Voltage regulator warning / dead batteries

[TOGA]

Will try to provide as much detail as I can as this is an item I have no experience with and need guidance.

2006 Yamaha 230 ho

Started getting the flashing code for incorrect voltage. Understand this can be caused by a faulty voyage regulator.

I have a blue sea dual battery set up. I only receive the error when I am running on both batteries. When I switch to one battery, the error goes away.

Yesterday on the water I was running in one battery and the stereo started to cut out because of insufficient power to amps. I switched over to 2 batteries hot thinking I could drain both. Well, I did. Had to jump myself off with one the little jumper packs that are so popular now.

Put batteries on charger last night. Within 1 hour on water today the stereo starts cutting out. I was not receiving and error for voltage today.

Status light on blue sea: when on single battery, led flashes stating voltage lockout. No warning when switched to both batteries.

Please treat me like a freshman on this subject.

If the voltage regulators go bad, does that restrict the batteries from charging while running, or don't have a stator problem too?

Could it be a bad battery. One is the one that was in the bit when I bought the boat 4 years ago. It is hooked up as battery 1. Second battery was added last year.

Wondering why battery is draining without voltage error on indicator lights.

I don't want to get educated in replacing voltage regulators before Labor Day weekend if I don't have to.

All guidance appreciated.

 

[captras]

First, Check to see if you are getting the correct voltage to the batteries...I believe it should be around 14VDC. If so, then you probably have a bad battery. 4 years for a boat battery is quite a bit. I would actually take them both out and go to an autoparts store where they can test your batteries. Good luck.

 

[Julian]

Agree with @captras ...sounds like you have a dead battery. Pull them both and take them to an auto parts store to be tested. If they test ok, then it sounds like you have a short somewhere that is draining your battery.

 

[txav8r]

A couple of things...first off, it sounded like you put your Blue Sea switch to Combine (both) before you had a problem. You never want to do that. Consider the Combine setting an emergency procedure. It is there to assist you IF your start battery runs down. Your house (stereo) battery is in reserve for your house, not the other way around.

It can happen that you could have an issue with your charging circuit, but you have a stator magneto, not an alternator/voltage regulator. As such, you get pretty much direct charge from the stator to your battery. With the "add a battery" kit, you have an ACR (automatic charging relay), that will close and allow charge to be applied to the lowest of the two batteries first, then top them both. Until a load is placed on either of them to reduce the head charge, they will remain combined thru the ACR. This is also dependent on how you have them wired too, as the ACR may not close on shore power if you have the ACR on the load side of the switch. But your symptoms indicate you have a battery that isn't behaving right.

Lastly, I have a suspicion you do not charge them after use, is that right? Your stereo battery needs to be recharged once your off the lake at home or storage. If you Combine them, then you will need to recharge them both once done for the day/weekend. Your stator magneto will only put out 28amps at cruise power settings, and your electrical system uses some of that. So at best, your putting out maybe 10 amps per battery, which is all a battery can absorb per hour. If you drain down a battery to shutoff, you have killed it and it will take probably 5 to 7 hours to recharge based on the amp/hour rating of the battery. If you have two on a single bank charger, double that...and that is based on 10 amps of charge to each battery. In closing, batteries need to always be charged after use if they are depleted. If they are stored fully charged, they still need charging after 3 or 4 weeks or the batteries will fall short of a full life. Batteries left down while stored will not last a full life either. But my guess is you have a battery issue, not a charging issue. A bad battery combined with a good one, will quickly deplete the good battery as well. Keep us posted on what you find out!

 

[TOGA]

I typically charge the batteries after every weekend. We are typically out two day a weekend I a put the maintainer on them on return. The first time this happened, they had been on the maintainer as normal. This weekend, they had not. They had only been placed on the maintainer the night before we left after being parked for two weeks with the battery selector to "off".

I had flipped the switch to both when the stereo started cutting out due to low amps when the batteries died. We hadn't been running with them that way all day. I was surprised that I didn't have enough juice to turn the boat over after such a short time. I'm hoping this is a battery issue. I've got them charging now and will pull them and run them by and have them tested tomorrow to see if one is bad. Battery 1 is the old battery, so I'm hoping its as simple as that.

Thanks for all the guidance. Will check the volts before I pull them tomorrow and then report back on both volt reading and battery check.

 

[TOGA]

Had both batteries checked today and they say both are good and only need charging. I've got 'em on the charger and will advise after next outing.

I did not check voltage prior to pulling batteries. I'll check as soon as we laugh next time.

Thanks for y'alls help.

 

[2nazt]

Check the water level as well in the batteries as that makes a difference. The batteries could be good but aging and depending on your stereo system you may need to consider upgrading to another battery for the stereo bank. Hope the weekend goes uneventful for you and recharge the jump pack just incase.

 

[TOGA]

10/4. will check water.

verify something for me with the blue ray system if you can. the new battery is hooked up as battery 2 I believe. I can verify. Someone said not to run the switch in "both" unless it was an energy needed to start.

If that is the case, when the stereo is playing while motors aren't running, is it pulling from battery 1 or two when the switch is in "single" mode.

Switch is wired per the installation diagram. biggest set of wires connected though runs to battery 1 and only 1 wire on negative and two and positive of second battery.

Apologies if I am clouding the issue. I'm not dumb, but honestly, i turned this over to my stereo go to handle and trusted him as I'd rather boat than install. Now I want to understand the system better since I've had an issue (typically a prompter in my life these days).

 

[tdonoughue]

Not at all. That is why we are here.

Your Blue Sea ACR keeps your batteries separated when discharging and combines them for charging (basically). So, you should have the engines basically running off of one battery and the stereo, etc. running off of the other when they are discharging. When you turn the switch to combine them, you are basically overriding the ACR and saying, 'no, gimme all you got', which then hooks both batteries for whatever the demand is. That is why it is recommended that it is for emergency only--if you use up all the juice when they are combined, there ain't none left anywhere (except your little jump box--good job on carrying that).

As to whether your stereo is pulling from 1 or 2 when in normal mode, that depends on where it is wired. You should be able to trace the stereo cables through to one side of the rotating switch and the engines through to the other side. Then another wire goes from above or below that stereo side to one battery and from above or below the engines to the other battery. So, whether you call them '1' and '2' or 'house' and 'engine', that is how to find out what is going where. When I wired mine, I brought out my little Dymo labeling machine and made a sticker for each battery (House and Engine) so I knew what was what when I needed.

Hope that helps.

 

[TOGA]

May have found that it is a battery issue. Both batteries tested "good" at auto zone, but after two days on the charger, the older battery from July 14 is still not showing charged. The bad battery indicator isn't lit, but I know it should show charged unless theres a problem with my charger.

Now charging the second battery to make sure it charges to a green light to make sure charger is working properly and verify newer battery is good.

Anyone know how those battery checkers work? how can they tell from a few seconds that the battery is good or bad. Is it just ready voltage or can it tell if the battery will actually accept and hold a charge properly?

 

[2nazt]

The run a set load pattern to test the batteries cranking and holding power. It is also dependent on the operator as well. You may want to go to a second store to check also.

 

[txav8r]

A battery hydrometer only checks the specific gravity. To check the battery correctly, it needs to be put under load and see what the draw down amps are, and if it recovers. I am doubting autozones test based on your charger response. But be advised that most chargers can fool you too. They set thresholds on chargers at voltage thresholds. And the Chargers run through their test/charge/hold, sequencing based on the level of the battery. My Pulsetech charger for example can be confused because the battery never reaches the threshold that full is set at for 100%, and it may show 90%, when in fact it is full for that battery. Don't worry about that, because the battery goes into trickle at about 80%. Hit my fear is that it is always in trickle and some chargers won't go into hold. That's bad, because it dries the battery up prematurely, if it stays under any charge all the time.

 

[TOGA]

Cheaper seems to work fine. Charged the battery I felt was good (the newer one) and it charged to the "full" indicator on the charger.

Hooked the bad one back up just to see if it ever registers.

We are playing on Lake this weekend but using other boats so I don't need to worry about it now.

I'm going to assume it's a bad battery and plan on buying another one before I head back out.

Simple enough solution.

Appreciate all the guidance and info.