Seems like a simple question......but maybe not..................

bswiv

At idle what should the output of a Mercury 150 4S be from the alternator?

At 1500 rpm it should be?

And is there a reason testing with a multimeter at the cables to the battery would not provide this information?

What about the readout showing on the SmartCraft meter?

I ask because on Tuesday it seemed that the battery was draining down during the day........idling a lot.........and then about the 8-9th time I went to start the engine...."click". Broke out one of the trolling motor batteries and just never turned it off again.

chaser48

I have always turned engine off and checked voltage first then start It i think it should  around 13.5 to 14.5 volts

Redaction

chaser48 said:

I have always turned engine off and checked voltage first then start It i think it should  around 13.5 to 14.5 volts

This....it shouldn't be more than the 14.5ish. How old are the batteries? I always kept a pair of jumper cables on my Action Craft to jump from my trolling motor batteries. I only had the one battery for the big motor and pumps...fishing tournaments and running two to three live-well pumps all day, those cables saved me more than once.

bswiv

Redaction said:

chaser48 said:

I have always turned engine off and checked voltage first then start It i think it should  around 13.5 to 14.5 volts

This....it shouldn't be more than the 14.5ish. How old are the batteries? I always kept a pair of jumper cables on my Action Craft to jump from my trolling motor batteries. I only had the one battery for the big motor and pumps...fishing tournaments and running two to three live-well pumps all day, those cables saved me more than once.

Alternator.... ......and of course a OEM is 3 weeks backordered......so......rolling the dice with a aftermarket. Good point to that is it's about 1/2 the cost and they can have it soon. 

We'll see.

At least it'll get Yul and us back on the water after gators one last time. Probably the last hurrah on that, especially as we finally get to take his boys with us. 

Redaction

Good luck...looking forward to seeing some pics. 

We "talk" about applying for tags again just about every year, but never pull the trigger, maybe next year. It's been 10 years since we last drew tags. Father Time is an ****.