Electrical help!
 

Put the boat in a few weeks ago but only had a chance to run it for about 30 minutes, everything seemed fine and it has been on the lift since then. Cleaned up the interior, checked the fluids and all was well but batteries were only showing about 10 volts. Put the selector on both and started it up. It ran for about a minute then stalled. Tried to restart and nothing. Looked at volt meter and it wouldn't even move although all accessories worked. Tracked the 50amp circuit breaker on engine pushed it in once, felt it click and I had juice again. Started it back up and all seemed fine.

Should I be worried? In all my years of boating I have never had this happen. All battery connections are clean and tight. No corrosion on engine connections. Anything else I should check????

Padraig

Twin or single, I dont know your boat, I would charge them completely up with a charger and then put it on the water and see if the alternator keeps up with charging them

Single engine Velocity with two batteries.

Thanks!

My 496 did the same thing 1st time this year. I think it was from the low voltage All has been good since

Low batteries + starter draw = heavy load as the starter creates a dead short instead of consuming the energy. The bigger question would be why are the batteries dead? If they're just old then switch them out so you don't have to worry about them the rest of the season. They may be good enough to get you going but a half an hour on the sand bar with the radio on may make for a long day.

I would suspect at least one battery is dead or dying and the alternator was pushing max and tripped breaker. Pill both batteries, charge and have them tested at any decent autpoarts store.

Thanks everyone. Pulled the batteries, one took a charge and the other didn't. Had it tested and it was bad. Yesterday I installed a new one and all seems to be good.

Padraig