veedubtek
Jetboaters Admiral
- Messages
- 2,424
- Reaction score
- 3,740
- Points
- 322
- Location
- Punta Gorda, FL
- Boat Make
- Scout
- Year
- 2011
- Boat Model
- Other
- Boat Length
- 28
So. Last weekend was my first full weekend on the lake with my new boat. With only 49 hours on the clock, didn't expect a whole lot of trouble. And there wasn't...Saturday. Sunday, I was getting a LOUD beeeeeep, somewhat sporadically just about all day. No warning lights, nothing else funny, just the beeping. Drove me NUTS. But, I wasn't about to let that ruin my day. Had 2 others boats with us, so I knew I had a tow back if necessary.
Long story short, never needed the tow. Finally though, as I was entering the no wake zone at the end of the day, it finally flashed an error at me - 12V too low - and the battery light flickered.
Now, I've never wrenched on a boat before, but I've done cars (well, Volkswagen and Audi), my entire life. So, I have a pretty good understanding of how everything should work. With that said, I of course first asked my favorite technical support helpline (aka Google). Nothing really common on my boat. Lots of regulator problems on the older seadoos, but it was supposed to be fixed for the 4tec engines. So, I broke out the multimeter and got to testing.
Familiarized myself with everything in there first, which was already overdue. Found the rectifier/voltage regulator right on top of the airbox, real easy to get to. So, I started there. These things use a stator on the engine to provide AC voltage which is sent to the rectifier/regulator assembly (one unit), which then converts the AC to DC voltage to charge the battery and power up everything.
So, DMM in hand, I fire up the boat and check the stator. It's a 3-pin connector, and any 2 combination of pins make up one phase. So, you basically just check pins 1-2, 2-3, and 1-3. They should all be similar readings, and around 28vAC around 3000rpms. Perfect, mine checked out beautifully. So, I probe the output of the regulator - only 2 wires here, easy. 5vDC. No bueno. Easy peasy, bad regulator. Right? Wrong.
This was Wednesday night. So, Thursday I of course had the local dealer overnight me a new one to the tune of $230, I knew I just had to be back on the water this weekend. Installed last night - same results. Sunnofa.
So, at this point I figure the regulator has to see a load on the other end before it puts out the power. So, I start following the harness. Ground first, easy. Goes down, around the engine, and straight to the engine block. Another wire from there to the battery. Continuity tested all good there. Power wire ran all the way around the engine as well, but then looped back. Goes through an inline 30a fuse holder, to the starter relay, and then to the battery. Again, circuit tested good. So I thought to myself, self, you know continuity doesn't tell you anything about the load carrying capacity of your circuit. So, I did a voltage drop test.
Yes. That 30a fuse just cost me $230. That fuse that tested good with a DMM on a basic continuity test. $230. That dam fuse.
So... during my googling, I really didn't find any good information, hence my write up here. I hope it helps someone at some point! I'll probably go back and add some pics later, but it was all very simple tests that anyone could do. Now, time to hit the lake.
Long story short, never needed the tow. Finally though, as I was entering the no wake zone at the end of the day, it finally flashed an error at me - 12V too low - and the battery light flickered.
Now, I've never wrenched on a boat before, but I've done cars (well, Volkswagen and Audi), my entire life. So, I have a pretty good understanding of how everything should work. With that said, I of course first asked my favorite technical support helpline (aka Google). Nothing really common on my boat. Lots of regulator problems on the older seadoos, but it was supposed to be fixed for the 4tec engines. So, I broke out the multimeter and got to testing.
Familiarized myself with everything in there first, which was already overdue. Found the rectifier/voltage regulator right on top of the airbox, real easy to get to. So, I started there. These things use a stator on the engine to provide AC voltage which is sent to the rectifier/regulator assembly (one unit), which then converts the AC to DC voltage to charge the battery and power up everything.
So, DMM in hand, I fire up the boat and check the stator. It's a 3-pin connector, and any 2 combination of pins make up one phase. So, you basically just check pins 1-2, 2-3, and 1-3. They should all be similar readings, and around 28vAC around 3000rpms. Perfect, mine checked out beautifully. So, I probe the output of the regulator - only 2 wires here, easy. 5vDC. No bueno. Easy peasy, bad regulator. Right? Wrong.
This was Wednesday night. So, Thursday I of course had the local dealer overnight me a new one to the tune of $230, I knew I just had to be back on the water this weekend. Installed last night - same results. Sunnofa.
So, at this point I figure the regulator has to see a load on the other end before it puts out the power. So, I start following the harness. Ground first, easy. Goes down, around the engine, and straight to the engine block. Another wire from there to the battery. Continuity tested all good there. Power wire ran all the way around the engine as well, but then looped back. Goes through an inline 30a fuse holder, to the starter relay, and then to the battery. Again, circuit tested good. So I thought to myself, self, you know continuity doesn't tell you anything about the load carrying capacity of your circuit. So, I did a voltage drop test.
Yes. That 30a fuse just cost me $230. That fuse that tested good with a DMM on a basic continuity test. $230. That dam fuse.
So... during my googling, I really didn't find any good information, hence my write up here. I hope it helps someone at some point! I'll probably go back and add some pics later, but it was all very simple tests that anyone could do. Now, time to hit the lake.
