[epirate]

I have an 05 FXHO Cruiser and bought a new Odyssey PC625 battery last summer for it. Everything was great until recently. I keep the ski at a local marina (on a jetdock) and have for the past 5 years. The past three times I've gone out, the battery has been dead. But the last two times, I got jumps from the marina folks and was able to enjoy my day. Last w-end was another story. It would jump right off, idle fine but if you increased the throttle it would cut out about 10-20secs into it and you'd get that typical, "click click click" when you tried to restart it. We tried 4 times with the same result. I pulled the battery (12v) and took it by the auto parts place to have it tested. It had 10v so it wasn't completely dead. They are trickle charging it for me right now to see if it holds a charge but I would think 10v would be enough to crank it up but that's why I'm here--does anyone know why it would be doing this? I did not change the spark plugs this year (but have each yr) and I'm wondering if I should or would that be a waste of time. My boyfriend thinks I just have a lemon battery and should buy another-- any ideas?? thx!!

 

[Ernest T]

Probably just a bad battery. 10V is not enough to crank the engine, and indicates a problem. Lead acid batteries (even the maintence free) ones should be kept charged. It is not good for one of these batteries to die completely, and sometimes they never completely recover. If you are going to not run the ski for a month or two, I'd recommend taking out the battery and putting it on a float charger (like a Battery Tender: Amazon.com: Battery Tender 021-0123 Battery Tender Junior 12V Battery Charger: Automotive)

Other possibility is a bad rectifier/regulator or a corroded connector on the rectifier/regulator or battery that is preventing proper battery charging, which will also kill the battery over time. Check the connections to the rectifier/regulator (it sits on the side of the electrical box). Also check the connections to the battery. I would recommend cleaning them, apply some dielectric grease and make sure all connections to and from the battery are tight. The unloaded output voltage from the rectifier/regulator (red and black wires) should be 15V max.

 

[epirate]

thanks a million- turns out the battery was indeed bad but under warranty. Whew! had visions of a big bill!