Here's a strange one

[UWSkier]

Yes, we're late getting the boat in this year, but it's finally in.

Anyways, on Friday, I charged up the battery like I normally do, stuck it in the boat and clamped down the cables with an adjustable wrench. The wiggle test revealed no motion in the cables and everything powered up fine and voltage readings looked good (but I didn't attempt to start). Saturday rolls around and we drop the boat in the water. Go to turn the key and *click*. Nada. Turn the key off and back on again and there's barely enough juice to sound the beeper (it was about 1/3 normal volume). That's strange, everything was fine last night. Must be the battery's shot cause nothing was turned on.

So we pull out and head into town to the local auto parts store and while Dad goes inside, I start removing the battery, this time with a socket set. As I'm removing the lid from the box I think to myself, "this can't be right. I know this battery has to be OK." So instead of loosening the cables, I give them a firm tightening with the socket wrench. They each took about a half turn with quite a bit of force. Upon turning the key, the boat fires right up. Weird! I know there was good contact there the night before. The cables and posts on the battery were both spotless and free of corrosion.

Moral of the story: don't be afraid to REALLY tighten your battery cables.

[the_dude]

You shouldn't have to crank on the battery terminals. I'm guessing a bad connection that cranking overly hard (unless you are weak ha ha) solved in your situation

[Sunsetter95]

Ahhh.... don't feel bad! Maybe it was the thermal expansion of the battery terminals from the charging. You attached them when it was done charging, then overnight, when they cooled, they were just a bit loose.

My son had issues starting ours when he was out the other day. I know I tightend them but 3 of the 4 were so loose, I only had to spin off the wing nut with one finger! Good reason to have trouble starting. I checked out the batteries anyway. Good thing, turns out one was down to only 168 CCA's out of the expected 650 or so. Replaced the one, reinstalled, good to go!

[mellen_mpz]

I had a battery terminal issue with my last boat. The terminal (as well as the wiring) looked totally clean. When I put the wire on the terminal it just wouldnt make a good connection. It had a very slight layer of corrosion or something that was keeping it from making a good connection. Try a wire brush!!!

[daniel1977]

I have a similiar electrical problem currently. I have an 08 LSV with a 2-battery set-up. Its been running fine until end of day Saturday when I started getting a low volt warning and the electronics (depth gauge, cruise, etc) stopped working. I checked all the connections and put the battery selector switch on each battery individually, but that made no difference on the volts. The volts stayed low (about 11.4) the rest of the afternoon (which wasn't very long). Started it up the next day without a problem, and the volts went back to normal for about 1 minute, then started dropping again - ran it about 15 mins and put it up. Its at the dealer now.

[Malibudude]

If you just have the key turned to the "on" position but not running the engine you'll get the low voltage warning.

[Lance B. Johnson]

Did you try cleaning the terminals? Sometimes that thin layer of oxidation is enough to keep the boat from starting. It can be deceptive, the terminal looks clean but really isn't. Happened to me before on a car.

[aaudii5150]

I have a similiar electrical problem currently. I have an 08 LSV with a 2-battery set-up. Its been running fine until end of day Saturday when I started getting a low volt warning and the electronics (depth gauge, cruise, etc) stopped working. I checked all the connections and put the battery selector switch on each battery individually, but that made no difference on the volts. The volts stayed low (about 11.4) the rest of the afternoon (which wasn't very long). Started it up the next day without a problem, and the volts went back to normal for about 1 minute, then started dropping again - ran it about 15 mins and put it up. Its at the dealer now.

Did you checked to see how many volts the batt really had? I had the same warnings when my batts were REALLY low. The volt meter was reading around 11.1-11.6 and the boat ran like CRAP while this was going on. Turned out that's all the batts had left in them. With that low of voltage my alternator was usles.......

Here's a link to the BS I went through after that...... Don't forget to read all the way to the end

LINK

[daniel1977]

I had the engine turned on and was in gear. The boat was running fine even with the low volt warning, absolutely no performance issues - it was just the electronic display on the dash that was screwy. I haven't gone through and worked on cleaning any connections, though they looked fine. Dropped it at the dealer yesterday morning, but haven't heard from them. When I had it at the dealer in the spring for oil change etc, a factory rep came through and made some adjustments to the electrical system, though they wouldn't tell the dealer everything they were looking for. Thanks for the link.

[aaudii5150]

I had the engine turned on and was in gear. The boat was running fine even with the low volt warning, absolutely no performance issues - it was just the electronic display on the dash that was screwy. I haven't gone through and worked on cleaning any connections, though they looked fine. Dropped it at the dealer yesterday morning, but haven't heard from them. When I had it at the dealer in the spring for oil change etc, a factory rep came through and made some adjustments to the electrical system, though they wouldn't tell the dealer everything they were looking for. Thanks for the link.

The only reason I know it was running bad was becuase we were boarding and surfing with a FULL boat......

I'm interested to see what they have to say..... Keep us posted.

[daniel1977]

Just picked it up from the dealer. They said a wire running to the alternator had broken, so the alternator wasn't charging the batteries. They had to replace the wire, but the batteries and the alternator were still fine.