Looking for clarity

aliwildatwork · Post by **aliwildatwork** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:11 am

Hello to everyone. It has been awhile since I have been online looking at the "buzz" and it seems I missed quite a bit of scuttlebutt. Before I ask my question I just want to state that I whole heartedly support Al Benton in his new role as well the others that have undertaken the task of managing the club. Bill Basler did a great job for the club and I wish him peace and enjoyment for his new positions. Change is difficult at anytime but the climate of this economy has made us all struggle through some aspect of our lives, hopefully there is something better on the horizon. The club has helped me stay sane since purchasing my 1968 Cavalier Futura 26'. I would have given up shortly into the project were it not for humor, consideration, experience and advice from the club members across the board. I felt like I was running the gauntlet with my purchase, the club helped me get through some very difficult times. I was never a boater, knew nothing of Chris Crafts, had hardly ever considered Lake Lanier as a body of water and now I feel confident, responsible and well informed about my boat, the Lake and Chris Craft. I look forward to many years of club participation! And maybe another CC too!

Anyway, the electrical question is that my battery guage never goes higher than 12 and before we swapped engines the gauge went to 14 when at higher RPMs now the horn is out of service as it only worked at 14 or so. I haven't gone in there to see what's up but I intend to very soon. Any advice? The CC that I stripped had a compressor if sorts I think for the horn, is this was gives the extra pump of air? The horn on mine is from a old car from what I was told but I don't remember seeing a compressor in the helm. My 56 Plymouth has one because I put air horns on it that play La Cucaracha. Boat seems to be charging fine, we can go out, play the radio all day and start it up to head back without fail...just no horn.

evansjw44 · Post by **evansjw44** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:56 am

By battery guage I think you're referring to a voltmeter that measures the system voltage. With engine not running it should read around 12 volts, actually, 12.6 volts. Once the engine is started the alternator should bring the system voltage up to 13.8 to 14.2. If it doesn't the battery is not being charged and will go dead soon enough. You can run for a few hour before this happens.

Since you have swapped out engines I don't know if you have an alternator as a vintage CC after 1963 would have or a generator like an earlier engine would have. If you have a generator it is tucked in under the right sided exhaust manifold in front of the water pump. If you have an alternator it is mounted on the top of the engine and is driven by a belt from a pulley on the flywheel or it is tucked up under the left side exhaust manifold. Either way if the system voltage doesn't rise after you start, you have a charging problem.

debiby · Post by **debiby** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:25 am

Your regulater could also be the problem if you changed it with the new motor and also check all your ground wires, if one is loose that can cause some real headaches

mfine · Post by **mfine** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 10:01 am

First thing I would do is use a mutilmeter to check the voltage. Check before starting and then with the engine running at 1500-2000 rpm. There should be a noticeable voltage rise. If you see it with the meter, your gauge or wiring to it could be bad. If not, something is wrong that you will want to address soon!

A relatively new high capacity marine batter can hold out a long time if your accessory usage is pretty low. The original generators were only 10 amp and were usually sufficient so you can figure the current draw was less than that. If you have less than 10 amps of draw on a 220 amp hour battery, you could have 24 hours of run time, or more, before she quits.

Wood Commander · Post by **Wood Commander** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:41 pm

There are air horns and electric horns. If you had a compressor you had air horns. Or you could just be using electric horn(s)now?
Electric horns usually have a push button while air horns often have a valve with a small lanyard or something to pull on. There could be an electric push button controlling an air valve, but I don't think that is real common.

In any case, the above advice about voltages is correct.

evansjw44 · Post by **evansjw44** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:13 pm

Well we forgot to talk about horns that used a can of freon to honk the horn. These were very common in the 60s.

aliwildatwork · Post by **aliwildatwork** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 7:07 am

Okay, so same issues, different year. The trickle charger we had was dead so I installed a two bank charger recently. Now the batteries are charging fine but the horn and the sink pump don't. We keep getting the yard guys to go down and check it and they say it was a bad ground one day, the next it's not wired correctly, next it's working if the blower is on, the next day they don't know...It's an electric horn, very loud. Our sink well, it was fine, then it wasn't. Going to check the water level today, could have just left it on and be out of water??? BUT the horn is important to me...

aliwildatwork · Post by **aliwildatwork** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:36 pm

Okay so, there was water in the tank, and the pump works...the switch is bad. Knock it and it starts fine. Same with the horn. Bad switch, or so we think today. Ordered a new one just to see if we're right, even though I have another from the 65 Cavalier we parted out. Went with chrome of course.

Looking for clarity

Looking for clarity

Battery Guage

Freon Horns

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