2007 1801CC - Battery issues

[Scottp3]

I installed a new battery (the depth of my mechanical and electrical skills so please be kind with your responses!) last week and since then I've noticed a couple of issues that may or may not be related: (1) fuel gauge no longer works, (2) nav lights dont work, (3) my display "flickers" even when key is pulled and and (4) the boat is sluggish to start after sitting overnight as if the battery has been drianed. I had the boat serviced last year - everything was working properly.

Could I have installed the battery incorrectly? I recall I have 2 or 3 leads going into the pos/neg terminals each - do they need to be "sequenced" in a certain order?

The non working gauge and lights could just be wear and tear or bulb issues - but the flicker of the display and the sluggish start seem to be something directly related to the battery.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Scott
Parker 1801 CC
Mathews, VA

 

[Brent]

First remove all connections, clean and re-connect .. maybe missed a wire... Check each for damage, corrosion, etc... Check the battery voltage ... maybe it is not fully charged or battery is bad.... if using wing nuts...then discard as soon as possible and replace with hex nut or nylon lock nuts and use flat washers too....Check voltage with motor running. ...each all fuses. ..if have battery selector. .. rotate through all settings several times..maybe poor connection or open it, inspect and clean with electronic cleaner

Fuel guage: check connections (wires) on the tank sender unit
maybe needs cleaning or poor ground wire

Nav lights: check bulbs: are they burnt out?... use DVM and check voltage at the socket with power on (maybe voltage drop?)
Clean sockets after bulbs are removed
clean lenses with Sparkle glass non ammonia cleaner, my favorite glass cleaner, better than Windex on plastic
Sparkle does not contain ammonia
It not available use a non ammonia cleaner

Checking the battery voltage when it is fully charged and then overnight before starting will help trouble shoot

good luck
m2cw

editing on pc instead phone

 

[Scottp3]

Thanks Brent. I am using wing nuts and I do have a battery selector so I'll try those this weekend.

 

[Megabyte]

Definitely a bad, dirty, or missed connection somewhere.

If you have 'stacked' connections, consider using something like the Marinco item in the photos.
It does clean up and organize your electrical connections.

 

[Scottp3]

Thanks Kevin! It ends up that I was stacking some wires wrong. I was smart enough to take pictures of the terminals before I remove the old battery and went back and checked and indeed I had stacked wires on the wrong terminal. Everything working fine now. Thanks for the help guys.