Outbrd charging question

[Hozenya]

Have twin 150 Johnson FICHT OceanRunners with two new marine batteries that will not charge after a day on the water.

I charged the batteries before heading out and my two new battery gauges start out reading charged but then will read zero the half and so on. side note, I do have two bad trim gauges but when tested with dig meter, the reading change with angel.

I run the motors on thier own battery so there is no cross talk between regulators. I have the CC on one battery and the electronics on the other.

At the batteries I see the same fluctuations I see in the gauges and think the V/R is shutting down and coming back on line again?

I have replaced all breakers and switches and some wires based on black copper along with both ignition switchs as one was bad so I did both seeing as the boat is 11 yrs old.

Any input on where to start testing would help, no fun not knowing if you can make if home each trip  

Thanks in advance!

[Hozenya]

Update on charging issue...

Pulled regulator and tested stator, both the 26V and 12V sides checked OK!

Found some black tacky like RTV on the power relay plug contacts, cleaned with brake cleaner as there was no way to get inside the relay plug. Traced the output from the pwr relay to the solonoid and found that the first nut was not tightened down all the way but the second nut was which is from the battery.

Cleaned an tightened all connections and test, reg output ramps up as expected and runs steady off idle.

Still have to sea trial again to confirm but all looks good in the yard...

[GoneFission]

A loose nut can bust yo butt.     It's amazing how many problems come down to a loose connection somewhere - sometimes even the loose nut behind the wheel!    

Hope you fixed her - good luck!

[John Jones]

Yeah, people look at me funny when I tell them to take those battery wing nuts and throw them as far as they can.

[seabob4]

Yeah, people look at me funny when I tell them to take those battery wing nuts and throw them as far as they can.

Now them's fightin' words!!!  

[John Jones]

To me there is a difference between wing nuts and wingnuts.  ;)

[seabob4]

To me there is a difference between wing nuts and wingnuts.  ;)

And I AM a wingnut...

Verado rigging kits come with hex nuts and lock washers, telling you to chuck those wing nuts...

[John Jones]

I have had good luck with SS Nylock nuts.  $0.35 ea.  They don't corrode and they don't work loose.

[gran398]

Those Nylocks are all I've ever used on my yachts, er........

tighten' 'em down on that black plastic, forget the torque....

 

[GoneFission]

:flower:  :albino:  :pig:

To me there is a difference between wing nuts and wingnuts.  ;)

And I AM a wingnut...
 

Wingnuts unite!!    :afro:  :rendeer:  :santa:  :cat:

[jcaesar625]

Doubling up the wingnuts keeps them from backing out, and you still have the ease of swapping out a battery out on the water if you have to.

[Hozenya]

While the conversation of which nut is a good nut and which nut one would use for a given application, I have to mention that I had no wingnut in may setup.  

The lose nut in question was the first 9/16 nut on the starter solonoid that held the eye terminal from the pwr relay which is how the regulator charges the battery. The second 9/16 was then used to hold the cable from-to the battery on the same solonoid stud. With the first nut only hand tight seemed to allow corrosion to build up and cause my intermittent charge no charge condition, that and that black stuff on the pwr relay terminals.

In the end, always know where your nuts are   , keep then high and dry   and take a head count from time to time  :elephant: , it will keep you smiling  

[GoneFission]