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  2007 190 Outrage and Smartcraft Gauges

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Author Topic:   2007 190 Outrage and Smartcraft Gauges
alfred posted 06-23-2010 02:39 AM ET (US)   Profile for alfred   Send Email to alfred  
I have a 2007 Boston Whaler 190 Outrage with a 150 Verado. The boat is equipped with Smartcraft gauges, and I noticed that my accessory battery seems to slowly loose its charge overtime when not in use. The batteries are Odyssey PC1500 AGMs and are charged thru a Blue Seas dual battery charging system with the starting battery isolation option.

I found out today that the Smartcraft gauges require a source of power all the time, even when the batteries are turned off. Could this be the reason for the drain? There is a small red wire with a fuse connected directly to the accessory battery, I always thought that was for the bilge pump, but it looks like that might provide some power to the gauges as well. I do know that the battery is not being drained by the pump as I leave the bilge plug out and the boat is stored on a trailer.

I rotate the batteries every now and then and it will only happen to the accessory battery. Regardless of which battery I hook up as the starting battery, the starting battery is always good, so I know it's not the battery.

I have not used the boat for 3 months and I checked the voltage of the accessory battery then and it was 12.7volts. Yesterday, I was preparing the boat for an outing and found the battery at 9.6volts only!

Lucky for me it is a deep cycle battery and it charged up fine.

alfred posted 06-23-2010 02:40 AM ET (US)     Profile for alfred  Send Email to alfred     
Sorry - so my question is, will the Smartcraft gauges drain the batteries to that extent?
sosmerc posted 06-23-2010 11:16 AM ET (US)     Profile for sosmerc  Send Email to sosmerc     
I don't believe that SmartCraft guages require power at all times. I have installed battery master switches in numerous installations with SmartCraft guages...meaning, when the switch is in the off position you are basically isolating the batteries from EVERYTHING. Have had no problems with the guages.
You should have a battery switch and it should be in the off position when you are not using the boat. This should save your batteries. It would be even better if you could leave them on a battery maintainer when not in use. Make sure any maintainer or charger you use is appropriate for the AGM style batteries you are using.
Dauntless 180 posted 06-23-2010 01:13 PM ET (US)     Profile for Dauntless 180  Send Email to Dauntless 180     
Alfred
Who ever told you that is full of ............. I have the same engine, same gauges. My batteries, both group 31 AGM's were pulled from the boat last fall and put back on in the spring. All my SC setting were the same as I had left them. I believe they use non violate memory. As stated before the when you turn your switch off EVERYTHING should be dead. EXCEPT for the bilge pump
alfred posted 06-23-2010 07:33 PM ET (US)     Profile for alfred  Send Email to alfred     
Hmmmmm .......... let me check with the dealer here again.

I too have had both batteries out and all the data was still there when I put the batteries back in.

jimh posted 06-24-2010 12:52 AM ET (US)     Profile for jimh  Send Email to jimh     
The wiring for SmartCraft and DTS for a 2007 Boston Whaler 190 OUTRAGE is shown in

http://www.whalerparts.com/Diagrams/2007/190%20Outrage/07212190ORSHT1-2. pdf

A direct connection to the battery from what appears to be a network power cable is shown. This corresponds with the description:

"There is a small red wire with a fuse connected directly to the accessory battery..."

From the wiring diagram and description, it would seem that the SmartCraft network power is always connected to the battery. If there are any devices on the network which consume electrical power all the time, that load would account for the drain on the battery. You could check on any parasitic current drain when the engine is switched off by inserting an ammeter into the circuit at the point of attachment to the battery and measuring any current flow.

Dauntless 180 posted 06-24-2010 07:22 AM ET (US)     Profile for Dauntless 180  Send Email to Dauntless 180     
It sounds like something from that little red wire is draining your power. Back in the spring their was a point I did not use the boat for 6 weeks. Just for the heck of it I checked both batteries and they were still at 12.7. The boat is kept in indoor rack storage.
alfred posted 06-24-2010 09:52 AM ET (US)     Profile for alfred  Send Email to alfred     
Thanks for the diagram Jim.

So I guess the question is, do I have to keep the SmartCraft network hooked up? I am tempted to hook that wire up to the switch so there is no drain to the batteries.

sosmerc posted 06-24-2010 06:07 PM ET (US)     Profile for sosmerc  Send Email to sosmerc     
That's the way I would do it.
boatdryver posted 06-24-2010 08:55 PM ET (US)     Profile for boatdryver  Send Email to boatdryver     
I had the same problem as Alfred with my 2007 Verado 175. My dealer rewired that "little red wire" to the battery switch.

Now there is no drain on the batteries when the switch is in the "off" position.

this was 2 years ago and everything works normally.

JimL

jimh posted 06-24-2010 09:02 PM ET (US)     Profile for jimh  Send Email to jimh     
I concur with the advice to move the SmartCraft network power connection to a point in the electrical distribution which is downstream of the main ON-OFF switch.
alfred posted 06-24-2010 11:51 PM ET (US)     Profile for alfred  Send Email to alfred     
Cheers Folks, just rewired the little red wire, will check to see if the voltage drops in the next few weeks.

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