Evinrude E-Tec 150 battery issues?

[jsylvester08]

Hey Guys,
So this weekend I went to Fire Island on my buddies Sea Craft with a 2006 E-Tec. Its about an hour cruise and had a great ride both ways. The ride home we averaged about 4500 RPMs so really wasn't pushing it. Came back put it at the dock for 15 min then went to restart it and got nothing wouldn't turn over. The gps worked and the radio did as well so I'm not sure if there wasn't enough juice for the starter. I threw the charger on it and it still wouldn't turn over after an hour. I switched the battery out for a new battery. Engine turned over i let it run for 10 min and the battery gauge was reading 12 volts. I shut it off then when i tried to start it again it was dead. I'm assuming this mean alternator but I'm not familiar with these newer engines. I have used an '83 Evinrude for the last 6 years. Any ideas? I'm thinking about bringing it to a shop but ill have to have it towed so trying to figure out as much as i can before that.

[fitz73222]

Does the tachometer work? They traditionally get there pulse signal from the alternator. Since the Etec is a direct injected engine, it relies heavily on the battery to operate but I'm not familiar enough with the system to know if the engine could run with a faulty charging system. I'm thinking you have a bad battery cable or loose connection somewhere.

[jsylvester08]

Yeah the Tach works. I had both battery's checked and they are both in good condition and both are less then a year old.

[RickK]

I agree that it sounds like a high resistance connection somewhere.

[JNSchweik]

Sometimes the connections at the battery can look brand new but the cable will be corroded on the inside down the line somewhere.  Happened to me on my old boat a couple years ago.

[jsylvester08]

Thanks everyone. You nailed it again. My bildge line had corroded and was preventing a good connection between the battery and the main lines.