Sounder trouble
Hi peeps, I am new to this site and I must say what an awesome site it is. Now to my my prob. I have a sounder that will work for a about 3/4 of an hour and then lose power. It does not matter on the conditions it does the same thing. I isolate the battery, turn it back on and have power again. As soon as I engage gear to move again , it drops power again. Once I anchor up it does not miss a beat. Origionally I thought it was the wiring. Got it re-wired by a sparky and next trip tha same thing. Took it back to the sparky and checked the wiring and no probs. I then left the boat where I bought the sounder from (thinking it was the unit) and as I suspected, no problems with it running for 8 hours on land. He mentioned to to me something about voltage spike or drop from the engine side. Does anyone know of this and if so how do it rest for it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am about lose my s@&$. Cheers
carnarvonite
Posts: 8669
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Battery size
Sounds like your battery doesn't have enough oomph to carry the sounder when you crank the winch or start the motor causing the power to spike dropping the sounder out,
Get another battery to run the sounder off or one with a lot bigger capacity to handle the load.
Jadeo
Posts: 269
Date Joined: 08/06/15
thanks bud. I had a bit of a
thanks bud. I had a bit of a suspicion it could be something like this. Didn't want to fork out on a new battery for no reason. My sounder requires 12 volts and my battery is 12 volts with 400cca. Excuse my stupidity, does this mean I need a bigger battery. My engine is a 30 hp Mercury 2 stroke
petermac
Posts: 2946
Date Joined: 03/03/10
sounder problem
I had exactly the same problem , I replaced the battery with a higher capacity battery (well the dealer did because it was a drama from day 1 after picked up a brand new boat) new battery , larger capacity , problem solved
petermac
Posts: 2946
Date Joined: 03/03/10
sounder problem
I had exactly the same problem , I replaced the battery with a higher capacity battery (well the dealer did because it was a drama from day 1 after picked up a brand new boat) new battery , larger capacity , problem solved
Cold Feet
Posts: 120
Date Joined: 04/08/15
Put a multimeter across your
Put a multimeter across your battery, on say 20VDC range, or autorange, and measure the voltage, should be around Max 13,8v with the ignition off, if it is fully charged, then turn on the ignition, measure again, should not drop under 12v, with all devices on, then watch the meter reading and crank the starter, remember the water for the engine, in case it starts, and watch that the voltage does not drop inder about 11v while cranking the engine, if it does, recharge your battery and try again, if it happens again, replace your battery - OR - hook up your boat and go down to battery world and ask them to loadtest your battery for free.. Tip - fully charge your battery before you go to battery world, on a external charger, as a flat battery may cause the guys to sell you a new battery unessecarily..
What Carnavorite said is probaly the cause - the cranking current is taking your battery voltage down below the minimum the sounder can handle.. Also note if the sounder always drops out after cranking the motor..
Hope that helps..
Cheers,
Cold Feet
sea-kem
Posts: 14984
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Yep, I reckon John has it.
Yep, I reckon John has it. Voltage drop, they are very finnicky things sounders. I have the same problem when cranking the motor, sometime a battery alarm goes off on the sounder to say low voltage while cranking or she'll just turn off. Hopefully someone can suggest a solution to alleviate this.
Love the West!
just dhu it
Posts: 1081
Date Joined: 14/05/09
Sounder voltage
checking the battery output is okay , but your motor starts and runs okay so the voltage to the motor is okay as the motor is generally direct connected to the battery , so if this problem does not exist the other problem will be voltage drop to the sounder , if you can use a volt meter check what voltage is at the sounder lead , no motor run and motor run , if you getting under 12 volts at the sounder you need a new cable or repair where the voltage is breaking down ,
petermac
Posts: 2946
Date Joined: 03/03/10
sounder operating voltage
most sounders will cut out at about 9.5 volts DC , (internal protection) unless you have a battery with a high cold cranking capacity your battery voltage will drop below 10 volts on start up which will cause the sounder to cut out , once the engine starts the alternator supplys about 13.2 volts to the battery which means the sounder will work again . If you have eliminated any dry joints in the supply to your sounder I would say its the battery capacity
Sea-weed
Posts: 90
Date Joined: 26/12/14
Spot on
Had exactly the same problem. Old battery with poor load holding capacity meant excessive volt drop at startup. Changed the battery out with a new one and all good.
little johnny
Posts: 5360
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Supply to sounder
May not be right amp.to small . I always run 2 seperate supply's to acc switch board. I gather you have seperate supply. And not from motor supply?
sea-kem
Posts: 14984
Date Joined: 30/11/09
So you are running twin
So you are running twin batteries Johnny?
Love the West!
Jadeo
Posts: 269
Date Joined: 08/06/15
I am only running a single
I am only running a single battery. Just trying to get my head around this. Even though the sounder will run for a while (about 3/4 of hour ,maybe an hour) with out a problem and then starts dropping out, does this mean that the alternator is not keeping up with what power is being used? It doesn't drop out as soon as I turn the key to crank it up. There is about a 1-2 minute delay after it does its start up thing and trying to find bottom, put her into gear and it turns off. Man I hate electrics.
little johnny
Posts: 5360
Date Joined: 04/12/11
Even when I had
1 still ran double. But yes I do
Jadeo
Posts: 269
Date Joined: 08/06/15
Cheers for your help guys.
Cheers for your help guys.