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Posts: 2378
| I have a strange and very annoying electrical issue happening with my boat.
If I have my console GPS/sonar running and I crank the motor to start it the unit shuts off. It then wont power back up until the motor has been running for a few minutes.
It will also shut off if the motor is turned off and I turn on my nav lights. Again it will not turn on until I start the motor and run it for a few minutes.
It almost acts like the battery has to regain some charge from the alternator running for a few minutes before it has enough juice to run the combo. I know that is not the case, but...
I have my bow GPS hooked up to the same battery, and that one never turns off unless I do it.
The starting battery was brand new this spring.
Any ideas? Do I have something hooked up wrong? This is very annoying. |
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Posts: 229
| It sounds like the voltage at the unit that is turning off is low. I know when my battery is getting low and needs a charge because my GPS shuts down when I start my motor. It sounds like your issue may be in the wiring or fuse to that particular unit. That may be where the additional voltage drop is occuring- long run of wire, too thin of wire, resistive connection to fuse, etc. Is your battery fully charged? Check the volts with a meter. I know you have one unit that runs without shutting off, but there could be just a variance in the units and one just shuts down easier. Here is one thing to try:
1. Measure the voltage at your battery terminals and write it down.
2. Fully charge your battery.
3. Measure your battery terminal voltage and write it down a gain.
4. Use your boat now and see if the problem occurs again.
5. Measure the battery voltage again after use and write it down.
Your problem could be a number of things, but doing what I said may help you narrow it down to a few. It will be interesting to see if your battery is running low and a charge adds some volts. Also it will be interesting to see if using makes the battery drop down again.
John |
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Posts: 2378
| Last time I used the boat, the battery was fully charged when we started. It happened right off the bat. |
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Posts: 156
| Ditto on the above poster's advice. Get a good digital multimeter and check the voltage at the unit vs voltage at the battery. Go backwards from the unit checking each junction in the chain, like splices and fuse panels for voltage drop. If you have crimped splices those are prime suspects - corrosion can get inside them and give you a bad splice. |
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Posts: 229
| From what your saying it sounds like you can likely rule out the battery. But I would measure the battery voltage at the battery terminals of a fully charged battery. It should be around 12.5V, maybe more. Under 12.0V could likely be a problem
If you do not have a battery problem, your problem is likely in your 12V power wire run(could be positive lead or ground) to the unit that turns off. And like the other poster said any kind of interconnect- splice, fuse, etc., may be the culprit.
John |
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Posts: 358
Location: London, England | I'm pretty sure my humminbird has a function where you can set the lowest voltage it will operate at. If it's set too high on your unit that might explain why your console unit goes out but your bow unit stays on. Think you're likely to have a bad battery as well though.... |
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Posts: 111
Location: somewhere! | BALDY - 9/10/2009 1:12 PM
I have a strange and very annoying electrical issue happening with my boat.
If I have my console GPS/sonar running and I crank the motor to start it the unit shuts off. It then wont power back up until the motor has been running for a few minutes.
It will also shut off if the motor is turned off and I turn on my nav lights. Again it will not turn on until I start the motor and run it for a few minutes.
It almost acts like the battery has to regain some charge from the alternator running for a few minutes before it has enough juice to run the combo. I know that is not the case, but...
I have my bow GPS hooked up to the same battery, and that one never turns off unless I do it.
The starting battery was brand new this spring.
Any ideas? Do I have something hooked up wrong? This is very annoying. im haveing the exact same issue,my battery also brand new.is your graph power thru the switch panel??i belive that is the problem.cant get enough juice to the graph when powering other things.i think the only way to remedy the problerm is to directly power the graph off the battery |
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Posts: 24
| Guys, The cranking amps on the battery you have, do they have a low rating 550 or similar? even new and fully charged when you start the motor or draw other juice it will not feed the needed juice to the unit. BEFORE YOU SPEND MAJOR DOLLARS and time thinking it is more, pull the battery and have it load tested. That will tell you if it is bad to start with. even new ones can have a weak cell. also if it has only 550 cca then upgrade to a 750 or 675. The battery is your problem, I will guarantee it.
Edited by stacker 9/15/2009 12:17 PM
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Posts: 2378
| charlesb - 9/12/2009 7:48 AM
BALDY - 9/10/2009 1:12 PM
I have a strange and very annoying electrical issue happening with my boat.
If I have my console GPS/sonar running and I crank the motor to start it the unit shuts off. It then wont power back up until the motor has been running for a few minutes.
It will also shut off if the motor is turned off and I turn on my nav lights. Again it will not turn on until I start the motor and run it for a few minutes.
It almost acts like the battery has to regain some charge from the alternator running for a few minutes before it has enough juice to run the combo. I know that is not the case, but...
I have my bow GPS hooked up to the same battery, and that one never turns off unless I do it.
The starting battery was brand new this spring.
Any ideas? Do I have something hooked up wrong? This is very annoying. im haveing the exact same issue,my battery also brand new.is your graph power thru the switch panel??i belive that is the problem.cant get enough juice to the graph when powering other things.i think the only way to remedy the problerm is to directly power the graph off the battery
yeah, i'm pretty sure that is my issue. Now...to find the time for more rewiring... |
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Posts: 111
Location: somewhere! | stacker - 9/15/2009 12:15 PM
Guys, The cranking amps on the battery you have, do they have a low rating 550 or similar? even new and fully charged when you start the motor or draw other juice it will not feed the needed juice to the unit. BEFORE YOU SPEND MAJOR DOLLARS and time thinking it is more, pull the battery and have it load tested. That will tell you if it is bad to start with. even new ones can have a weak cell. also if it has only 550 cca then upgrade to a 750 or 675. The battery is your problem, I will guarantee it. the graph will shut-off when the motor is not running! |
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Posts: 24
| charlesb - 9/16/2009 2:10 PM
stacker - 9/15/2009 12:15 PM
Guys, The cranking amps on the battery you have, do they have a low rating 550 or similar? even new and fully charged when you start the motor or draw other juice it will not feed the needed juice to the unit. BEFORE YOU SPEND MAJOR DOLLARS and time thinking it is more, pull the battery and have it load tested. That will tell you if it is bad to start with. even new ones can have a weak cell. also if it has only 550 cca then upgrade to a 750 or 675. The battery is your problem, I will guarantee it. the graph will shut-off when the motor is not running!
He did not say it would shut off for no apparent reason he stated that it shuts off when another power draw has been placed on the battery. start engines, turn on lights. GPS does not draw the amount of juice needed to run as a graph does. |
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Posts: 238
Location: Rhinelander | Electrical issues not my strong point, but heard this somewhere.....if your GPS locator is direct wired to the battery you will always be draing juice even if the unit is off. An in line swith must be installed as just powering down the locator does not stop the GPS from searching for signal.
This may or not be a contributing problem, but constant low draw on your battery may have shortend the max charge your battery will take. |
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Strange Electrical Issue