www.iFourWinns.com

You mean the gauge on the boat? It's only a volt gauge and it appears to work. Not sure if the numbers the needle point at reflect what the alt is actually doing BUT, I can see the amount of charge reflected by the gauge changes depending on engine speed and electrical load. One thing I haven't done that someone suggested is do a load test on the battery.

When I hit the trim the needle moves from 14v + to the 12v. It doesn't cause too much of a surge while under way (still in break-in, can't throttle too much yet) but more than I have ever experienced before. At idle, the draw is enough to kill the engine SOMETIMES. At times it won't kill it and but sometimes it will.

Haven't tried it since I cleaned connections last night but, I will go out to the shop again tonight and do some more messing with it, see what I find

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1987 Sundowner 195, 4.3 OMC " Z boat"
1983 Wellcraft 248 Sportsman, 3.0L OMC Sea Drive "Born Again"
9' Patriot 40lbs TM "Quack Addict"

sorry. yes volts . mine will only drop to around 13. how many volts is the gauge showing at idle?

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1989 245 vista
5.7 cobra

No worries. I figured that's what you meant but wasn't sure if your boat was equipped with a different gauge.

It shows 14+ at idle and, honestly, I haven't checked what it would drop to at idle. I got too distracted by the fact the engine would die! However, at around 1200 revs, it would drop to less than 12v.

On another subject. The engine was running a little rough ever since I got it installed. Turns out I broke the porcelain on a plug. I am going to replace the spark plug...that should help This might also explain why the engine would die when tilt/trim was activated? That and the amp draw.

I haven't checked it again yet, but I did clean everything. I might pull it out of the shop tonight and put a hose on it. See how it does now. If I do, I will report back. If I can't tonight, I will be taking it on the lake tomorrow and will report back on that.

I am still looking for the actual tilt motor to look at the connections.

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1987 Sundowner 195, 4.3 OMC " Z boat"
1983 Wellcraft 248 Sportsman, 3.0L OMC Sea Drive "Born Again"
9' Patriot 40lbs TM "Quack Addict"

Ok. So, we took the boat out last night for another hour of break-in. I think cleaning the connections on everything worked. The voltmeter normally reads a steady 14v, maybe a little over. I hit the trim and it dropped to a little over 13v so...in essence it dropped 1v. The blower still dropped the needle but, quickly recovered, almost like the alternator quickly adjusted.
I still have some gremlins. I can't adjust the timing down to 8* because it won't idle, it dies. Right now, I have the timing set at about 16* and it's idling great. Last night when I tried to adjust the timing down to 8* it died and when I went to restart it, the starter acted like it was tough to crank the engine. It eventually started but it was really hard start.

All the connections are clean and tight with dielectric grease. The batteries are fairly new and are both good. Ill start another thread for this one

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1987 Sundowner 195, 4.3 OMC " Z boat"
1983 Wellcraft 248 Sportsman, 3.0L OMC Sea Drive "Born Again"
9' Patriot 40lbs TM "Quack Addict"

good to hear you have the electrical solved

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1989 245 vista
5.7 cobra