www.iFourWinns.com

my voltage meter reads about 11v at best, which would explain why the batteries arent recharging very well with normal running. Its booked in for a service next week, but does anyone have any thoughts etc before hand? alternator ?

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probably the voltage reg. I'm sure it's probably built in to the alternator. I was getting 16 volts out of mine. Had it rebuilt for $100

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sundowner 235

Or it could be the volt meter. Mine consistently reads 1+ volts lower than what appears on the Garmin display.

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Martin
04 268 Vista - Knot Again
08 Boston Whaler 130 Sport - Double Good
Previous Boat:
97 278 Vista - Buoy Howdy

i had hoped that, but the low battery charging makes me think otherwise !

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My Faria gauge also reads lower than the one on my Garmin fishfinder, admittedly not 11V though. The Garmin reads very slightly lower than what I get if I connect up a digital multimeter to the battery. You need to check the voltage at the battery and the alternator output terminal before deciding if there is a charging issue; the low voltage at the dash may well be due to voltage drop/ poor connections along the way from the battery to the dash. Also, the engine ground (-ve) terminals; the factory applied no corrosion protection to these, there may well be corrosion on them. There certaainly was on mine.

Graham

I had the same problem. The installed volt meter reads low by one volt. Get a multi-meter for about $20 at Radio Shack and test it yourself.

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2006 Sundowner 255, 5.7 GXi, 320 hp
"Simply Irresistible"

you have a 1V drop going through the battery isolator the diodes are not that efficient. Voltage sensitive relays would be a much better system on our boats.

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2000 268 Vista "Reely Nauti"
http://www.facebook.com/#!/rivercruiser

The standard battery isolator switch has no diodes in it to cause a voltage drop, at least the one in my Sundowner is like that. Maybe the Vista ones are more sophisticaterd because they have on board chargers etc. There are external diodes in my EU spec dual battery set up, but only in the (unswitched) circuitry connected to the bilge pump; so the bilge pump can use both batteries without the chance of one (bad) one discharging the other. If there is a true voltage drop with the simple battery switch, it's quite likely due to the main 2 pin + and - connection block to the helm (from my own experience a few years ago!)

Graham