How long will My Battery Last

smallribber · 13 July 2020, 07:35

Like so many others for obvious reasons I was late getting my boat to its mooring this year. It is a swing mooring. I went out yesterday to find that the Battery is not charging when the engine is running. I suspect a dead rectifier. Because I dont want too much more 'down time' I dont want to pull the boat out and get the parts to fix it this season. I have 2 brand new 80 AMP hour batteries on board and only run the Engine (200HP V6 2 Stroke (Yam)), A Chart Plotter and VHF. I am thinking of just using the boat then taking the batteries home to charge and bringing then back for the next outing. (They are deep cycle Batteries). The engine turns over fine. A bit of a faf I know but I would rather do this than pull her out.

How many hours do you think a battery will run this set up........ I would hope a good day out and I also have the spare Battery ?

boristhebold · 13 July 2020, 08:10

Personally I wouldnt go out if the engine isnt charging the batteries, too much of a risk. I would fix the fault.

smallribber · 13 July 2020, 08:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by boristhebold

Personally I wouldnt go out if the engine isnt charging the batteries, too much of a risk. I would fix the fault.

Given the Number of hours I have already spend looking for the Parts that is easier said than done but I take your point....

I am interested in what others think.........

By the way this boat is generally on tidal rivers not out to sea as such

ribber · 13 July 2020, 08:30

Well you've covered yourself with having the second spare battery. If the first dies on you, you know you have the spare to take you back to port.

Poly · 13 July 2020, 08:55

Swapping rectifiers sounds like a quick job? If you don’t are you not risking damaging the battery?

Personally it sounds like the start of the chain of events that might result in a call out for the RNLI so I wouldn’t ignore it.

smallribber · 13 July 2020, 09:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poly

Swapping rectifiers sounds like a quick job? If you don’t are you not risking damaging the battery?

Personally it sounds like the start of the chain of events that might result in a call out for the RNLI so I wouldn’t ignore it.

No risk to the Battery provided you dont let it get too low.

Swapping a Rectifier is not that easy on a 200hp which I think is also water cooled and finding the correct one is proving to be a real nightmare. so far I have narrowed it down to 3 ranging in price from £40 to £300 so not just a simple job like it would be on say a 15hp.

I dont think this situation will need the RNLI any time soon

Sutty · 13 July 2020, 09:35

I would rig up a solar panel and then you aren’t mauling the batteries to and fro every week.

paulbrown22 · 13 July 2020, 10:35

Depending on what the underlying problem is, is there not a chance that by continuing to run the engine without the alternator feeding properly you could further knacker the alternator?

Personally I'm in the camp where I wouldn't be going out for leisure in a boat with a completely non-operational charging system, it's just not worth the risk. I don't run big petrol outboards so have no idea what the draw is like, but if the battery voltage is pulled down and the engine struggles, then unless you have a working/independent aux (at risk of starting another debate...), you're a bit stuck.

Pikey Dave · 13 July 2020, 10:46

Have you checked that the battery isn’t knackered? If its been sat on a mooring for yonks it could be shot. A dead battery won’t accept charge. Similarly certain rectifier/charging circuits won’t output a charging voltage unless they detect a load on the output.
As for going out with a known iffy system, personally I wouldn’t.

Nasher · 13 July 2020, 10:46

As several has said above, I wouldn't risk it.

All it would take is the need to restart the engine a few times for some reason, and you're out of battery power.

Nasher.

smallribber · 13 July 2020, 12:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Have you checked that the battery isn’t knackered? If its been sat on a mooring for yonks it could be shot. A dead battery won’t accept charge. Similarly certain rectifier/charging circuits won’t output a charging voltage unless they detect a load on the output.
As for going out with a known iffy system, personally I wouldn’t.

Now that is very interesting and something I wondered about. Now I have the battery at home I have it on a slow charge at 2 amps and it is charging ok and is showing 13.4 v while on charge. I have also ordered a new battery and will go to the boat and put that on because I also wondered if there might be somthing in the circuit to prevent charging a poor battery.

For information I always leave my boat on the mooring with the battery leads disconnected and it has only been on there for 2 weeks so not a huge amount of time

smallribber · 13 July 2020, 12:16

Well I suspect this will generate more discussion.

I have finally tracked down the correct Rectifier.

UK Price Claimed Yamaha OEM £390.00Plus Postage

Ebay Price from China incl postage £28.00

Interesting. What would you do

Maximus · 13 July 2020, 14:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by boristhebold

Personally I wouldnt go out if the engine isnt charging the batteries, too much of a risk. I would fix the fault.

Definatly would want to get to the bottom of that before I took to Sea Mate.

Poly · 13 July 2020, 15:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by smallribber

No risk to the Battery provided you dont let it get too low.

So its putting out nothing rather than an unrectified or unregulated voltage? As someone else said does that put the alternator at risk then?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sutty

I would rig up a solar panel and then you aren’t mauling the batteries to and fro every week.

Will need to be a very good solar panel to recharge (rather than just keep topped up) a battery.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nasher

All it would take is the need to restart the engine a few times for some reason, and you're out of battery power.

Exactly - nobody plans to have issues, its like running our of fuel - you underestimate some factor and suddenly you are making an embarrassing call to the CG.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smallribber

Well I suspect this will generate more discussion.

I have finally tracked down the correct Rectifier.

UK Price Claimed Yamaha OEM £390.00Plus Postage

Ebay Price from China incl postage £28.00

Interesting. What would you do

I suspect that Chinese version will take weeks to arrive. Otherwise I'd be tempted...

davej · 13 July 2020, 17:46

I know it isn’t the same engine but I swopped out a rectifier on a 60 go merc in about 10 mins. Have you tried I think his name is ‘Tim’ on the south coast who sells CDI engine electronic components at half the price of yam originals, well that was what I paid for the switch box for a 2S yam 115.
The business is called something like the ‘engine room’ I know this is vague. However I do have the details somewhere. Cheers

Peter_C · 14 July 2020, 00:44

If you can figure out what type of rectifier it is, you might be able to swap out to a solid state type like a motorcycle uses. The OP mentioned water cooling though.

whiskylee · 14 July 2020, 05:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by davej

I know it isn’t the same engine but I swopped out a rectifier on a 60 go merc in about 10 mins. Have you tried I think his name is ‘Tim’ on the south coast who sells CDI engine electronic components at half the price of yam originals, well that was what I paid for the switch box for a 2S yam 115.
The business is called something like the ‘engine room’ I know this is vague. However I do have the details somewhere. Cheers

http://www.mareng.co.uk/

smallribber · 14 July 2020, 07:07

I have ordered 2 new Rectifiers from China because at £28 each I can easily afford 2. I would have liked to go OEM but I am afraid at £390 I simple cant get my head around the price difference as these things are relatively simple components. They are comming speedpack so should be with me by the 27th July which is fine with me.

I have also charged the old battery and it fully charged and took 34 Amp Hours. We were out in the boat for about 4 hours to use this amount so all OK.

I have also ordered another
new Battery so will have 3 on board which is 240 amp hours in total which is plenty of redundancy.

Once the Rectifiers Arrive I will replace the old one and also send it to a friend of mine who will repair it.

My research was that the one I have is not water cooled

smallribber · 14 July 2020, 07:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by whiskylee

CDI Electronics, Starters, Alternators and Power Trim from Engine Room Marine Parts

Thanks for this I have found the Rectifier

CDI ElectronicsÂ*Yamaha Voltage Regulator 197-0001 (6R3-81960)

at £97 you got to wonder if this is just a Chinese £28 one ?

whiskylee · 14 July 2020, 08:53

In stock in the UK

https://ssimarine.co.uk/products/rec...p-6g5-81960-a0

Quote:

Originally Posted by smallribber

Thanks for this I have found the Rectifier

CDI ElectronicsÂ*Yamaha Voltage Regulator 197-0001 (6R3-81960)

at £97 you got to wonder if this is just a Chinese £28 one ?