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Power question


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When I operate the sundeck lift on my 98' VLX my gauges and stereo reset (some of the servos in the gauges cycle, perfect pass resets, and the stereo resets). It seems like the lift motor is sucking enough power to drop voltage to everything else low enough to cause them to reset. Once the motor is running, it's fine, it's just the initial startup that causes things to reset.

I plan on seeing if the same things happens while the boat is running tomorrow, but I was curious if anyone else had seem the same issues with the motor not running.

Could it be a low battery? Would a cap hooked to the power wire on the motor fix this?

Thanks.

-gvb

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I believe that prior to model year 2000, the VLX had a solid rear hatch and it was powered open and close. In 2000, the VLX came with the split rear deck that is in 3 pieces and is still the same today.

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When I operate the sundeck lift on my 98' VLX my gauges and stereo reset (some of the servos in the gauges cycle, perfect pass resets, and the stereo resets).  It seems like the lift motor is sucking enough power to drop voltage to everything else low enough to cause them to reset.  Once the motor is running, it's fine, it's just the initial startup that causes things to reset.

I plan on seeing if the same things happens while the boat is running tomorrow, but I was curious if anyone else had seem the same issues with the motor not running.

Could it be a low battery?  Would a cap hooked to the power wire on the motor fix this?

Thanks.

-gvb

GVB,

I would suspect a bad battery or at mininum bad connections. If this happens every time you run the hatch without the engine running, for some reason the battery is not sustaining 10 volts while the actuator is operating, or the actuator is drawing an intense amount of current.

Points to bear in mind:

PP is the first indicator of low voltage, for it will drop offline at the first sign of less than normal voltage.

The KM gauges should be the second to go, most everything will go down with voltage under 9.6 if I recall correctly.

If you are familiar with a load test I'd check the battery - If it drops under 10 volts after 15 seconds of cranking it's junk. If you are not familiar with this procedure ask your dealer to perform it.

If the actuator does not reset the guages during the day's activities even with the engine off, you may have too large of a current draw overnight. Check the amperage draw with everything off. Battery memory should only draw a few milliamps. Anything more is suspect, and worth finding out what.

Hope that helps,

Peter

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If you're already running two batts. I'd be inclinded to isolate the motor onto the stand-by batt. On top of testing the charging system and batt., I think you would be able to install a capacitor inline.

Edited by Pistol Pete
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  • 8 years later...

*bump* Has anyone out there fixed this problem? Short of re-wiring everything or adding a new battery, I'm out of ideas. My boat is doing the exact same thing.

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If the hatch motor is a brushed DC motor like a starter motor, you may need to pull it apart, lube the bearings, clean the commutator up, and replace the brushes. Current starts going way up when it's time for a rebuild.

If you decide to pull it apart, it should be easy to do (I'm still assuming it's the kind of motor I would use if I were building it). Remember also to use a small saw blade (grind a hacksaw blade thinner) to regap the spaces between the commutator contacts. I'd go about 0.020" deep or so. Clean the commutator with some very fine sandpaper.

Be sure to check all the connections first, since a loose wire is much worse than an old motor for high current.

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*bump* Has anyone out there fixed this problem? Short of re-wiring everything or adding a new battery, I'm out of ideas. My boat is doing the exact same thing.

Mine is doing the same thing. Please post if you find a solution.

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Mine is doing the same thing. Please post if you find a solution.

Mountain, I'm still waiting for a solution myself, but what I'm going to do from now on is turn off the boat completely (radio, PP, all of it) when I need to use the hatch. That way all of the power can be focused on it and doesn't reset everything on the dash. The only time I raise the hatch on the water is when I need to adjust ballast. So then once I'm done with that, I'll turn the boat back off when I need to lower it down. It'll be an obnoxious process but I turn the boat off anyway when changing riders and that's usually when I have to adjust ballast.

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  • 3 years later...

Bringing this one back from the dead... any of you guys with the same problem ever figure out a solution?

I feel like an inline cap would be a kludge.  I'm assuming justgary's post about rebuilding the motor (because it's startup draw due to internal resistance) is most likely the long term fix.

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