Is my alternator working

[timddo]

i was told by a mechanic,, But what i do is not plug the electronics directly to the motor but just a navigation light or better still a spot light.

Another solutions could be the coil is damped, take the fly wheel off and dry the coil. Mate i'm not a mechanic so it's just a idea. ( thats what i did on my motor and it seems to work).

[Alan_L]

Juzo, do as Garry (spaniard King) said. You will need to run your motor at fairly high revs to see the voltage rise, as the flywheel type charging systems are not as efficient as an alternator type setup.

Rule # 1! Never disconnect a battery from a charging circuit. Voltage will keep climbing until the diodes in the rectifier destroy themselves. Normally they will just go open circuit, but on the odd occasion I have seen them short. If that happens you have got big problems. Burnt wiring, coils, stator etc.

Battery voltage at rest with a battery in good condition will be approx 12.4. On an outboard fitted with flywheel type charging system the voltage will slowly rise to approx 14 volts, but this also depends on the output of the charging system and what accessories are turned on Engines fitted with an Alternator will quickly charge the battery to around 14.2 volts.

You should not load test a battery with less than 12.4 volts as you will get a reading of a faulty battery. I have seen this countless times, people are told their battery is faulty only to find later that the charging system is faulty. In my place of work all batteries must be charged and retested before being disposed of. Amazingly about 30% are still ok.

Hope this helps.

Alan

[Juzo]

Thanks Alan, reckon that will help, am going to take the boat for a spin up the river with the multimetre tomorrow to test out

question, whats the difference between and flywheel type charging system, and an alterator? and how can you tell which one you've got?

[Spaniard_King]

You have a 2 stroke so you have the flywheel type.

Some 4 strokes have the alternator..whyich is basically the same as a car

Garry

[Darryl]

Some 2 strokes i have worked on have an alternator as well. All be it non standard

Next time you go past a hire house boat have a look at the engine cowel. Nine times outta ten the old 2 stroke donks have a car altenator fitted to them, hence a modified huge cowel.

Sorry to be confusing, but Gary is right, yours is the flywheel type.

[Angla]

Listen to Garry and Alan_L, and don't try disconnecting anything and running it. Cooking the electrical system will get expensive.

Angla

[Dignity]

Juzo - go with Gary - you have a new battery so its charge should read 12.56 Volts at rest. If yours is reading 12.2 I would say it needs a top up charge, a battery should rest overnight before you test it for it's voltage. Once you have done this then do the tests above as per Gary's suggestion. On another issue you asked me previously - I did change the fuel primer bulb and have had no problems since.


Sam

[flotsom]

you remove battery when motor running, you need more then a battery as a result when you are talking outboard motors, ever heard the saying, the smoke just got out? that's what will happen, if the boat has a tacho it runs off the same curcuit, if the tacho does not work it is a sure indication there is a charging issue.

[Juzo]

thanks for all the feedback fishos,
took the boat out for a spin yesterday, motor is working reel nice now. when underway the voltage metre on the dash was showing about 14 volts, when I finished up for the day I checked the battery metre on the new battery box, and it showed as the battery being fully charged. So I'm happy again, and my motor is running better that it has for some time, think I'll put that down to my dodgy wireing work .

Hey Dignaty, I also put a new fuel line/bulb in and that seems to have made a difference, motor starts a lot easier.

After all that though, on the way home my Tacho stopped working , just never ends

[Spaniard_King]

you remove battery when motor running, you need more then a battery as a result when you are talking outboard motors, ever heard the saying, the smoke just got out? that's what will happen, if the boat has a tacho it runs off the same curcuit, if the tacho does not work it is a sure indication there is a charging issue.

Juzo, better read flotsoms post again bet you didnt look at the volt gauge after the tacho went.. did ya

Garry

[Juzo]

yeah I looked at that post, and I did look at the volte gauge after the tacho went, in fact I was looking at the volt gauge when I noticed that the tacho wasn't working. The tacho had been working ok all day, was just on the last leg when it stopped, am gonn a check it all again tonight

[Dignity]

Juzo - my tacho stopped working a couple of trips back yet the voltage guage still shows 14 volts when running - can't locate the problem myself so will take it to the mechanic for a look

Sam

[Juzo]

I'd be interested to hear the results Sam

Juzo

[Dignity]

Juzo - could be a little while, every time the boat comes out of its resting place it heads for the water

sam

[flotsom]

on a 2-stroke the tacho works off a diode in the rectifier, the rectifier has 2 sides, both charge battery but one side delivers pulse for tacho, if tacho stops it could mean that rectifier has failed, even possible only on one side that will reduce battery charging..... recitifers fail from battery reverse polarity or removing battery terminals while motor is running.