Thought I’d post about my issue because the cause was odd...
Decided to take the ski out a few weeks back, it was cold like 50 deg air and water with some wind.. In the garage the ski will start and run then quite... Repeat.
Tuning done in the summer so figured it might be a little lean so I richened up the low screws and it was ok now..
At the boat ramp I tried to take off and the issue was back, start, run quite.. Repeat..
So I tied my tow rope to dock and ski and removed the hood and tried to run it.. same issue.. I inspected my wiring and battery connections and dug out the start stop wiring and everything was in order except, it seemed the battery post moved 1 or 2mm within the battery... it’s an 480 CCA anti gravity lipo..
Kept checking stuff and now it won’t crank at all.. I have a bilge pump and it won’t operate either.. verified my ground cable isn’t broken off the starter bolt, ok...
So I turn the bilge switch on and do a wiring wiggle test hoping the pump will run when I locate the issue.. sure enough I find it, it’s internal to the battery, it’s got an intermittent open circuit within the battery, possibly at the post I found movement on, but haven’t verified the location within the battery yet..
Luckily it broke down on the ramp, and not at my ride spot.. it’s an hour swim back pulling a ski... Went home swapped in my other anti gravity battery and issue gone..
The battery is 5 years old so it’s time... some things I’ve noticed is the brass posts patina and cause resistance, found that when my battery post was as at 104 deg during charging.. cleaned post and resumed charging and temp went back to just above ambient..
Speaking of invisible corrosion, my micrometer has been acting up. Won’t read, get half digits, screen goes blank then half of comes back.. I’ve replaced the battery multiple times, had the tool guy look at it.. works for awhile then the issues back.. well it happened again last week.. the battery terminals are silver metal and clean, I decide to scrape them with my terminal file.. low and behold, that fixed it... some type of Metal patina on the terminals was the causing resistance and an intermittent open circuit....
On the Anti gravity battery, I plan to isolate the issue further within the battery. I Took my last one apart a few years ago...
I know a lot of people are running T/L now, just putting it out there, it can be something other than the typical.. start stop switch
Decided to take the ski out a few weeks back, it was cold like 50 deg air and water with some wind.. In the garage the ski will start and run then quite... Repeat.
Tuning done in the summer so figured it might be a little lean so I richened up the low screws and it was ok now..
At the boat ramp I tried to take off and the issue was back, start, run quite.. Repeat..
So I tied my tow rope to dock and ski and removed the hood and tried to run it.. same issue.. I inspected my wiring and battery connections and dug out the start stop wiring and everything was in order except, it seemed the battery post moved 1 or 2mm within the battery... it’s an 480 CCA anti gravity lipo..
Kept checking stuff and now it won’t crank at all.. I have a bilge pump and it won’t operate either.. verified my ground cable isn’t broken off the starter bolt, ok...
So I turn the bilge switch on and do a wiring wiggle test hoping the pump will run when I locate the issue.. sure enough I find it, it’s internal to the battery, it’s got an intermittent open circuit within the battery, possibly at the post I found movement on, but haven’t verified the location within the battery yet..
Luckily it broke down on the ramp, and not at my ride spot.. it’s an hour swim back pulling a ski... Went home swapped in my other anti gravity battery and issue gone..
The battery is 5 years old so it’s time... some things I’ve noticed is the brass posts patina and cause resistance, found that when my battery post was as at 104 deg during charging.. cleaned post and resumed charging and temp went back to just above ambient..
Speaking of invisible corrosion, my micrometer has been acting up. Won’t read, get half digits, screen goes blank then half of comes back.. I’ve replaced the battery multiple times, had the tool guy look at it.. works for awhile then the issues back.. well it happened again last week.. the battery terminals are silver metal and clean, I decide to scrape them with my terminal file.. low and behold, that fixed it... some type of Metal patina on the terminals was the causing resistance and an intermittent open circuit....
On the Anti gravity battery, I plan to isolate the issue further within the battery. I Took my last one apart a few years ago...
I know a lot of people are running T/L now, just putting it out there, it can be something other than the typical.. start stop switch
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