Kicker motor not returning a charge?

[FishingFool34]

I recently installed a new to me 2015 Mercury Pro-kicker 15hp on my boat and I don't think that this kicker is returning a charge to my batteries. I monitor voltage and am only seeing 12.5V with the kicker running and as the day goes on it slowly fades down to 12.1-12.2V and starts to trigger low-voltage alarms on my boat. When my main motor is running on the same gauges jumps to 14V+ so I know the gauge is working properly. The electric start on the kicker works fine so I know it's connected to the battery properly. Is it possible to get a Pro-kicker that has electric start but no charging system? The Model# is 1F15452EK, what should I check first?   

[sherman brown]

are you sure the motor has a charging system? What else are you running off the battery? the motor shouldn't drain the battery at all. but do you know the amp output of the kicker? are the other items pulling more amps than the kicker puts out?

[Frogger]

What do you have on the battery at idle state with nothing on? Then what do you have on the battery with only the kicker running? (12.5v?). The difference should tell you if your kicker is putting a charge on. 

[FishingFool34]

18 hours ago, sherman brown said:

are you sure the motor has a charging system? What else are you running off the battery? the motor shouldn't drain the battery at all. but do you know the amp output of the kicker? are the other items pulling more amps than the kicker puts out?

I am not 100% sure the kicker has a charging system, I assumed it did as the specs on a 15hp Pro-kicker state it has a 12amp alternator. I run alot of other electronics, Garmin 93sv, Fishawk Xd4, 2 Digitroll 10 riggers, Garmin TR-1 kicker autopilot, VHF radio. My old kicker was a 2004 9.9 Yamaha, i don't recall what it had for an alternator but I always saw 13v+ while it was running even with all my electronics on. I don't think it's possible to get this model kicker without a charging system, which makes me think there is an issue with the my motor.

Edited June 13, 2023 by FishingFool34

[sherman brown]

1 hour ago, FishingFool34 said:

I am not 100% sure the kicker has a charging system, I assumed it did as the specs on a 15hp Pro-kicker state it has a 12amp alternator. I run alot of other electronics, Garmin 93sv, Fishawk Xd4, 2 Digitroll 10 riggers, Garmin TR-1 kicker autopilot, VHF radio. My old kicker was a 2004 9.9 Yamaha, i don't recall what it had for an alternator but I always saw 13v+ while it was running even with all my electronics on. I don't think it's possible to get this model kicker without a charging system, which makes me think there is an issue with the my motor.

you could be right about there being a problem with the charging system. but you have a lot of stuff going for a 12 amp charger to keep the battery charged. and it could just be it doesn't reach the full 12 amps when idling. you need a good volt tester and not just a test light then shut everything off and test your battery to see what volts it has. then start your kicker and at idle see what you have. now have someone rev the kicker to a higher RPM and see what your getting. I have a volt meter on my old Black and Decker charger that makes it simple to check the voltage in my batteries. have you compared the voltage output rating on your old motors voltage output rating? it could just be as simple as your older motor having a higher output than the 12 amps on this motor. 

 

if you want to know for sure take it to a dealer and have them check to see if it is charging and at what output at idle and at a higher RPM. I'm still not convinced 12 amps is enough to run everything and still charge the battery. but you do need to know for sure one way or the other and that's by testing it yourself or having a dealer or marina that can just hook it to their machine and test it.

 

have you tried running your motor with everything off and just seeing what the voltage at your battery is? I used 2 batteries in my old boat with a Perco battery switch so I could switch which battery i wanted to use. then if the battery was too low to start my motor I would just switch to using the other one. but do not use both batteries to start your motor if one of them is low. ni learned this the hard way when I had the switch set on both and it was cranking very slow. with the starter dragging I just took it in and paid for a new starter to be installed. but when I still had the same problem i started switching to one battery at a time and it started great on 1 battery but would hardly crank the motor over with the other one. and using them both the bad battery was drawing the good batter down making me think the starter was bad. bought new batteries and the problem was solved.

[kayaker919]

A clamp-on dc amp meter has paid for itself several times over answering questions like this and finding devices drawing current that I did not know about.  Make sure you get one that can measure dc current (not all do) and has ranges for the currents you want to measure.

[lost a lure]

2 hours ago, kayaker919 said:

A clamp-on dc amp meter has paid for itself several times over answering questions like this and finding devices drawing current that I did not know about.  Make sure you get one that can measure dc current (not all do) and has ranges for the currents you want to measure.

Bingo! Short and sweet.

[AnglingAddict]

My guess is if the kicker isn't running at half throttle you probably are getting somewhere between 6 and 8 amps - you have a lot of things running to keep up with that.  How many batteries are you drawing from?  YOu could increase your battery size or go with a couple of batteries to help with overall capacity - this will delay the time it takes to discharge to the levels you are seeing which might be enought to get through a trip - three things to consider:

 

Rate at which you discharge

Rate at which you charge

overall capacity of your batteries

 

If you aren't fishing in high sun you can reduce the overall display brightness - that can get you 1/2 amp less drain on a bigger display - turn gain down on your fishhawk can help a little too - I had a 9.9 Yamaha High Thrust and I think it had an 8amp alternator on it if I recall.   I know this doesn't answer the original question but....

[tyler.woodard04]

I know everything in my boat less the trolling motor run off the one  battery. I have the lowrance set up to show voltage. Normally it showing 13+ volts when the kicker is on. And off about 12. That is a 2011 9.9