1yr old Suzuki DF8 - Not charging Battery

[maillme]

Hi All,

I went to collect my boat from winter storage (Amsterdam) and when I went to start the motor, there was no power - dealer said he ran it the day before with no problems, and that maybe the power wasleft on.

So, got a jump start, and he wanted to check the power while it was runing.

Apparently there was 2.4v getting to the battery rather than the expected 13.5v. He suspects that the motor is faulty and should be charging it. He also said this could have been a problem since new but as I run nothing else off the motor, I wouldnt have known.......

Has anyone experienced this??

My mechanic spoke to a Suzuki dealer (he is not) who said i will need to pay to repair as Suzuki are always long at refunding.....(this in itself sounds strange....but hey ho).

Any advice?

thanks,
Neil

 

[vandy]

Getting just 2.4V to me indicates your grounding connectors are either loosely connected or have been corroded - where did you measure the voltage? on the battery poles whilst the battery was connected to the engine or just off the charging wires? Check those first.

If your engine runs then the coil can not be faulty as it is producing spark - Test all grounding connectors then I would have tested the fuse boxes, as if you reverse the polarity usually a fuse will blow - so check the fuse box if you have one -

Otherwise the only part which could be faulty is the regulator - which is very unlikely if you have not drawn too much current out of it for a long time.

 

[rafiki_]

Neil, I think a bit more info would be helpful. Maybe some translation issues too? Are you saying than when jump started the engine ran ok? Did it rev freely? Are you saying that the dynamo was only producing 2.4v? As Vandy says, this is most likely to be a faulty connection, rather than a dyno problem, which is likely to supply either 14 ish volts or nothing.

 

[VicS]

I would certainly check all connections

If the measurement of 2.4volts was made at the battery it has been discharged to the point that the engine charging system may well not be able to recharge it. It may even be beyond recovery but get it charged with a decent mains powered battery charger and tested if possible.

I assume from what you say that the battery powers nothing other than the engine starter. No lights, instruments or radio? If so a mystery why it has become totally discharged.

The battery charging coils are , I think you will find, separate windings on the stator. The engine will run OK even if these coils are defective. I would think it unlikely that the coils are defective but their continuity could be checked after disconnecting from the rectifier/regulator.

With a fully charged battery fitted check the volts before starting and when running directly at the rectifier/regulator output. You should see 12.something rising to 14ish as the battery recharges after starting. It might also be worth checking the AC input to the regulator/rectifier.

The rectifier/regulator assembly could be defective. If the battery has ever been connected with the polarity reversed, even momentarily, it will have been destroyed. This might also damage the coils.

An engine this size would be easy to start by hand. I think I would investigate the possibility of there being an emergency rope start kit for it.

 

[maillme]

Hi All,

Firstly, thank yzou for all your replies.
I am actually Scottish, but i'm in Germany just now fighting with German keyboard, so apologies for bad typing! (Y and Z keys are mixed up!)

It was the mechanic from where my boat was stored over the winter that was doing all the checks- to the best of my knowledge he was checking it with the nbattery both connected and disconnected....

The jump start got the engine started no problem, it was at this point he was checking the numbers.....unfortunately - (due to my flight to germany) I had to leave him with it - he was leaving it running to test more. But I also figured I would ask you guys too.

The battery was brand new with the boat last year, and it has not powered anything much else other than starting. No lights, audio etc however - i did / do have a gps tracker which draws some power. I figure this could have drained battery, but he told me he started the engine the day before no problem (hence surprised it didnt start - thought maybe they had left something on over night, but thats not possible now that I think about it, as keys weren't ).

thanks again for all your help, I will contact them with some of your suggestions (although I guess i would kind of hoped my boat mechanic would have done all these things )

Neil

 

[maillme]

I have sent an email to the mechanic who is storing boat, let's see what he says.

My cynical mind id beginning to think either him or one of his staff has connected the battery incorrectly. I checked my GPS tracker and it would suggest the battery was disconnected in March - maybe at around the time they did the anti-foul application.

He seemed very quick to check a few figures and then phone the suzuki dealer whom I purchased the boat to come and fix it under warranty!

Neil

 

[maillme]

Hi All,

Just a quick question re this.

if there was a problem with the alternator:

a) Would it show any reading at all (e.g. it shows 2.4v)
b) Would there be a chance I wouldn't know this from new, because the battery was full when the boat was purchased, and was only ever used to start the motor (say 30x since new)

thanks,
Neil

 

[VicS]

Hi All,

Just a quick question re this.

if there was a problem with the alternator:

a) Would it show any reading at all (e.g. it shows 2.4v)
b) Would there be a chance I wouldn't know this from new, because the battery was full when the boat was purchased, and was only ever used to start the motor (say 30x since new)

thanks,
Neil

I'd not like to comment on the meaning of the 2.4 volts without knowing how and where it was measured and investigating further.

You dont say what capacity the battery is but the starter on an 8hp engine is not going to take much current. I'd think it quite possible that you could have started the engine 30 times, or more without knowing that the battery was not being recharged if there was no other significant load.

 

[maillme]

Hi VicS,

I understand, I'm being a bit patchy with info as I dont have the information sorry about that.

I'm just so annoyed with this damn boat - I bought it a year ago, and exactly 1 year ago from the day I went to collect it (last week) was the day I took delivery and it broke on first day. Engine cover (the metal part that covers engine parts, not plastic outboard cover) was cracked from manufacturer and oil spilling everywhere. So boat got taken away day after for a month

The ironic thing is, I bought the boat and engine brand new so i "wouldn't have problems" and if i did it would "have a warranty" - both of which are proving to be a nightmare (suzuki dealer only willing to fix If i pay and then pay me back IF suzuki pay out)

I also bought suzuki as everyone assured me a good, solid problem free engine haha



such good weather and once again I miss out.

thanks again everyone though, this forum is great for me - everyone else seems to be out to just make money from me in some way :s

Neil

 

[maillme]

Just a quick update. it appears to have been a connector problem (not exactly sure as the mechanic wasn't there but colleague said connector) so i suspect this may well have been the ground connectors as mentioned.

thanks a lot for your help,
Neil