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SUBJECT: # 22397: Perko on fire, help please.
Submitted by Claudio (32.102.48.138) from TEXAS on 1/12/2002 7:43:00 PM
Hi folks. I will make it short. Local contractor had to relocate the Perko switch (4 positions OFF-Bat 1-ALL-Bat 2)due to some deck remodeling. After the work was done,I noticed that to switch from OFF to 1, it was ok, but from 1 to ALL it was very hard to rotate. This happenned for a few times. Today when trying to turn the switch from OFF to 1 to ALL to crank the engine up, smoke started coming from the negative post of batery 1, a little fire broke up, and melted the electric cable insulation with severe damage to the batery post (broke off). I immediately turned the switch back to OFF. I thought the batery went bad, and replaced it with a new one. A couple of hours later I tried again with a new batery, and this time I noticed a bright spark inside the Perko (red) plastic housing, smoke started to come out of the pole from the second batery. I could not turn the Perko back off because it was stuck/melted inside. Disconnected all cables from both bateries (in a hurry!). I am planning to purchase a new Perko, and new cables. Do you think other damage may have happenned on engine components? Any sugestions? Thanks folks.
- 1/12/2002 10:10:00 PM
Submitted by
Local Motion (24.189.59.216) from NEW YORK says Oh no!
..that guy ran a ground into the switch.What you need to do first is fix that miswiring job. There is a neg where it shouldn't be or vice versa. Don't trust the jacket colors, trace out every wire.
- 1/12/2002 10:27:00 PM
Submitted by
Thom (208.1.148.204) from WEST VIRGINIA says Fools Abound
The only thing I can think of that could cause this is if the fellow ran a negative battery cable to the output lug on the battery switch. If it had just been a stray ground wire, of osome smaller size, from the battery being misdirected It should have melted almost instantly. One more case for not running anything but battery cables to the batterys. Anyway it seems pretty clear to me that whoever did the work for you had absolutly no idea what he was doing. The switches themselves are just not made so that they could cause what you saw. You see, they don't have any way to introduce a ground to the positive side of the circuit, no way at all.On the up side although you've fried cables, probably a battery, and have gone through a pair of switches, I douth that you did anything at all to your engine. At least be thankful about that.
Thom
- 1/13/2002 7:45:00 AM
Submitted by
Dunk from NEW JERSEY says Cooked..
Once you get her wired up right with a new switch your want to check you charging system. You don't mention the engine type. If you loaded a direct short into the electrical system on the engine no telling what you may have cooked. The tach not working will be the first sign if she starts ok. After that put a volt meter on the battery's and make sure she has 13.8-14.5 volts at high idle.. The voltage reg was the first thing to take the jolt.
- 1/13/2002 8:32:00 PM
Submitted by
Buster Cherry (207.218.200.53) from TEXAS says And tell your local contractor......
That you have a fried switch sandwich you wanna feed him through the portal he usually sits on.
- 1/13/2002 8:54:00 PM
Submitted by
Claudio (32.102.48.12) from TEXAS says Will find out tomorrow
I'll call the guy tomorrow and ask him to inspect his own work. I saved the Perko and all (roasted)cables for him to see. Thanks all for the sugestions. One thing puzzle me still. I turned on the engine just fine at least twice after he finished the job, and now this happens (?). I will let you know the outcome, so others can benefit from my (learning) experience. For Mr. Dunk, the engine is a 1998 Mercruiser 350 Magnum carburated, Thunderbolt V ignition with 170 hours. Thanks again.
- 1/13/2002 10:29:00 PM
Submitted by
Floyd (65.45.136.141) from FLORIDA says Shorted starter lead
Another possibility is that the starter/solenoid has somehow shorted out.
- 1/14/2002 8:51:00 AM
Submitted by
Ca (209.113.24.175) from TEXAS says How to check it Floyd?
Thanks F. How do I verify/check that possibility?
- 1/14/2002 5:54:00 PM
Submitted by
Claudio (32.102.48.5) from TEXAS says Follow-up
For those still interested. Took the boat back to the original "remodeling" contractor. He is actually a nice old guy. He's been around boats for 40 years. He did not connect any cable wrong. I checked it myself, and all connections were correct. He just moved the Perco. What he found out was that one of my batteries (#1) had "inverted the polarity" Since I have never heard of this possibility (sounds like b.s. to me), I ask the mechanics out there: Can a battery reverse polarity on its own? He claims he replaced the #1 battery, and checked the engine. Alternator is putting more than 14 Volts out, started is turning ok, and no more smoke. Beats me !
- 1/14/2002 8:26:00 PM
Submitted by
FreeOnBoard from TEXAS says Captharv, does this ring a bell? I've heard of that,
But never have witnessed it first hand. If I recall correctly, if a lead-acid battery is completely discharged, it can be recharged with reverse polarity. Have no idea what the voltage-current load characteristics would be for such a battery. I'd want to check the connections and the replaced battery pretty carefully before naming that as the cause. Captharv and several others on this board have a lot of experience with batteries and chargers, and might have an opinion on it.
- 1/14/2002 8:41:00 PM
Submitted by
Thom (208.1.148.4) from WEST VIRGINIA says Dissimilar Metals
You can make a battery out of just about any two different metals as long as you put them in an electrolite solution. The electrons will happily flow from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration, just like everything else. The problem is that unless you are real handy at turning lead into gold you can't make those electrons flow backwards. You certainly can't do it without the aid of devine intervention if you began with a well charged battery, which is what would have been required to get that battery cable smoking. Cable smoked so the battery wasn't dead to begin with. If the battery wasn't dead then even if it were possible for the polarity was to somehow be reversable it doesn't seem to me like it could have happened.The shorted solinoid would do it, but only if the starter itself was locked up solid. You get it one way or the other, either the starter was free to spin, in which case the energy would have spun it and cranked the engine over, or the starter was locked up and the energy returned to the battery and fried the cable. One or the other but not both.
All this sounds so implausable to me. The only thing that makes any sense at all to me at the moment, particularly considering that you didn't mention having to change the starter to get the engine to run, is that the fellow somehow got the wireing wrong on that battery.
Thom
- 1/15/2002 2:47:00 AM
Submitted by
JackR (207.218.217.225) from TEXAS says el toro poopoo! and a question.
I agree with Thom. As I understand it. Every thing was fine until the switch was moved. Do I assume that moving it would require longer cabling so that the old cable had to be removed and new used? Or did he use the existing cable and had to disconnect it at the switch or battery? Either way someone screwed up. A battery with any charge on it will not magically swap polarity. I have never even heard of a lead acid battery doing this. The only time I ever heard a battery do such a thing was in the military. We had some weird batteries (potasium something) that could be charged backwards, so we were told. But, I never saw it. I find his explination dubious at the least and an out and out lie at worst.A question. How much over 14 volts is the charging system running. One of the signs of a bad rectifier can be an over voltage output situation.
- 1/15/2002 10:40:00 AM
Submitted by
r.s. (129.33.49.202) from NEW YORK says rectifier ??
On my 1990 225 evinrude when after running some time at cruise speed my furuno starts beeping cause my volts exceed 14. My voltmeter at the time shows between 14 and 16 at this time. After she idles a little bit it drops back down. Sound like a bad rectifier ??
- 1/15/2002 1:36:00 PM
Submitted by
Jim (65.164.132.165) from VIRGINIA says r.s.- probably not rectifier
Rectifier problems is no charging, indicated by an eratic tach. Overcharging is usually a stator problem in older OMCs. Check your stator, one or more coils may be burnt or shorted.
- 1/15/2002 2:09:00 PM
Submitted by
FreeOnBoard from TEXAS says r.s. - maybe so
r.s., my V-4 'Rude is a 1988 and it has a voltage regulator built into the rectifier module. Never found anything in the service manual that said one way or the other. I only found out for sure by taking one apart, and by watching the output voltage under various engine speed and 12VDC load conditions. Not sure if a bad battery will allow the output voltage to climb up there, but you might check that before ordering a new rectifier. Good luck.