battery charging issue - from motor

[lobo1]

My boat has a new Diehard Platinum Marine battery and a 225 Optimax. It seems that I am not getting the motor to charge the battery when it is running. When I go out the battery is fully charged fresh off the trickle. When I come home and put the charger back on the battery it may take as many as 7 amps and charge for two hours before reading full.

The battery has been to Sears for a load test and they said it is good.
The motor has been on the computer and is throwing a charge.

Any ideas where my energy is going from the alternator? Is it normal to need this much charge after just running for 40 minutes at half throttle on the way in? I would think the battery should be just about fully charged when I get home and hook it up......yes / no ?

There are no major components sucking juice - such as auto pilot etc

Any ideas or comments welcome.

thanks,
Steve

[DANIEL MARK ZAPOLSKI]

do you pull off the kill switch clip when you turn off the main motor ? if not that will drain/kill that battery in a heart beat. alot of people think if they turn the key off thats all you have to do, WRONG! i had a buddy who would leave the clip on all the time, being in such a hurry to get the lines in. one time at harbor beach he had to swap out batteries in 3 footers while i laughed my a** off at him.:lol::lol: oh yeah, he got pissed off at me but HE HAS NEVER DONE THAT BONE HEAD STUNT AGAIN! i think all that laughing burnt it into his grey matter for life. he's just lucky he had another battery or that would have been quite the bill for a tow job.:yikes:

[FishTales]

do you pull off the kill switch clip when you turn off the main motor ? if not that will drain/kill that battery in a heart beat.

I never heard of such a thing.
The last boat I got has the kill switch on it, got it 8 years ago in April.
I never pull the kill switch tether and never had a dead starting battery because of it.
If your going to pull straws, better pull another one. :lol: :lol:
Rich

[lobo1]

even if the kill switch does help keeping a charge - shouldn't the motor be charging the battery more than it is?

my last boat had a no-name battery and an Evinrude 250 - that boat charged the cranking battery full pretty quickly and then also charged the accessories battery --- they would both be full when I got home.

thanks again

[roger23]

I played that game with a Sears Battery ,,,it had a dead cell ,,,they did not want to replace it it had less than a month on the free replacement.had a battery shop check it it did have a dead cell

[ESOX]

The kill switch has nothing to do with the issue. A kill switch in the on position will not drain the battery when the ignition is off.
First things first, make sure your battery you are using is large enough, Optimaxes are power hogs at low to mid RPM's. Optis are not only running fuel injectors, but also air injectors. At the low to mid RPM range they are a net loss in the battery department. Add to that a VHF, fish finders etc..and yes, you will come off the water with a lower state of charge than you launched with if you don't wind her up and let her run a while. My biggest suggestion to people with Optis, stuff the biggest battery in there you can fit, you may need it some day.

Check all the connections between the battery which checks out, and the alternator which they say is OK. I bet it's just the Opti power consumption thing.

[DANIEL MARK ZAPOLSKI]

The kill switch has nothing to do with the issue. A kill switch in the on position will not drain the battery when the ignition is off.
First things first, make sure your battery you are using is large enough, Optimaxes are power hogs at low to mid RPM's. Optis are not only running fuel injectors, but also air injectors. At the low to mid RPM range they are a net loss in the battery department. Add to that a VHF, fish finders etc..and yes, you will come off the water with a lower state of charge than you launched with if you don't wind her up and let her run a while. My biggest suggestion to people with Optis, stuff the biggest battery in there you can fit, you may need it some day.

Check all the connections between the battery which checks out, and the alternator which they say is OK. I bet it's just the Opti power consumption thing.

oh really ! don't tell that to a lund owner, especially this one. i have a clip that detents the power to the switch and if the clip is left on the BATTERY WILL DIE AND THATS A FACT. now for your wiring i don't know or propose to know. but anyhow, unless you did the wiring on all the boats ever made how can you possibly make a statement like that. lots of things can come into play in electronics thats FLUKE MAKES VOLT OHM METERS.

[ESOX]

Lund, Lowe, Starcraft, Evinrude, Mercury,Hoonda or Suzuki, it makes no difference, if leaving the the kill switch on with the ignition off is draining your battery, your boat is wired wrong.

[ESOX]

Actually, since most kill switches are normally open that provide a path to ground, usually through the tachometer ground wire, when closed (In the off position) this gets really weird as I think of the possibilities of the kill switch having anything to do with a draining battery when in the "on" or open position..............

[lobo1]

thanks pike man

i'll try to get the RPM's up next time out and see what the end result is. it was pretty choppy when I came in last time so you could be onto something as my RPM's never got that high for any extended period of time - jumped a few waves.....

the guy I bought this boat from (this winter) had this brand new battery in it that he seemed pretty proud of ....I found the receipt and now I see why - $212 !!!! lot of money for a battery!!

I wished he would have bought the next size up. This one has 880 CCA the next size jumps to 1150 CCA. This one barely meets the minimum required my Mercury....which is 750 CCA or 1000 MCA.

I'll keep my 20 foot jumper cables aboard (have trolling batteries that may come to the rescue) - If this ends up being a pain in the rear - I may just have to go to that bigger battery even though I have this new one in the boat :(

thanks