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Volt gauge question

fishon10

New member
"Hey guys, I have a 17ft. 89 L

"Hey guys, I have a 17ft. 89 Larson bowrider with a 3.0 mercruiser. Last time out, I guesss I wasn't paying attention and I left my key on, it was on for a week. Needless to say, when I tried to start it this weekend it was DEAD. I tried to jump with jump box, no good, then I tried jumper cables from good battery to the dead one,again, no good. I then took the good battery and swapped it out for the dead one. It fired right up, but now my volt gauge doesn't register anything at all, completely dead!It worked fine before this mess. Any thoughts? Could I have screwed something up by jumping? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks."
 
"Like Troy says, check the fus

"Like Troy says, check the fuses first. You could have fried the guage trying to jump a shorted out battery. Check the output of the alt. w/a DVM across the battery terminals. Now check the terminals on the gauge; should be same voltage. Replace gauge if there is voltage at the gauge and it still reads nothing."
 
"I do not know how your boat i

"I do not know how your boat is wired, but you may have several leads from battery, both hot and ground. Did you accidently miss connecting one lead?

p.s. don't guess more than once why this question came to mind."
 
I personally believe in having

I personally believe in having battery disconnect switches and being in the habit of turning them on and off for the weekends is the way to be.Accidents like this and other things that can electrically go wrong thru the week might save a lot of money...perhaps even a boat...Todd
 
"Hey guys, I checked all fuses

"Hey guys, I checked all fuses and they are good. I checked for any missed leads on battery and all were connected. I will check voltage at gauge tomorrow. Thanks for all your help. Any other suggestions are still appreciated. Thanks again."
 
"The typical way gauges are wi

"The typical way gauges are wired would not suggest you could have fried the voltmeter by jumping it.
I am guessing you may just coincidentally have a shot voltmeter, but testing it as Guy has suggested will tell you for sure.

Rod"
 
Clint:

Remove the wire from


Clint:

Remove the wire from the sender and ground it w/the power on--if it pegs then it's the sender. If not then the gauge or wiring is defective.
 
Rod:

Fried gauge suggestion


Rod:

Fried gauge suggestion was based on mine being directly connected to the chargining circuit. I had a fried gauge on a pickup truck once. You could see the filter coil was burned on the gauge.
 
Guy;
I get your point alright


Guy;
I get your point alright!
I guess if the runaway voltage got high enough it sure could fry it. I wonder what else is cooked if that is the case?

Rod
 
"Rod et al:

"I tried to


"Rod et al:

"I tried to jump with jump box, no good, then I tried jumper cables from good battery to the dead one,again, no good."

Trying to jump a dead battery can cuase a very high current flow for a moment or two during which anything attached to the circuit is subject to the same current.

I personally have also fried my alternator trying to jump a car at a ballgame as a courtesy; cost me $300.

I also watched my F-in-L use some cheap jumpers on a dead battery which melted the insulation on the jumpers and started to melt the + connector.

Final point is if it won't jump from a known good source, forget it and pull the battery for testing before you do more damage.
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"FYI - Jumping a totally dead

"FYI - Jumping a totally dead battery, in my view isn't a great idea, nor does it work well. Bringing them back from the dead with a battery charger is a better plan."
 
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