Voltage issue? HELP!!

[bak2MN]

I have a 2001 1850 lund tyee limited edition and I am having issues with what seems to be voltage issues. I have hooked up another battery so now I run 2 for the motor electronics. Also have two separate batteries for the trolling motor.

When I have the radio on and hit the horn the radio goes out. When I have the livewell pump or aerator on after awhile when it kicks in the radio will go out and also take out the depth finder. My rear livewell seems to work most of the time but the front one will seem to not work when I run thinsgs for awhile.

Does anyone have any ideas on what is causing this or what to look for? I don't know if there is a way to rewire things to avoid these issues. I have had it apart several times and haven't quite got it figured out yet.

PLease help!!

[delcecchi]

You have a bad connection or a broken wire. A test light might be able to find it. (could also be corrosion in fuse block). Put test light across the red and black to the fuse block. Blow the horn. If the light gets dim the problem is between the fuse block and the battery. Next check the power switch on the dash the same way. Look at the wiring diagram in the owner manual and trace it.

[leech~~]

Are you blowing fuses for each item when this happens or are they just going off but come back on when you turn the other off? If you are blowing fuses you have a hard ground "short" some where. If they go on and off but do not blow a fuse you may have something hooked up backwards where the power is feeding back up the wrong wire. Kind of like when you rewire a trailer wrong and one side lights go off while the others come on.

Del has some good ideas for testing.

[delcecchi]

I figured since the boat was 13 years old there could be a bad connection. Even right at the battery now that I think about it. There typically is a ring terminal with a smaller wire that goes to the starting battery that runs all the stuff on the dash. Actually two wires, a red and a black. First thing I would do is check both of them, or maybe put new terminals on just for luck.

[bak2MN]

Not blowing fuses. Just shuts off and comes back on. I plan on disconnecting every thing and checking and cleaning and grounding. I have done this once already but with no luck. I bought the boat used so I do not have a owners manual. Just know this is getting irritating as heck!!

Check the power switch? Are you talking about the key switch or master power switch? Thanks guys!! Will be tearing into it in the next few days.

[delcecchi]

You might be able to get a wiring diagram from Lund. They were in the owner's manual, but they only have a generic one on their site.

I meant the switch on the dash, sort of a master power. Not the ignition switch. Stuff like depthfinder doesn't go through ignition switch usually.

[bak2MN]

But I have went to start the big motor at times and it also turned the radio and depth finder off also.?

[brrrr]

I had a similar problem that was caused by corrosion on the fuses. it was just enough to significantly interfere with current but I would still get 12 volts at the accessories, but either just enough current or not enough to operate them.

the problem is most likely a bit of corrosion somewhere in line. I did notice a very slight drop in voltage when I measured which caused me to start tracing wires. good luck

[bak2MN]

Thanks will start the cleaning process!!!!!!!

[icehole10]

If its not corrosion, it could be that you don't have heavy enough cable running to your accessories, a lot of older boats were not rigged for running all the extras that we are trying to run today. If there are a lot of butt connectors and such that can cause a current drop which may be enough to cause these issues as well.

[bak2MN]

The only non factory accessories would be two live wells and a added auto bilge pump.

[delmuts]

Please keep us posted on what you find, as we ALL run into electrical problems sooner or later.

[bak2MN]

Will do!! Will be early next week before I tear into it. Smoking deer meat this weekend.

[delcecchi]

Doesn't it make the papers all soggy and hard to light? (rim shot)

[bak2MN]

Yeah but when you get them lit ohh so good!!!

[CaptainMusky]

Have these problems persisted since the day you bought the boat or developed over time? One thing I ran into was if I had the radio, aerator, gps, etc running without the big motor, then when I went to start the big motor the GPS would turn off.

The electronics are all running off your cranking battery. When the big motor isnt running obviously the alternator isnt charging it so the amp draw was slowly eating away at the battery. Then when going to start the big motor it demanded high amount of amps and starved the other things turning them off.

I rectified this issue by running a completely different set of wires to power my GPS. Believe it or not, it hasnt turned off since. It seems the draw was just too much for it to handle.

I would definitely consider always putting a charger on your cranking battery at the end of the day. I am sure that your alternator isnt fully charging it back up so when you go back out next trip it is already starting at a deficiency.

Frustrating I am sure, but I would start with making sure your cranking battery is getting fully charged before tearing through all the wiring. Could be a weak battery or one that just isnt getting charged back up all the way. As you add items to its load, then others turn off because of the increased demand.

[marine_man]

Did you add the second battery to 'solve' this issue, or did this issue start after you added the second battery?

marine_man

[bak2MN]

I bought the boat used about 4 or 5 years ago and yes it has always done it. I added the 2nd battery to help the issue but it didn't seem to 'solve' much of my problem. The batteries are good. And at the end of the day or when the boat is on the lift it is hooked up to a solar panel so it always gets a charge. I know they do not charge at night and take awhile to charge a drained battery but even if it has charged all week it will start doing the same thing after a few hours on the water.

Captain you said you rectified this issue by running a completely different set of wires to power your GPS. You ran these wire from what to where?

Thanks guys

[CaptainMusky]

I bought another power cord for my GPS and then ran a positive and negative wire all the way up to the console from the cranking battery. Lots of guys have done this. For some reason the amp draw since all those items are on one circuit is enough to cut the GPS off but when its on its own circuit it works fine. Odd but it works.

You may have some other gremlin but what you described was almost identical to what happened to me. Give it a shot all it will cost you is $5 in wire.

[aanderud]

I bought another power cord for my GPS and then ran a positive and negative wire all the way up to the console from the cranking battery. Lots of guys have done this. For some reason the amp draw since all those items are on one circuit is enough to cut the GPS off but when its on its own circuit it works fine. Odd but it works.

You're exactly right, a large amp draw all aggregated to the single wire is what makes the problem. The reason it happens is that the wire some boat manufacturer runs from the cranking battery up to the console is too small. It's usually sufficient to handle a couple amps, but by the time you throw in aerators, large screen GPS units, USB phone chargers, etc. things start to add up.

So here's why a second wire helps. Wires all have internal resistance. Smaller diameter wires have more resistance than larger wires. Longer wires of any diameter will always have more resistance than shorter wires. Voltage drop along a DC line is basically the product of the wire's internal resistance times the current draw. So, as you raise the current draw in any particular wire, you increase the voltage drop in the wire. That leaves fewer volts for your electronics. Put it all together -- a long, relatively thin wire running up to your console where it is split to run several devices (drawing several amps) -- and you have a resistance issue.

If you split the current equally between TWO wires, you would have half the voltage drop (and less chance of under-voltage for your electronics. Or, you could run the same aggregated current over a thicker wire (which has lower resistance) to solve the problem.

When I added HID bulbs on the front of my boat, I saw another 1.5 volts or so of drop, and I knew I was borderline on that GPS (it was around 11 volts just using the voltage output on the GPS itself). I ran a thicker wire from my fuze block to the starting battery and things cleared right up. A second dedicated wire for the headlights would have also solved the problem. Plenty of ways to skin a cat.

[Kyhl]

Bak, do you have a voltmeter or a voltage reading on your depth finder?

Check the voltage at the dash. It should be around 12.5, 13.5 or better with the engine running/battery charging.

I had a similar issue that Captain and aanderud mention. I lost about 1.5 volts between the dash and the starting battery because of all they electronic gizmos I have running.

I added a second fuse block under the dash with its own wiring from the battery. Then split the power draw by connecting different gizmos to different blocks. Solved my problem.

I run, an HDS-8, HDS-5, LSS-1 (side imaging), stereo, and sometime lights all without the motor running. Start the motor and it adds the Merc smart monitor system with lighted smart control LCD tach tied into the GPS system.

I hardly ever run a livewell. Kept zero fish last summer so it wasn't listed.

[bak2MN]

If I did add another fuse block what size of wire should I run to the block from the battery??

[Kyhl]

I think it would be wise to measure before spending.

As mentioned above, it could be either a bad connection, short, bad wire, or too much draw. My issue was too much draw. I'd rule out connections and shorts first.

I don't remember what gauge I used, 8 maybe 6. I bought the parts and wire from a dealer. They had a grid of gauge by length showing safe draws.

[Notime]

You might want to see if this thing is hard wired or plug and play connections. Crestliners are plugged together after 02. The plugs are usually tucked up in the underside of the console but sometimes behind the there are plugged together behind the throttle side panel. There may be several different ones, up to 16 pin connections. They may have become corroded. If your speedo ever came loose and shot water up on the underside of your dash it may be a cause.

[bak2MN]

ITS FIXED!!!!!!!!!! Kyle you are the winner on this one. It was to small of a wire running from the battery to the fuse block. Checked a bunch of things and finally my father in law came over and we started checking voltage here and there. At the battery everything was good with everything turned on, went to the fuse panel and checked the voltage again with everything on and holy carp there it was major lost voltage.

Went to town bought a fuse block some 10 gauge wire took a few things off the main fuse block and BAM it was fixed!!

Thanks to all that replied and for all the good tips and ideas to check. I cant wait till open water to enjoy fishing when everything in the oat is working. Thanks again all!!