Starter Battery

[KC-AR240]

I hooked up my Batteries today and my boat won't start. I have 1 to start the motors and 2 Ran in Parallel for the House. The House batteries seem to be working but when I tried to start the Motors ..Nothing Here's a picture of the Starter Battery. I need some help

 

[biffdotorg]

How long did you have it on a charger before hooking it up? If you didn't, that's the first place to start. A smart charger will tell you the condition of the batter and get it ready for the season.

 

[KC-AR240]

All winter long, I had them on a noco maintainer. They are fully charged. Checked with my multimeter

 

[KC-AR240]

All winter long, I had them on a noco maintainer. They are fully charged. Checked with my multimeter

I even checked my drain out plugs to make sure they were both seated correctly

 

[meaningreen]

I wonder if the switch has failed, are you able to direct connect the motor leads to the battery (remove the switch from the equation).

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

So you have power to the other systems fed from the start battery but the starters will not turn the engines ?

 

[KC-AR240]

I wonder if the switch has failed, are you able to direct connect the motor leads to the battery (remove the switch from the equation).

I'm not an electrical person. The wire coming from the red knob(start battery) is running to the +. The other (negative) wire runs back to the motors. And then there's a very thin wire that says Negative on it

 

[KC-AR240]

So you have power to the other systems fed from the start battery but the starters will not turn the engines ?

The other 2 batteries run everything else . Connext Turned on, speakers all turned on

 

[anmut]

Simple things to check:

1. Throttles in N? Jiggle back and forth to be sure.
2. Safety lanyard in?
3. Cleanout plug hatch closed and secure?

Next - what's the Connext system saying for battery voltage on your house and start? How old are the batteries? Even fully "maintained" batteries can die over the winter.

 

[anmut]

Looking at your picture here... it shouldn't make a difference, but I would also try taking off all of your start battery cables (negative first, then positive), then ensure that you're "stacking" your post with largest cable on bottom to smallest cable on top. Reconnect (positive first, then neg)

Also, if you have an voltmeter, set it to 12v and give us a reading.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

The other 2 batteries run everything else . Connext Turned on, speakers all turned on

So you can see voltages of house and start batteries…
What happens to start battery voltage when you turn key to start?

 

[KC-AR240]

Simple things to check:

1. Throttles in N? Jiggle back and forth to be sure.
2. Safety lanyard in?
3. Cleanout plug hatch closed and secure?

Next - what's the Connext system saying for battery voltage on your house and start? How old are the batteries? Even fully "maintained" batteries can die over the winter.

Jiggled the throttle handles as I was attempting to start .. Nothing. Clean out hatch closed and plugs are in place and safety lanyard is in place. Connext says 12.4 volts and 12.8 volts

 

[KC-AR240]

So you can see voltages of house and start batteries…
What happens to start battery voltage when you turn key to start?

It dropped a tiny bit. 11.9 and then back up

 

[anmut]

Jiggled the throttle handles as I was attempting to start .. Nothing. Clean out hatch closed and plugs are in place and safety lanyard is in place. Connext says 12.4 volts and 12.8 volts

And just to be clear, both motor keys are giving you no response when turned to start. Motor is not cranking at all? Or cranking and not starting?

Edit - go to your safety lanyard. Disconnect it, and then reconnect it. Just because it looks like it's in place, doesn't necessarily mean it's in the RIGHT place.

 

[KC-AR240]

And just to be clear, both motor keys are giving you no response when turned to start. Motor is not cranking at all? Or cranking and not starting?

Edit - go to your safety lanyard. Disconnect it, and then reconnect it. Just because it looks like it's in place, doesn't necessarily mean it's in the RIGHT place.

Correct. Neither engine will start. When attempting to start, the radio and blower motor go silent....... Just no engines turning over.

 

[anmut]

Correct. Neither engine will start. When attempting to start, the radio and blower motor go silent....... Just no engines turning over.

Now that sounds like a voltage issue to me. I would try turning the yellow "sync batteries" switch to see if you can get enough power to start, or a spare battery, or a jump pack, or just replace the start battery. How old is it?

Edit, also double check your battery connections. Your house battery should be driving radio, and your start battery is driving motors. Having your starter battery draw down your house battery is really weird.

 

[KC-AR240]

So you have power to the other systems fed from the start battery but the starters will not turn the engines ?

Only the starter in connected to the 1st battery

 

[KC-AR240]

Is there a fuse in that box that could have popped ?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Put your emergency parallel switch to on and try starting the engines.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Your batteries are probably old and the plates sulphated. What you just described about the voltage going to zero wen you turn the key and attempt to start is text book typical of a battery that has voltage but no ampere’s left to provide due to the plates being heavily sulphated. This can be caused by a couple of things, age, leaving the batteries in a state of discharge (aka not charging as soon as you come off the water) and not having enough charge power / amps when charging. I see that the batteries are maintenance free so no way to check electrolyte..

Go get a new set of quality batteries and you should be good to go.

What amperage noco charger do you have?