Voltage

[cameldownunder]

Hi

I went out Yesterday, and noticed that my Volt indicator showed me 17.6 V

What could be the reason for this?

Is this acceptable or will my instruments/radio/stereo/sounder get damaged?

[WANNAFISH]

Check it again with a separate multi meter just to confirm that your voltmeter is working ok. If its running too high, there would be a good chance of blowing electronics as fuses dont blow on high voltage.

Edited March 15, 2010 by WANNAFISH

[chrisg]

What motor are you running? Could be your regulator has gone on the alternator. Some early motors were un-regulated but even then 17V is too high if its correct. Whilst your elecronics are at risk the biggest issue is your battery will be venting ie the water will be evaporating which will eventually kill it especially if its a sealed maint free one.

C.

Edited March 15, 2010 by chrisg

[cameldownunder]

It is a Yamaha 60HP 2003 model.

I didn't have any problem with 1 battery, but had a second battery installed.

It also shows up only on one of the battery, on the other one it is fine.

[chrisg]

So both batteries are charging from the motor at the same time?

If so the 17v battery is overcharged hence the voltage ie its full...really full. Ideally you should have something like a voltage sensitive relay or charging cluster which allows charging of the first battery to 13.7 volts and then switches to charge the second battery. Boat shops have them. You might also be able to do something with heavy duty battery switch. Will require a bit of thought and reaseach or good advice from a marine electrician.

Thats all assuming the volts and wiring are correct.

C.

[fishingrod]

A 60hp motor would have some sort of regulator in it as already mentioned by ChrisG. If its working properly on a health battery it should limit it to 14.5 to 15V absolute max.

As WannaFish has said, get hold of a digital multimeter which can be bought for less than $20. (if buying a cheapie just make sure it has a 1 decimal point resolution between 10-20 volts DC)

Running towards 17V certainly runs a risk of damaging electronics. Lights and bilge pumps might tolerate it short term.

Im wondering if there is some kind of wiring glitch somewhere since the 2nd battery was installed. Hard to diagonise without knowing the battery and switch set up you have.

Have you tried starting the motor from the battery that is reading 17.6V ? (or did you start it on the other battery and then switch across across to the 17V battery after the motor was running)

It almost sounds like the type of voltage that might come out of the motor if there was no battery connected at all.

Its something that a marine mechanic or auto/marine electrician should be able to work out pretty easy. (take it back to the person who installed your 2nd battery)

cheers

Rod

[rebehy]

It is a Yamaha 60HP 2003 model.

I didn't have any problem with 1 battery, but had a second battery installed.

It also shows up only on one of the battery, on the other one it is fine.

Not sure what you mean here. Do you have a voltage guage to read each battery or are you switching the batteries over with a selector switch and get a different reading for each battery on the same guage? Also, can you read the voltage on the guage with the engine off?

Eddie