Battery No Start Situation

[EastonRob]

Hello all,

So I've only had my 2021 FSH 255 out on a couple of runs this season since acquiring it last December. This weekend we had family friends over and took it for a real outing as the weather and water temps were great. The day before I had the batteries fully charged on a Noco 2 bank charger, and I had put a little switch in that would disable the DVSR ground while charging. So I'm pretty comfortable my batteries were fully charged.

Anyway, yesterday I "enabled" the DVSR and we took friends out on the water. Boat ran great, and we found a spot in the wide river to just drift and enjoy the weather and jumping in and out of the water. We were there probably 90 minutes to 2 hours with the stereo (stock) going. I probably had the SIMRAD on as well. When we decided to head back, the engines started doing funny things. Port engine starts, but immediately gives me an error saying to shut down the engine and consult the dealer. Starboard engine cranks strongly but won't start. The port engine will idle, but I can't get any RPM's and it won't go into forward or reverse. After a few minutes of idling the port engine, I think at some point I shut down the port engine and tried cycling the battery switches. At that point when I fired up port I was still getting the error message, but at least now I could get RPM's and forward thrust on that engine. We limped home at 5 MPH, and every now and then I would attempt to start the starboard engine. Same thing every time: strong cranking, it felt like it almost wanted to catch, and then it just wouldn't. Almost like a kill switch was on.

Back home I flushed the port engine and then put the batteries back on the charger. An hour later, I went back down to the boat and the starboard engine now started just fine. Weird.

Today my wife and I took the boat out again. Initially got the warning engine about the port engine, but then it seemed to clear itself. Starboard started fine, and both engines ran like champs. No issues, although we saw this (picture attached) in one of the creeks not too far from us (suggested caption: "Always make sure your drain plugs are inserted"?).

Can anyone explain what happened? The only "logical" thing to me is that we probably drained the house battery too low. Port engine started, but the low charge on battery messed with some of the sensors/ECU. Cycling the battery switches and/or the idling gave battery enough charge so port engine functioned normally. Starboard engine never responded to charge for some reason (even though it cranked strongly every time). Back at dock after hour of charging both engines fire up fine.

I'm open to any feedback / suggestions. I certainly could have done something stupid, but it's not apparent to me what that was. Thanks for any help.

 

[Yammi]

1. did you just turn on both batteries switches when you left….not the yellow combined? Both batteries are independent - one for starting and one house for electronics. Even if you run the house down, you should be able to start and go.

2. When your running, is the DVSR LED light on? Just thinking the switch you installed is not connected properly or is faulty leading to both batteries not charging when running.

3. I would have both the batteries tested - you can get a dud. You should also confirm both charge when the Noco is on and both charge when the switch is closed and your running.

 

[EastonRob]

Hi Yammi,

To answer your questions:

1. Yes, turned on both switches (not the yellow) when we left. During the slow ride home I tried starting the starboard engine with the yellow switch enabled a couple of times to see if that would work, but the result was the same with that enabled or disabled.

2. On the way out I did not verify the DVSR light, but your thought occurred to me as well. The connection may in fact have been shaky, but I made sure they were seated and on the way back the DVSR light was definitely on.

3. Good point. I have a battery diagnostic tool. Similarly, my 2021 Waverunner gave me fits when I launched it a couple of weeks ago. Same model year (2021), and apparently the battery had already gone bad even though I had it on a tender pretty much all winter. Even though "fully charged" the cranking amps were down to like 80 (instead of 270), so I had to replace a one year old battery.

Funny thing is that starboard engine cranked pretty strongly during this episode. It just wouldn't fully catch - like kill switch was on or it was starving for fuel. It may be something other than the battery at this point.

Thanks.

 

[EastonRob]

Small update: battery diagnostic tool says my house battery is bad at something like only 40% health. I'm not sure if that would cause the issues or not, but I'm going to be in the market for a deep cycle one I guess. Frustrating given that it's not much older than a year and I kept both batteries on a tender over the winter.

 

[HawaiiBreeze]

In my experience and within this forum are consistent threads where bad grounding and battery health are the causes of issues that pop up for no reason. The engine management system is full of sensors that need proper and consistent voltage and excellent grounding. Start there and eliminate it. (Note to self: clean battery terminals this weekend)

This is also just my experience but I'm still on my original OEM battery from 2017 so they can last. I don't trickle charge continuously but do pull both batteries from time to time and charge them up on my bench with a trickle charger. Not sure of keeping batteries on trickle charges for long duration. If the Waverunner battery and the Boat Batteries are going belly up sooner than expected it might be the tender or the continuous charge.

Good Luck on solving the issues soon!

 

[EastonRob]

So, it turns out I had TWO starting batteries, and no deep cycle for house use. I guess the dealer installed two starters. In my rush to launch the boat last month I didn't catch that. The issues I experienced were very weird, but hopefully that was the root cause.

I now have a deep cycle house installed, and (good idea HawaiiBreeze) I made sure all the connections were clean and applied some dielectric grease. Also got the Noco AC adapter housing installed, so I should be good to go. Hopefully.

 

[Julian]

So, it turns out I had TWO starting batteries, and no deep cycle for house use. I guess the dealer installed two starters. In my rush to launch the boat last month I didn't catch that. The issues I experienced were very weird, but hopefully that was the root cause.

I now have a deep cycle house installed, and (good idea HawaiiBreeze) I made sure all the connections were clean and applied some dielectric grease. Also got the Noco AC adapter housing installed, so I should be good to go. Hopefully.

Most/many dealers just install two starter batteries. It shouldn't make any difference, other than how long you can use the house battery to play the stereo etc.

If replacing the battery solves the problem - GREAT. But I'm going to guess that the "problem" was that the battery was bad (failed cells) , not the type of battery was wrong.