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#1
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outboard battery charging
I am building a boat and recently started my new Yamaha outboard for
the first time. While the engine was running I measured the voltage at the battery and the reading was 15.5 volts. I have a 100 amp hour AGM starting battery and the battery manufacturer reccommends a bulk charge voltage of between 14.1 and 14.5 volts. Is there a way to reduce the outboards charging voltage? Will this damage the battery? I think the outboard puts out about 10 amps. fritz |
#2
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gaffcat wrote:
I am building a boat and recently started my new Yamaha outboard for the first time. While the engine was running I measured the voltage at the battery and the reading was 15.5 volts. I have a 100 amp hour AGM starting battery and the battery manufacturer reccommends a bulk charge voltage of between 14.1 and 14.5 volts. Is there a way to reduce the outboards charging voltage? Will this damage the battery? I think the outboard puts out about 10 amps. fritz The voltage would probably drop as the battery became fully charged. |
#3
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"gaffcat" wrote in
oups.com: Will this damage the battery? I think the outboard puts out about 10 amps. Two possible answers. The rectifier from the simple charger puts out pulses, not DC. This drives some DVMs crazy. Try measuring it with an analog VOM and see what it says. My other answer is that Yes, 15.5V will certainly destroy a 6-cell battery. However, this voltage, if real, is only temporarily applied when the motor is running. With the 10A limit, I doubt it will overheat 10A x 15V = 150 watts distributed over the whole battery. Is the battery bubbling madly and getting hot as you are underway? This would indicate overcharging. Is it using any electrolyte requiring you to refill it with distilled (only) water? This indicates overcharging over a longer period. Modern batteries use little water charged normally, so little they don't even put caps on them any more and require maintenance over their lives. I bet your meter is reading the peak of the charging pulses.... -- Larry |
#4
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gaffcat wrote: I am building a boat and recently started my new Yamaha outboard for the first time. While the engine was running I measured the voltage at the battery and the reading was 15.5 volts. I have a 100 amp hour AGM starting battery and the battery manufacturer reccommends a bulk charge voltage of between 14.1 and 14.5 volts. Is there a way to reduce the outboards charging voltage? Will this damage the battery? I think the outboard puts out about 10 amps. Reduce the rpm of the motor? How accurate is your test meter? The voltage is probably high because the battery is charged, and is resisting the charge current. If the battery was low, and accepting current more readily, the voltage would be lower with the same motor and rpm, etc. Your outboard motor probably does not have a very fancy regulator on it, typical. What is the "float" voltage for the battery? A bulk charge implies a discharged or partially discharged battery. If your situation does not change, as I suspect it will with a little use, the only damage would be water consumption in the battery. Keep it topped up with distilled water and keep the battery tops clean and dry. Terry K |
#5
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Fritz,
In my humble opinion 15.5VDC is too high a voltage. Does your charge circuit have a voltage regulator or is the output going straight into the battery without a voltage regulator? Depending on the horsepower of your outboard, 10 amps seems like a lot of power going to the battery. It would probably be nice if you could control the charge current to divert power from the engine to propulsion instead of charging the battery, if desired. Best Regards, Bert Bert van den Berg CruzPro Ltd. www.cruzpro.com 35 Keeling Road, #A4 Henderson 1008 New Zealand Tel: 64-9-838-3331 Fax: 64-9-838-3332 ----- Original Message ----- From: "gaffcat" Newsgroups: rec.boats.electronics Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 5:51 PM Subject: outboard battery charging I am building a boat and recently started my new Yamaha outboard for the first time. While the engine was running I measured the voltage at the battery and the reading was 15.5 volts. I have a 100 amp hour AGM starting battery and the battery manufacturer reccommends a bulk charge voltage of between 14.1 and 14.5 volts. Is there a way to reduce the outboards charging voltage? Will this damage the battery? I think the outboard puts out about 10 amps. fritz "gaffcat" wrote in message oups.com... I am building a boat and recently started my new Yamaha outboard for the first time. While the engine was running I measured the voltage at the battery and the reading was 15.5 volts. I have a 100 amp hour AGM starting battery and the battery manufacturer reccommends a bulk charge voltage of between 14.1 and 14.5 volts. Is there a way to reduce the outboards charging voltage? Will this damage the battery? I think the outboard puts out about 10 amps. fritz |
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