[swist]

Re: hi battery

Was the engine running when this happened? Must have been. Sounds like a bad voltage regulator at the engine alternator. Could also be that the battery came disconnected and you were running only on the alternator. But in that case you would not be able to start the boat. Need a voltmeter to check this out. [Note many smaller outboards like yours have very simple charging circuits which tend to produce a fair amount of voltage, sometimes 15 or so, wet-cell batteries are *relatively* insensitive to charge voltage, although in your case it does sound like something is wrong]

 

[chadchurchill]

Re: hi battery

Thanks for the reply swist. Yes, the engine was running at the time. Is the voltage regulator the same as the rectifier?

 

[swist]

Re: hi battery

Well technically, no. The rectifier converts the AC output of the alternator to DC and the voltage regulator keeps the output voltage at some reasonable limit. But practically speaking, I believe these are usually in one integrated unit (someone correct me if I'm wrong here).

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: hi battery

Unfortunately, you do not have a regulator. An old battery can cause to voltage to go high and all you can do is turn more things on. You can buy a replacement rectifier/regulator, but they are kind of pricey. Been there, done that.