Well glad to help with what little I know. I am not much with electronics, but last year I did have a guy on my boat who is handy. he attached a multimeter so we could determine what line was positive and what one was negative coming from the engine.
I didn't know there was a difference! Both wires were black so we needed to determine which to hook up to where on the battery. the previous owner did nto use the charger he didn't know if it worked. So someone pulled out the wires running from the battery to the engine, but left the wires coming out of the engine tied up in a ball.
Anyway we touched them with a multimeter and one way the amps were running n the minus at around 15. So we switched and had a positive 15.something if I recall. I could be wrong on the amperage.
However we determined that the generator was in deed putting out amps, so we ran some heavy duty wires to the battery and attached clips to the end. I connect the clips to the little clips we added to the wire coming from the engine so I can connect and disconnect when I pull the engine off the boat at season and.
At the battery end it was simple to crimp on some rings to put over the battery posts and screw down with the wing nuts there. We did put an in-line fuse in the positive line to prevent burn out or overload to the battery from the generator.
My battery only had one other set of wires that lead to the breaker panel. So it was fine adding another set to the battery I guess people say you don't want to add to many directly to the battery. I have very basic electronics, only running lights, cabin lights and mast light. One 12v socket and that's it.
i do not have depth, knott or anything else. So the drain on my system is very low. Keep that in mind, maybe you have depth meter, knott meter and other nav stuff. Mine is barebones, nothing there, no CD player, no radio nothing. Just the lights and one socket. it is all I need though. I like silence and solitude when i sail not noise
I had a boat with all that stuff, and seems I spent alot of time tinkering with it all. Now less is more. I have a laptop witha good battery and a cell phone with data so if I feel the need to connect I use them to check email and weather radar that way. My sone likes netflix now, so when the laptop battery runs down we attach to a converter to the 12v socket. But he usualy falls asleep before the laptop battery drains.
I say this because your situation might be different and your battery needs higher. Mine are minimal and I am talking from that standpoint.
happy sailing
Bill H.
All seems well this year.
Does anyone out there have an under 10 HP outboard with a combination starter/generator installed? How do you like it? Any problems? How many amps does it produce?
I have a Merc 9.9 with a starter only (it has a bendix to engage the flywheel for starting) with no way to recharge batteries except shore power.
My lawn mower has a starter/generator that is always engaged with the flywheel and a half hour of mowing is enough to recharge the battery.
Any comments on this topic would be most welcome.
Geohan
PS Does anyone have a generator on an outboard of less than 10 HP? Does it answer your needs?
Thanks, Geohan
