Killing Batteries

[montuck2]

Yamaha, Saltwater Series, 200 hp, 2003, fuel inj., 2 stk. 350 hrs. Starts and running fine on port battery, then (about 2 hrs. later) quits, not enough power to turn over, switch to starboard battery, starts and runs fine. Replace battery and switch, connections look good. Same thing happens (2nd trip) with new battery and switch. Both port batteries fail with less than 20 hrs. running time, both fail load test. Yamaha gauge show charging while running. Not sure this problem is confined to port side; but so far so good on the starboard side. Thanks for any help.

[Capt Lou - NJ]

I had a similar problem with twin 300 HPDI. Discovered that I had connected a positive lead wire at the battery to negative ground. Sounds stupid until you see the way Yamaha identifies the battery. For the hot wire, Yamaha used a black cable and put a little red covering on it at the connector. If you looked too fast, that litlle red covering looks like just a piece of insulation and not an indicator that it was a hot lead wire, so check your wire connections to make sure you haven't incorrectly connected them at the battery. I didn't feel too stupid because I eventually had a Yamaha tech find the problem and it tok him over an hour to discover it as, like me, he intrepted the red covering as a piece of insulation. That re-connection cost me $200. Now that wire is completely wrapped in red tape.