Volt Meter

[qapd]

Just placed my batteries back in the boat for the summer. I kept the batteries in the garage with a trickle charger. Charged about 20 minutes per day. I checked the water weekly.<br />When the batteries were placed back in the boat and hooked up the volt meter pegs at 18+ volts. I have checked and rechecked the connections they are correct. I suspected I crossed one but they are correct.<br />2 positive cables go to battery switch and 1 negative cable. I have a jumper to the other negative post.<br />Any clue?<br /><br />qapd

 

[JB]

Re: Volt Meter

Your description of how you are wired is confusing, but you clearly wired them in series somehow.<br /><br />Give us a more detailed description and maybe we can help.

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Volt Meter

Is the voltmeter mounted on your boat? Where? Do you get the same reading from bat ‘A’ and bat ‘B’? If you disconnect that [-] jumper cable between the bat's grounds, what is your voltage?<br /><br />I’m presuming you intend the bats in parallel and an off/1/both/2 bat switch?!?<br /><br />Like JB said, in series jumps out as a possibility because your voltage is too high for a 12v system (parallel) … but it’s also too low for a 24v system (series). <br /><br />***If the upper range of an installed voltmeter is 18v, you could be in series with 24v but the voltmeter won’t show it. <<< Start here!

 

[Perfidiajoe]

Re: Volt Meter

I believe you wired the switch wrong! You should have Bat 1....Bat 2.....& A Feed terminal Which is both. Your negitives should go to a grounding terminal, strip, or ground on the engine, not the Battery switch. Good Luck , Joe

 

[qapd]

Re: Volt Meter

Yes the negative goes to the motor ground. There is a negative jumper that goes to the #2 battery negative. One battery positive goes to the #1 battery positive of the battery switch and the other battery goes to the #2 battery positive of the battery switch.<br />This was all hooked up last year and worked fine. I have not re-wired anything. I just removed the cables last fall, wired the 2 negative together so I would remember how they came off.

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Volt Meter

18v is too much voltage from a couple 12v batteries UNLESS they are in series. If your bats are in series, 18v is too little UNLESS that is the top end of your voltmeter. If that is the case, you actually have 24v sitting on that line, not 18v.<br /><br />Follow ALL of the bat cabling, including that jumper for the [-]. I wouldn’t start the engine or use the ‘both’ setting on that switch until you get this resolved.

 

[Perfidiajoe]

Re: Volt Meter

Check your batteries seprately, see if they read normally. Then read from the both terminal on the switch to the ground on the motor, should also read normally. Then read at the volt meter terminals, should also read normally, you may have a bad gauge on the console. Good luck, Joe

 

[amirm]

Re: Volt Meter

Just double checking. You did not have the charger or the engine on when you checked the voltage, correct? Either one of these would change what reading you get.<br /><br />Amir

 

[jurgenscraft]

Re: Volt Meter

I think it is very simple to sort out, two fully charged batteries should read 12.5 to 13 volts right after charging individually, paralell connection should give you 12.5 to 13 volts and 24 to 26 volts when connected in series, if you are reading only 18 volts, either the voltmeter is faulty or there is one heck of a volt drop some where in the electrical system ,test the battery output voltage with a decent digital volt / multimeter against what the dash mounted voltmeter reads.<br />Kind regards ,<br />William Wright

 

[JB]

Re: Volt Meter

When a voltmeter "pegs" at 18volts there is more than 18volts applied. It is NOT "reading" 18volts.

 

[cuzner]

Re: Volt Meter

Just a thought... check your switch to make everything is seperate, nothing toutching anything it shouln't.<br /><br /> Jim

 

[cuzner]

Re: Volt Meter

I just read your post again..I,m assuming you have 1 ground running between batteries( - to -) and the other to switch?

 

[amirm]

Re: Volt Meter

JB is probably right. The dash meter probably maxes out at 18v so the problem is that the batteries are wired in series. Whatever you do, don't turn on any of your electrical circuits before getting this fixed or you are liable to toast some of them.<br /><br />You probably have the polarity reversed some place. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to sort out.<br />Amir

 

[Perfidiajoe]

Re: Volt Meter

You must have a Positive, & negitive together. If all the positives are hooked together, you can't get 18+ volts. Check your batteries seperately, check that the positive cable is on the positive terminal. this is really remote, but check that the batteries are marked correctly. How much voltage is coming out of the switch, if the batteries are hooked correctly, you should have 12-13.5 volts. If you read twice that, you have a positive hooked to a negitive (a Series connection) fix this before you run anything electrical. Good luck, Joe