Currently we have our nav lights hooked up to our cranking battery. After having the little green and red light on front and the white light on back on for ten minutes without the boat motor running our battery had began to weaken. It allowed it to crank then we ran it above 2000 rpms for about ten minutes and then idled in to a spot for about 15 minutes all the while running lights were on, nothing else. When we stopped the battery was dead. Is there a way to check if the alternator is charging? Also I know I might need a new battery but would like to make sure it not more serious than that. What is a typical load of lights the that can be hooked up to the battery if any? Thanks for the help.

that def sounds like a bad battery. those little bulbs pul very little power. if u have a multimeter, crank ur engine and disconnect the battery cable. chack voltage coming from motor leads. should be about 13 or 14 volts

sounds like your battery is the problem. cuz those little nav lights aren't drawing much.

Thank you both, also why would the motor die when you unhook the battery? I will send a picture of the wires that I think might be why, its a 1996 we bought last year so I am figuring out what mad scientist worked on it before we bought it. Also would a short in the nav lights draw the battery down enough to do that?

ok, now were talkin. if the motor dies when u disconnect battery, sounds like a charging system failure. im really not sure if the motors with electronic ignition can power the coils off the alternator alone or not. i may be wrong, but if its like a car engine, if the alternato is bad and u disconnect battery, the motor will die due to lack of voltage to the ignition. someone else chime in and correct me if im wrong on this please. i took off all the electronic ignition stuff and went back to old school one wire coils on my kohler, and it runs better than ever

oh and i also have the exact same motor as u. the part i took off is called 'smart spark'

There is a low oil, or low oil pressure thing on it that won't let the motor run unless it has battery power. If you disconnect it, the motor will run without the battery. Smart box and all.

If you want to get rid of the box, you can switch to the 18hp coils (I think that's what auto did), or you can upgrade to a new system that still has the spark advance but gets rid of the box.

Sounds to me like you have a bad battery though...


These are the newer coils for those interested...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cub-Cade ... leQ5fParts

What engine is the 25? If its a kohler they have an electric fuel solenoid which will cut it off if it's not hook to a 12 volt supply. The rectifier will not keep it running period.

go devil disables it just for that reason. the pin on the plunger is cut off

and yeah ,its a kohler ch25

That's what I was talking about...I thought it had something to do with oil...