chasing some nagging electrical "issues" and looking for some guidance.....

'97 25 foot daytona...all gaffrig gauges, dual batteries (new batteries) with perko switch...gt performance 540 with whipple

1. with perko too "all" the starter just seems to crank slow. before i replace starter..anything else to check first?

2. same story with hatch lift...really slow

3. when off, the voltmeter sits at about 11 1/2. when running, the voltmeter sits at around 13 1/2 (seems like alternator is charging). if i turn on say the bildge pump, the voltmeter will drop 1/2-3/4 volt and the other gauges (ie fuel press, oil temp, etc.) "drop" a bit. if i turn on more accessories...blower, lights, etc. the needles move further left....is this normal???

thanks in advance

gary

Gary,
sounds like you have a bad/corroded ground someplace. First thing i would check is all you connections. On the battery and on the block. Look on the back of the perko switch and make sure the contacts are clean there as well. Check to see where your gauges inthe dash are getting their ground from. There is most times a small grounding block under the dash for acc to hook up to and such.

The other question i have is you say with the switch off, the volt meter reads 11 1/2? Is that at the dash or at the battery with a hand held meter? Check at the battery. your batt may be going south!!!
If its at the dash then you deffinetly have a resistance between the meter and the battery you will need to track down. Start with the easy stuff before tearing into it deeper! Good luck!

Sounds more like a bad battery, battery cable, or connectors. Check those out before you spend the bucks on a starter. Yes, I have got a bad battery from an auto parts store before. But it's probably the connectors or cable (Battery to starter). A good voltmeter shoud read OVER 12V at the battery with everything off.
Gary

oh and one more thing......and this may seem all to simple but i still have to say.....check to make sure the harnes plug on the engine is plugged in all the way!!! who knows it may have worked its way loose a bit and just giving you enough contact for it to be acting up! Unplug it while youre at it and check for corrosion there too!!

thnaks for the input so far...for the record..the batteries both read 12.85 with a handheld

it is the dash gauge that reads low....

When I replaced my 4g battery cables with 1/0 cables, the difference was night and day. What are your cable sizes and lenghts?

I think what Gary and Wally said is right on the nose. Since you are cranking slow, it likely is one of the large current cables. Does it crank OK on one of the batteries? If so, then the other battery is the culprit. Another little trick is to crank it for a bit and feel for a warm cable or connection. That were the problem will be. In addition, while all the connectors in my engine compartment were replaced this winter, I continued to have strange readings and electrical malfunctions. I found the fuse block clips that hold the fuses had just enough resistance built up where they contact the fuses that there was a voltage loss. I am replacing all the teminal strips and fuse blocks this week.

Did you ever find a solution to this slow cranking problem?? I am having the same type of trouble you are. Let me know if you did. Thanks - Eric

A fully charged battery that has been sitting a little bit with no surface charge in it should read 12.7 volt to be fully charged. When motor is running alt. should cause voltage at battery to read 13.8+ volts. Volts at voltsmeter on dash will always be a little low due to voltage drop with small wire going to dash. I agree with above comments, either you have a battery going bad (or both) or bad ground wire going to motor

Turbojack - I know this is an old topic, another problem I am having is that when I have the stereo on and raise the engine hatch or turn the blower on etc, the stereo cuts out for about 10 seconds and comes back on. I am running 2 amplifiers in the boat for the stereo. I did not install it, I bought the boat used 3 months ago. Just wondering where to start to find a solution to this problem. Also my engine cranks slow, it doesn't take long for the boat to fire because it is an EFI but its first couple of cranks before it fires seems rather slow. I even put a bigger 825 CCAMP battery in it. Did not charge it up though, it came right off of the shelf and into the boat. I have a 1999 29 Outlaw with a single 502 mag.