Sometimes my motors charge batteries, sometimes not?

[martymudskipper]

I have two 1993 135 Mercurys. When I bought the boat I immediately moved the batteries from the bilge area to under the center console. This added 10-12' of battery cables. The cable coming off the motors is 6 awg, I extended the cables using 2 awg. Sometimes my voltmeters indicate that the batteries are charging at 14+ volts, but mostly not. I don't remember seeing this when the batteries were in the bilge. Have I extended the cables too far?

 

[Ben Konopacky]

Re: Sometimes my motors charge batteries, sometimes not?

marty; it should not make any diff. in charging ,but if there was a prob. with wire size you sure would notice it in the starting.there would be a good voltage drop.

 

[achris]

Re: Sometimes my motors charge batteries, sometimes not?

Marty,<br /><br />One of the most important things with batteries and their cables is to have solid, clean connections. Did you extend the exsisting cables or run completely new ones from the engine?<br /><br />Chris..........

 

[martymudskipper]

Re: Sometimes my motors charge batteries, sometimes not?

Chris,<br />I extended the existing cables by bolting the terminals together with a stainless bolt, I made sure the terminals were very clean, bolted the 6 awg to the 2 awg, sprayed with corrosion X, covered with heat shrink tubing and shrunk it, then coated the whole thing with liquid electrical tape to ensure a sealed connection. I notice no loss of power when cranking the motors. It seems strange that sometimes the volt meters kick up to charging voltage. Could the batteries actually be charging but the meters are just not showing that?

 

[achris]

Re: Sometimes my motors charge batteries, sometimes not?

Marty,<br /><br />When the voltmeter is not showing 14+ volts, what is it showing? If it drops right back to the peg (like when the key is off) then start looking for a bad connection, either on the back of the meter or where the harness (supplies the tacho too) plugs into the control box. Also check the connector to the control box in the engine. If the meter drops to about 12 volts then the regulator may have a problem. Keep us posted.<br /><br />Chris.........