2005 Puma / Humminbird power issues

This topic has 9 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 7 months ago by dhardy.

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October 17, 2013 at 6:45 pm #332596

dhardy
Participant

Let me start by saying that this is my first boat and I absolutely love it! My issue is that my GPS units are not getting enough power according to Humminbird. I have been troubleshooting this by trying a couple of things with minimal success. First off, I got advice from BCB and upgraded my cranking battery to one with 1150 CCA, up from 800 CCA, which seemed to help initially but ended up having the same low voltage reading, frozen screen and false readings on the GPS after about an hour. I then connected the GPS wiring to one of my Interstate deep cycle batteries and this did a little better, but after a few hours I ended up with the same low voltage problem, false readings and a frozen screen. Humminbird said I should add a battery just for the GPS units which would put 5 batteries on my boat in total. I have room for one more battery, but is it common to have so many batteries on a bass boat?I would love to hear from anyone who might be able to share their thoughts.Thanks! Last edited by dhardy on October 17th, 2013, 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

October 17, 2013 at 7:24 pm #332613

mike dominick
Participant

What worked for me was to run a separate wire from the sonar/gps to the cranking battery, not one of the trolling mtr batteries. Ive been running the Sears grp 31 platinum diehard and it took care of any problems I had.

October 17, 2013 at 7:36 pm #332631

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

So are you saying I dont have to add another battery just for the GPS? I have the exact same cranking battery as you but I dont quite get running a separate wire since I have wires already connected. Would this wire be in addition to whats connected already?Thanks for the response.

October 17, 2013 at 7:58 pm #332651

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

You can have your choice, either run your own lead, or use existing power supplied. Unless someone used it, there should be an open wire at the courtesy light on the console. BCB

October 17, 2013 at 8:13 pm #332681

mike dominick
Participant

I started running separate / stand alone wiring to my graphs a few years ago when I had this problem. I run 1 black wire back to the neg terminal and one red wire to the pos terminal of my cranking battery. Now when I start going down on power after a few years, I know its time for a new battery. This may be overkill, but Ive never had anymore power problems with my sonar/gps and its worked on my last 3 boats.

October 17, 2013 at 10:22 pm #332697

dhardy
Participant

I will try one of the two methods. Which ever seems the easiest to achieve. Humminbirds solution of adding another battery just didnt seem right.Thanks for all of the positive input on this issue and I will keep you posted. Luv my CAT!!!

October 17, 2013 at 10:57 pm #332720

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

Frankly Im quite shocked at Humminbird suggesting adding a battery designated for just your units. Thats nuts! There are people running up to four 10 inch units, Power Poles/Talons, stereo, and other things on a standard system of batteries.Jim EbarbMany, LA (Toledo Bend Lake)2004 Cougar/ 225 OptimaxHumminbird Helix 12 Chirp SI on BalzOut Mount at bowLowrance HDS 7 at bowHumminbird Helix 12 Mega SI on Ram Mount at ConsoleLowrance HDS 8 in dash at console

October 18, 2013 at 2:38 am #332735

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

Try replacing the main circuit breaker.

October 18, 2013 at 1:35 pm #332759

Dwayne
Participant

Im thinking BCB is right.First thing is the age of the boat. This may not seem old but you have a few years of moisture on all the electrical connection points. All you need is a little oxidation to rob you of a lot of power. Emory cloth a finger nail file and stainless steel wire brush are all you need to clean each and every connection point. As BCB said change the circuit breakers so you know you have strong and clean components.Second thing is that you dont know it the boat has been swamped. Best to treat it like it has. Go over everything. If nothing else it will give you a piece of mind and help you to really know you boat.Last point is with the low voltage alarm . I wonder what is your alarm set at.Practice Angling CPRCatchPictureRelease2010 PIV 200SHO

October 18, 2013 at 4:07 pm #332791

dhardy
Participant

Thanks Dwayne for another good point to investigate, but from what I can detect from just looking is that the connections seem pretty clean.I will check more thoroughly just to make sure. I had the voltage alarms set to 12V and the voltage reading Im getting up front is around 8.4V consistently.I called BCB yesterday and they said I should also upgrade from the current 16 gauge, which they used in my year, to 12 gauge currently used in the later models. Thanks again everyone for the positive feedback, Hope to get started on solving this issue this weekend.
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