Electronic Issue Effecting Everything But The Starter

jay42782 · Jun 29, 2015

Long time lurker first time poster.What a great site!!

Just picked up a 1998 skeeter 17.5 all weld with a 40 hp yamaha and having a heck of a time figuring out this electric issue

Yesterday went through everything getting it ready for the first fish trip and everything was in working order

Upon doing one last once over I realized my on board charger only had the red light on wich usually has both green and red.Also was very dim

So i went to the tilt trim switches both bow and shifter.As I push up or down it moves but very slow like its drawing very little power

next went to the horn....same thing super low screeching honk

And then finally my Humminbird 859.Will turn on then right back off

Both batteries are fully charged checked with a fluke meter several times

I checked every fuse the boat has on it there all good

I even went as far as eliminating everything electrical and reconnected it one at a time.Same as before.Each device would perform poorly

The batteries both cranking and trolling are brand new one month old and have been used in my other boat and worked just fine

any thoughts on what to check before i pull my hair out?? PS:The starter cranks the motor normal but that's it

Capt1972 · Jun 29, 2015

Sounds like a bad ground.

jay42782 · Jun 29, 2015

Capt1972 said:
Sounds like a bad ground.

I will continue to dig further
Also before installing new batteries I cleaned all ring connectors with a wire brush then sand paper

JMichael · Jul 2, 2015

I understand that both batteries are pretty much new, but you should be aware that checking them with a meter does not mean they are good. You need a hydrometer in conjunction with the meter or a load tester if you want to test a battery. That being said, I doubt that both batteries are bad. So what items do you have running off of which battery? How do you have them wired (series/parallel/separate)? What voltage did your batteries show on your meter when you checked them, and have you watched the meter to see what happens to the battery voltage while you are operating the tilt/trim?

KMixson · Jul 2, 2015

Does the batteries spin the starter over with force like normal or does it sound like the starter is weak? If the starter sounds normal I would check for a loose connection in a wire somewhere in the other circuit. A loose ground or hot wire will cause your symptoms. The current will flow through the loose connection until a load is applied the the connection fails and you will lose the current. Clean every connection and terminal you can get to on that circuit. I would clean the battery connections and make sure they are tight. Since it affects every item on that circuit I wouldn't think that a fuse would be the cause but it wouldn't hurt to pull every fuse and reinstall it. I have seen fuses that are good but a little loose in the socket cause issues. I would also check every splice in the wires for a good connection. If you can, put a volt meter on the circuit and turn on an item in that circuit. Check to see if voltage drops when you turn on the item and compare voltage from a no load condition to a load condition. Voltage should drop only a fraction for small wattage items.

richg99 · Jul 2, 2015

Lots of good advice above. As was already said, hanging a meter on battery tells you almost nothing. You need a load test.

Only thing I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is that the "new" battery might have a bad cell.

Didn't think it could happen to me, but my nearly brand new van, with 7500 miles on it...had a bad battery. She turned over, but barely. I charged it, she started perfectly fine....and I drove it to the dealer. Bad cell in a nearly brand new battery. Replaced under warranty. You never know.

richg99

JMichael · Jul 3, 2015

You also mentioned in your original post that your onboard charger doesn't seem to be working right, so you may be dealing with batteries that need to be charged and a charger that needs to be replaced.