www.iFourWinns.com

I have a 268 Vista with two new batteries (this year). At the end of the season my starter battery would be dead from weekend to weekend. When I would put the indicator on the "On" position boat would not start, yet on the parallel it would start. It seemed like thru out the weekend the starter battery would charge but the last weekend it did not. I do have it on shore power during the week so I assume it would charge the battery. Any ideas?

A couple things you could check. First check the charger is actually charging. There should be some kind of indicator on the charger and when the batteries are charging you can check the voltage which should be around 14 volts. The other is a possible ground issue on the bad battery. You could also check voltage on the suspect battery when the charger is not on and it should around 12.4-12.6 volts.

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--2002 3880 Regal Flybridge | Twin Merc 8.1HO **Seven**
--2003 AB 13 VST Console Inflatable | Tohatsu 40hp TLDI **Phish'n ski**
--310 Mercury Inflatable | 1982 9.9 Johnson

Check your batt cables carefully. Take a good look and see if there is green corrosion where the terminal is crimped on the cable. If so replace the cables. Take em off and have em replaced at a shop that does marine work, WITH TINNED wire. Not the automotive crap many boat builders use.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

While on shore power do you have the "Main" breaker and the "Refrigerator/Charger" breaker in the 110V AC panel turned on? (Obvious, I know.......) While the charger is on check the battery voltages with a volt-ohm meter. With the engine off you should have at least 13.5 Volts, and recommended is approx. 13.9-14.5 volts. You should also be seeing the same charging voltage on each battery when the engine is running. I would not put complete faith in the volt meter in the instrument panel at the helm. Line loss, bad connections, marginal wiring, and other issues can cause this gage to read low. The battery charger does have charging indicator lights on it, although they are not real easy to see. They are on the inboard side of the charger. Is there a chance that an electrical load was draining the starting battery? The Four Winns web site does have an owner's manual, if you don't have one already. I believe that you do not need the main battery switches on to charge the batteries with the charger. It might also be worth having the batteries tested to be sure they are OK. A lot of electrical problems are traced back to a bad battery. Hope this helps.

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Surface Interval: A scuba diving term for that time between dives to relax and prepare for life's next great adventure.

Current boat: '02 FW 268 Vista
Previous boat: '95 FW 190 Horizon

A few ideas.

If I have doubts about a battery I take it back to the retailer for bench testing. A very small percentage fail early.

I haven't had much luck with battery chargers lasting much beyond the warranty period.
A multimeter is an valuable tool and they do not have to be expensive to read accurate voltages.

As mentioned before, does the voltage at the battery terminals increase when the motor (alternator) is running or the charger is making a contribution?

If using conventional vented wet cell batteries, the heat in the engine compartment and constant charging can boil them dry surprisingly quickly.

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John
2006 Four Winns Vista 278 (sold)