96 SL900 No Charge Troubleshooting Advice

[Boostedski]

Looking for advice with a charging issue on a 96 sl900. I was given this ski almost 3 years ago and I still can not figure out the charging issue.

I had to replace the electronic board when I got it because it was in terrible shape. After I did that the ski started right up. That year I figured out the hard way it was not charging. It idles and runs okay.

The ski has updated ignition with a 2 week old battery. The stator passes the ohms test I verified, and so did Martos (bought from Martos even tho I don’t think the oe one was bad).

If I hook my fluke meter up to yellow and red/purp (from stator) set it to AC, start the ski it measures 20vac as I rev it it climbs to 30vac (video-won’t attach). The manual calls this the unregulated test.

With this info I am 99% sure the stator is in working condition. It is supplying the LR23 rectifier/regulator with AC volts through the yellow terminals when running. . When ski is off it’s 12vdc, at idle it is 20vac and climbs when rev’d.

With battery connected If I ohm from ground tab on LR23 to ground reference (engine) I get .6 ohms. So the LR23 module is grounded. I also added another ground wire from engine to black terminals this had no affect.

When ski is at idle there is power to the bilge pump (orange terminals). When ski is off it has 0vdc. I find this part strange, seems like that part of the LR is working.

If I disconnect the red/purp from the LR23 from the terminal, hook positive lead to the red/purp, and ground the black lead on ground reference. It measures 11.14vdc with the ski off. If I Start the ski the LR23 module outputs only 1 or 2vdc. My understanding is this should be regulated 13-14.5vdc.

I have two LR32-2 one oe other is knock off, and I have two LR23 modules, one was on ski other came from Martos this week. With the new stator I cannot get any of these LR23 modules to output regulated 14vdc. I have not tried the LR32 as I believe they are bad, I never could get them to work last year.

Any advice on trouble shooting process? I am really stumped. It has to either be a ground issue or faulty LR modules. I read it’s suppose to be 0 ohms from ground reference to LR grounding tab, I keep getting around .6-.8 ohms even with adding another ground wire it didn’t really affect it.

I appreciate your time reading this. Hopefully someone can chime in with some advice. Going to pickup yet another LR23 tomorrow.

Thank you,

[casey67]

Welcome to GreenHulk !

What exactly is the battery voltage ?
Measure voltage at yellow LR wire with engine off.

Connect the 2 test leads together reading ohms. Should subtract that from actual readings.
The LR mounting bracket is grounded to the back of the terminal board, have you checked that connection is clean and tight ? LR doesn't move- the terminal board mounting screw sandwiches the LR bracket. Adding a ground to the bracket verifies good LR ground-adding it to the black terminals isnt as acurate.

And what is your batt voltage when running ?

I'm guessing you ment LR31 not 32.

[Boostedski]

wow, I really appreciate your time. This has been driving me crazy. Here is my response,

Welcome to GreenHulk !

What exactly is the battery voltage ?
ski off measures 12.9v.

Measure voltage at yellow LR wire with engine off.
When ski is off the yellow wire has 12 volts it was 12 point something can’t remember.

Connect the 2 test leads together reading ohms. Should subtract that from actual readings.
already accounted for my fluke has a resistance of .2 ohms

The LR mounting bracket is grounded to the back of the terminal board, have you checked that connection is clean and tight ? LR doesn't move- the terminal board mounting screw sandwiches the LR bracket. Adding a ground to the bracket verifies good LR ground-adding it to the black terminals isnt as acurate.

I think you may be on to something. Ground issue makes the most sense to me.

So check this out, the eBay board I got does not have any metal on the back of the board. I’m thinking it’s grounding thru the electrical box. The bolt threads into the electrical box sandwhiching the LR23 metal tab and it’s picking ground up by the electrical box (pretty sure this is kinda dirty). On this bolt is a ring gauge that goes to the ground bolt on the coil.

Is there suppose to be a metal tab on the back of the board? I tried to add a ground, but going to the black terminals I knew that was wrong. What’s the best way to ground the LR23 tab?

I might try to add a ring gauge on the backside of the board. Or solder a wire to the metal tab ?

Bolt is definitely tight I have reviewed wiring many times over the three years. This year I have about 40hrs of troubleshooting into it.

And what is your batt voltage when running ?
When ski is started the battery voltage is 12.9v. When I had it in the water if I rev’d it up I could only get it to 13.1 max. This is a fresh battery

I'm guessing you ment LR31 not 32.
yes you are correct I ment LR31-2 is what the OE one says. I would like to stick to LR23 due to the size.

again I appreciate your time and knowledge. Hopefully I can add a clean ground to LR23 and save me a 6 hour trip to Martos.

[Boostedski]

Got it working! Wow all that headache and it just took a small conversation with someone with some wisdom.

I really appreciate your help casey67.

What I did this morning was first removed the board and sanded the electrical box where the LR23 mounts. I made a ground strap with a ring gauge that I first put down, then the lr23, then bolted the board down.

this reduced the resistance from .6 ohms to 0 ohms. Fired the ski up and the battery was reading 13.3 but after 10s and some rev’s it was reading 14.3.

took it for a spin and had no charging issues. Have a hesitation from about 2k-3.8k rpm. That’s a different issues.

Consider this issue resolved. Thanks again!

[casey67]

Well done ! It was your persistence, good testing and question that solved it.
I was trying to picture the board mounting, I remember the black/ground tabs being at the top-right of the lower box ( when veiwed from the rear of the ski) ?The LR ground tab might have been part of the kinda bracket for the black terminals ? And a black wire connecting the 2 box halves, connected at the coil mounting stud.
But having a wire the way you have it should be fine.

Thankyou for updating the thread.