Chased electrical boat gremlins sunday. Arrived sat evening. House battery was almost dead no clue why, figured battery must have expired last week some time. Turn on dock powered lights had cocktails called it a night. Sunday AM, battery still showing about 8-9 Volts, charger been on all night, battery going on year four, probly died.
Cleaned terminals, did some connection snooping. nothing. Still 8-9 volts.
In with the new battery. Problem solved. WHAT ? New battery shows 12 -13 volts at terminals. . .still 8-9 volts on dash voltmeter, same on digital plug in meter. Exposed the back of the battery switches where the other end of the battery cable terminates. Guess what ? 8-9 volts ! This defies logic. Got to be a ground problem you say ? No such luck, double checked & cleaned grounds earlier. So I remove ring terminal accessories (3) that are wired on the switched side of the battery switch. None of which are battery charger terminals, as they are located right on the battery. Check voltage again on battery switch. 12 Volts. WHAT ? Hook acc wires back up to the battery switch and the voltage drops to 8-9 volts again. Rather than turn this thread into a book I will cut to the end of the story. (Yes the new battery had a full charge.) The battery switch had decided to give it up. How do I know ? After hours of chasing gremlins I took a nut and bolt and tied all the battery switch cables together and instantly had 12 V power. What are the odds that my 4 yr old battery would drop to 8-9 volts at the same time the battery switch died ? What are the odds that a defective switch would become a resistor ? No clue. And what is a UEP ? Unexplained Electrical Phenomena.
Cleaned terminals, did some connection snooping. nothing. Still 8-9 volts.
In with the new battery. Problem solved. WHAT ? New battery shows 12 -13 volts at terminals. . .still 8-9 volts on dash voltmeter, same on digital plug in meter. Exposed the back of the battery switches where the other end of the battery cable terminates. Guess what ? 8-9 volts ! This defies logic. Got to be a ground problem you say ? No such luck, double checked & cleaned grounds earlier. So I remove ring terminal accessories (3) that are wired on the switched side of the battery switch. None of which are battery charger terminals, as they are located right on the battery. Check voltage again on battery switch. 12 Volts. WHAT ? Hook acc wires back up to the battery switch and the voltage drops to 8-9 volts again. Rather than turn this thread into a book I will cut to the end of the story. (Yes the new battery had a full charge.) The battery switch had decided to give it up. How do I know ? After hours of chasing gremlins I took a nut and bolt and tied all the battery switch cables together and instantly had 12 V power. What are the odds that my 4 yr old battery would drop to 8-9 volts at the same time the battery switch died ? What are the odds that a defective switch would become a resistor ? No clue. And what is a UEP ? Unexplained Electrical Phenomena.
