Curious Battery/Alternator/Other Issue...

[Tulsah]

I just started having this issue with my 2013 RZ2 with 105 hours on the clock - factory Interstate cranking and deep cycle batteries installed. I have never had any real issues related to the batteries or charging system previously, and certainly not last fall when the boat was winterized and put into storage. Per usual, the batteries were removed and stored in my garage connected to their charger/maintainer.

This spring, the batteries were re-installed, and the boat was run up on a fake a lake to get it ready for the season - all per usual practice. At this time, I noticed that the Tige Touch gauge was reading 12.5V on the house battery and 14.1V on the cranking battery with the engine running. This seemed odd as they have always read nearly identical in the past - I assume that this reading should be alternator output volts?

Anyhow, I was prepping the boat yesterday for an outing today, and decided to double check on the battery issue. Thinking it to possibly be a battery problem , I took them out and over to a battery shop to be tested. Both tested as excellent. Today was our first day out on the water, and the difference in voltage readings persisted. I did notice that the more load we put on the house battery, the lower the voltage would drop (12.1V at its lowest point). This was true even when the engine was running. The battery did tend to recover slightly once the load was reduced.

Once home this evening, I plugged the tender in and the house battery is quite a bit lower than we had ever experienced in the past - we were not particularly hard on it today either.

So, does this sound like an issue with the charging system? Any help is much appreciated.

-Tulsah

[JCP]

Are you seeing a higher voltage at the house battery when running versus not running? If voltage is the same off and on, I would suspect that you missed a connection when reinstalling the battery. If you are seeing an increased voltage when running while but still seeing lower voltage than the cranking battery, I would replace the house battery. You could also swap the batteries (if possible) and see if the problem follows the battery.

[chpthril]

Sounds like you missed either the ground link cable or the positive cable from the ASR/Isolator.

[Tulsah]

I don't believe that the house battery voltage changes between running and not. It sounds like the consensus is for a missing cable connection. I'll dig into it again tonight and see what I can find. Thanks for the advice!

[JTs-rz2]

I don't believe that the house battery voltage changes between running and not. It sounds like the consensus is for a missing cable connection. I'll dig into it again tonight and see what I can find. Thanks for the advice!

I am trouble shooting a similar issue, but I ran my house to dead and was not charging at all.

First I had a ground that was not reconnected at summarization.

Second my positive leads from the acr were on the wrong battery.

I am hoping having the leads on the right battery from the acr solves my problem. Otherwise I have been switching to "combine batteries" when underway to charge my house battery.

[Tulsah]

This is my third season on the boat, and the first time I've encountered this issue. I'm the only person that's ever removed the batteries since new, so I'm suspecting that I messed something up on re-install this spring. At least, I hope it's that simple...

[Tulsah]

Issue is resolved. It turned out that I had both of the 2/0 negatives connected to the starting battery ... not sure how I managed that. Anyhow, with everything connected as it should be again, both batteries serve their respective purposes and receive proper charging from the alternator. The voltage readings at the Tige Touch are appropriate as well. Thanks for the help!