Mercury Verado - Battery issues.

Not to happy at the moment yet another problem with our less than one year old boat. 

The old man has a 250-hp Verado 08 model.  He has been having major problems with the batteries going flat when the boat hasn't been used for a few weeks. He travels interstate and overseas  with work so can't always use the boat as much as he would like.  Has anyone else experienced something similar? Oh and he has  had it back at the dealer twice and each time they have assured him the problem has been fixed. Has anyone else had  similar problem with the verados or another manufacturer? 

 

Cheers for any advice 

Ben  


Feral's picture

Posts: 1508

Date Joined: 01/11/06

ummmm take it to an auto

Wed, 2009-10-07 21:03

ummmm take it to an auto elect. .. put in a cole-hurst switch and allways turn it to off after every use ... the batteries is the least of your problem if it an ally boat as the power leakage will be causing the hull to corrode

damo6230's picture

Posts: 2029

Date Joined: 07/06/08

disconnect the terminal leads

Wed, 2009-10-07 21:06

mine come off everytime its out of the water

the little time it takes will save big mobs of electrolisis as feral says

The_Wanderer's picture

Posts: 735

Date Joined: 24/09/08

Cheers for the feed back, it

Wed, 2009-10-07 21:22

Cheers for the feed back, it has a  switch on it already, that allows us to isolate batteries the. We always switch to off-was one of the first things we checked. 

Hopefuly we can avoid having to disconnect the leads- the BMT is barley one year old it should not be happening.

 

BEn  

Feral's picture

Posts: 1508

Date Joined: 01/11/06

your right it shouldnt be

Wed, 2009-10-07 21:52

your right it shouldnt be ... but its earthing somewhere .... thats the only reason they would go down that quick ... maybe you need to place in one of the red plastic keys just after the battery so you can fully disconnect it without needed to remove the terminals ... the only other thing is to try taking off the terminals and see if that stops your problem like Damo says

 

alfred's picture

Posts: 3097

Date Joined: 12/01/07

Check if there is actually a

Wed, 2009-10-07 22:58

Check if there is actually a draw from the batteries when off, most wiremen will have a mega meter to check with.

What type of batteries? Wet or gel or AGMs?

Ben, make it easy and just swap boats with me, mine are well sorted.  I'll take your one, with the unresolved problems for both of mine.

 

 

kempy's picture

Posts: 810

Date Joined: 28/05/09

leave a automatic battery

Thu, 2009-10-08 07:26

leave a automatic battery charger on it so that the batteries are always charged and ready to go

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Rod P's picture

Posts: 725

Date Joined: 20/05/08

Be careful playing with

Thu, 2009-10-08 10:43

Be careful playing with Battery's and Verado fourstrokes. You could cause your self a hell of a big bill if you do the wrong thing. The Verado's do run different battery's and need heaps of power to start them. In the early days of them they wouldn't even charge the battery's with out a separate charge circuit. I'd be ridding the dealer harder..Much harderCool

Rod P's picture

Posts: 725

Date Joined: 20/05/08

Sorry had a lock up. One

Thu, 2009-10-08 10:44

Sorry had a lock up. One more point is for everyone else make sure you battery leads are tight. Loose terminals can spike back and blow expensive electrics on your motor and even your radio's sounder's and GPS's.

 

HTH

Andy's picture

Posts: 522

Date Joined: 08/10/05

Verado elecs

Thu, 2009-10-08 13:08

I have done verado training and had experiences with battery setup on these engines. the batteries need to be in A1 condition with clean and tight terminals for these engines to run properly. Is this draining battery power with the isolator off. all accesories should run through the isolator. the power steer pump should be hardwired to the battery, make sure this isnt drawing power when the engine is off. Also get a c-tek charger of something similar and top up the batteries before using the boat. Are you running 2 batteries?

alfred's picture

Posts: 3097

Date Joined: 12/01/07

Ben, install a Blue Seas

Thu, 2009-10-08 13:16

Ben, install a Blue Seas AVR/ACR if you are using 2 batteries.  I use two 1600 CCA Odessy AGMs with mine and they work a charm.

The_Wanderer's picture

Posts: 735

Date Joined: 24/09/08

Cheers for the input gents.

Thu, 2009-10-08 16:21

Cheers for the input gents. Alfred sorry mate no deal  on the swap :P,

 The batteries where replaced the first time this happened with Century marine pro dual 600s and the boat is basicly brand new. so everything is in a one condition.  Not sure if the batteries are AGM or not.

Rod yeah will deffinaltey get onto the dealler. They assured us the problem has been fixed.....

Andy what is a c-tek charger?  

 

kempy's picture

Posts: 810

Date Joined: 28/05/09

a c tek charger is a very

Thu, 2009-10-08 16:38

a c tek charger is a very expensive automatic battery charger

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Dinkum Auto Electrical A/C & Mechanical Unit 10/16 Kent way Malaga 0438755754 Also Mobile

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Andy's picture

Posts: 522

Date Joined: 08/10/05

batteries

Thu, 2009-10-08 19:09

600 cca batteries are too small. 800cca are the minimum required for verados.

The_Wanderer's picture

Posts: 735

Date Joined: 24/09/08

Looks like we need to

Thu, 2009-10-08 20:53

Looks like we need to upgrade the batteries.

Cheers for the help guys.  Will still take it to an auto sparky though Just to check for current draw. 

kempy's picture

Posts: 810

Date Joined: 28/05/09

bring it in anytime we will

Thu, 2009-10-08 21:17

bring it in anytime we will check it for ya

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Dinkum Auto Electrical A/C & Mechanical Unit 10/16 Kent way Malaga 0438755754 Also Mobile

Open 7 days except when we are fishn For all your auto electrical needs

The_Wanderer's picture

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Date Joined: 24/09/08

Cheers kempy will get the

Fri, 2009-10-09 15:53

Cheers kempy will get the old man to swing by. 

 

 

solly's picture

Posts: 375

Date Joined: 11/09/05

install a shore power option

Tue, 2009-10-27 20:52

with a inverter you can charge the batteries with 240,ive got this on my boat works great if you leave the isolator on like I did last week

solly

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There are two types of people ,do'ers and watchers
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Dean's picture

Posts: 1943

Date Joined: 23/02/07

thats what happens when you

Wed, 2009-10-28 11:07

thats what happens when you use the welfare outboard mate!

The_Wanderer's picture

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Date Joined: 24/09/08

LOL have used mercs for

Wed, 2009-10-28 12:02

LOL have used mercs for years this is the first time we have had any grief! The boat came packaged with the Verado. If we had a choice it would have been honda or Suzuki!

Solly looked at the shore power option to have everything rigged up  the wanted some absurd amount of money!  

 

 

carnarvonite's picture

Posts: 8669

Date Joined: 24/07/07

Bilge pump

Wed, 2009-10-28 19:12

Does it have a float switch activated bilge pump?Heard of some power leakage through the float switch.The only way to be sure is like said before,remove the battery leads after each trip.