Battery overcharging ?????

[Aquamaniac]

Farley,
Thanks for the excellent tips on the 'upgrade'.

Spent a lot of hours combing the magic net last night for info on this issue.
Seems the 9 amp stator was deigned without VR and depended on deep cell marine battery to 'handle' the current.
Clearly my existing stator (presumably 9 amp) is putting out well.
Clearly my existing combination of stator/trigger/switches is working well as the motor is now starting/idling/running very well.
Clearly when I add some current draw (cockpit and panel lights) the voltage is in safe range.

Slept on it and it came to me this AM......I am running the motor on the starting battery alone!!!!
I also have been keeping both batteries topped off/conditioned with on board charger,
Seems that if I simply start and run the motor with the switch on ALL (bringing the deep cell marine battery into the charging circuit)....... 'problem' might be solved!

Sure would be a LOT simpler, not to mention cheaper !!!   So......what do you think??????????

I will try this today and report back. Will also try to check behind the back cover for any hidden regulators (thanks CB) but actually hope I don't find any. If they are there, I must have a 16 amp stator and one or both VRs must be bad.

[Aquamaniac]

The Report:
First, checked battery voltages with switch off....starting was 12.73, deep cell was 12.25
Motor cranked right up this AM with switch on ALL.
Gauge read 13 at idle, and seemed steady.
Idled smoothly out, cut her off and fished a bit. Pretty windy/rough and not much was biting.
Pulled anchor and proceeded with phase two testing......throttle.

You can't imagine the smile on my face as I watched the gauge move up to 14 and sit there under good throttle! 
No spikes to 16, no alarm, no need to turn lights on, just a nice running boat!


Moral of the story.....
if you have an old Merc with a 9 amp stator and therefore, no regulator, you better have a good marine deep cell in the circuit!
This does change my two battery approach (from using starting for start/run, deep cell for house/backup to just use ALL) but I can adjust.

Hope all this helps someone in the future with similar issue. Sure seems to have solved things for me (at least for now.....)

Thanks to all who shared their thoughts!

[RickK]

Seems like your memory is ok to me Fitz