Voltage Regulator Issues

[Steelfire]

Hi all. New here so hopefully some of yall can give me some suggestions. I have twin 1982 Johnson 140hp outboards on my boat (J140TLCNB's to be exact) and I am having troubles with my charging system. Long story short, my RH engine is only putting out about 12.4 volts to the battery and my LH engine is putting out about 16.2 volts to the battery. I should mention that my RH engine is supplying 2 batteries to which in addition to the engine, is attached the LH trim and tilt, lighting and bilge pumps, livewells etc. the LH engine has its own battery and is also hooked in to the RH trim and tilt. I know thats wierd! I have changed the rectifiers on both engines. I was just wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I spoke with our local boat repair shop and the mechanic suggested that I remove the regulators from the system altogether. Anyone else done this? How would it affect the battery and battery life since it would be getting unregulated charge from the stators? Many questions I know, Just hoping someone has seen or experienced this before.

Thanks yall!
Steelfire

 

[Steelfire]

Re: Voltage Regulator Issues

I dont know if its because I am a newbie on here or just because no-one knows about the problem I am having but Ive noticed no-one has said anything. Any good advice would be welcomed. After all, two heads are better than one they always say! See ya on the water....

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Voltage Regulator Issues

You have a lot of stuff on the low reading system. Now understand that if the batteries are somewhat discharged on that system, the voltage on that side may actually read below 12.6 until the alternator has had some time to catch up. Removing the regulator serves no practical purpose. It's job is to regulate. If the battery voltage is low the regulator will allow full alternator output anyway. It is also possible that one of the batteries on the RH side may be going bad and therefore sucking juice but not holding it. Have those batteries load tested. You didn't mention anything about an ACR, Isolator or dual battery switch on the RH system so I must assume the two batteries are simply paralleled. If that's the case, the weaker of the two batteries will draw down the other until they equalize. Disconnect one battery and see how the system behaves.

 

[Steelfire]

Re: Voltage Regulator Issues

Ahh, Thanks Silvertip. I do have a dual battery switch on that side and now that you mention it, it did perform better when i switched from "all" or "bat 1" to only "bat 2" . I have a load tester and I will do that this evening. What is an "ACR"? Its entirely possible that I may have a battery with a dead cell. I havent thought of that. Thanks for the reply~!

 

[wmconway]

Re: Voltage Regulator Issues

Automatic Charging Relay (ACR) devices, also called voltage sensitive relay (VSR) devices, for use in marine electrical systems where there are two batteries and only one source of charging current.

 

[Steelfire]

Re: Voltage Regulator Issues

Is that the same as the voltage regulator? Isnt that what it does? I thought it regulated the voltage going to the battery from the stator based off of the state of charge of the battery. If not, what does the ACR look like?

 

[wmconway]

Re: Voltage Regulator Issues

An ACR is not the same as a regulator. The regulator is part of your engines charging system. An ACR is a seperate device that switches charging capacity to different batteries in order to keep them fully charged. If you had an ACR, it would probably be installed in the boat near the batteries.