Quick update, the starboard battery seems to be completely shot. I took the boat out, and after about 10 minutes, checked the batteries with my volt meter. Three batteries were running at about 5.89 (with the engine at full speed), and the starboard battery was at 1.5. Just one or two minutes later it was down to .79. My boat stopped, and I tried to figure out what to do. I unplugged the crappy battery and ran off of the three good ones, and everything went fine.
Today I'm going to take the "best" battery and get it load tested. If it's good, then I'll just purchase one new battery to replace the shot one. If the "best" battery is iffy, I'll buy all new batteries, but wait to install them until I hear back from some folks about what to do with the load from the controls, running lights, etc.
I'm sure that many of you are banging your heads on your desks because I clearly don't know what I'm doing, but that's why I'm hear -- I really want to learn. I'm sure I'll make some mistakes along the way, but I learn best by doing. Thanks again for taking the time to read this.
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, bearsfaan <no_reply@...> wrote:
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> Hi. I'll give you a quick bit of background so you know what you're dealing with here. :) I'm the proud "new" owner of a 1991 Electra Craft Tri-Hull sport. I don't know much about boats, and I know about the same amount about this boat's electronics. My dad's an electrical engineer, and he was in town to check out the boat before I bought it. Basically, if I have an issue, I give him a call and he walks me through how to test stuff and what to look for. I'm eager to learn. OK, here are a few of my current questions. If you're able to offer any help, I'd greatly appreciate it.
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> Does anyone know where I could find schematics for this boat? I've tried calling Electra Craft, but they haven't called me back yet. I've search the Internet, and haven't had any luck.
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> I'm concerned that my batteries might be lousy. After a full charge with no load, they read (from port to starboard) 6.57, 6.5, 6.16, and 5.89. With a load this drops by about 2-4 tenths of a volt. After running for five minutes I turned the boat off and checked the batteries. I got 6.18,6.16,5.89,5.29. The controls are attached to the two port batteries, which seem to be the best of the four. I'm guessing that someone may have swapped them at some point, which is why the starboard batteries appear to be in worse shape. When I turn the key after a full charge, it sits at about 90%. As soon as I hit the throttle, it drops to the red and shows about 40-45%.
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> So my battery-related questions are: Are all of the batteries shot? If just two are dead, should I replace those two, or all at once? Should I be concerned about the controls drawing that extra current, or should I just swap the batteries from time to time?
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> I've also noticed that the belts around the motor appear to be pretty loose. Is this a common thing? Should I have someone that knows what they're doing take a look at them? Would tightening them increase my speed at all?
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> And this is something for further down the line: Would it be worthwhile to perhaps get a larger propellor or the ring that surronds a propeller? I know that this boat will never go fast, but it doesn't seem to be reaching its potential. It's also a 36v motor that's running off of 24v of batteries -- would I ever want to consider adding two more batteries?
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> I guess that's about it for now. I realize I don't know squat, but I really would like to learn, and I'm shocked at how little information there is on not only my boat, but electric boats in general.
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> Again, thanks for any help you might be able to offer.
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