vetteman

It seems like im possibly having a problem with my battery or my charging of it when my boat is in use.....Is there a way a can check to see if my battery is getting charged while i am using my boat...???? (1999 sea doo challenger 1800)

You can install a voltmeter, an ampmeter, or maybe temporarily wire a digital multimeter to the battery. If you are charging properly, you should read about 13.7 volts when under way. Some people prefer the ampmeter which reads net current in/out of the battery - zero is in the middle. When you are charging, the needle should be pointing somewhere in the plus side.

Most Sea Doo's Fuel Gauges work as follows:
Tank Sender provides a resistance between approximately 0 ohms (full tank) and 90 ohms (near empty tank) to the guage. So if you disconnect the two wire connector from the tank sender, you can perform several tests:
1 - using a digital ohm meter, connect meter leads to the sender part of the connector. If you get anything higher than 100 ohms, the sender is bad (most common problem). I have fixed several of these, but believe me it is almost not worth it.
2- using a varable 100 ohm resistor (potentiometer) otherwise known as an old volume control from an old radio, etc. (Try to find one near 100 ohms). You will connect this to the boat's side of the two wire connector. Now activate your boat's electrical system by pressing the start button (will be active for approx 30 seconds), if your fuel gauge is good, you will be able to move the needle by turning the pot.... really nifty!!
I actually made a gauge tester for a sea doo mechanic by soldering a spare connector he had to a potentiometer.

I am installing a Stereo system in my '96 challenger. Unfortunately, these boats do not come with stock systems, so there is no easy way to do it. Because these boats do not really have an ignition system like a regular boat, I am having a hard time finding power that will shut on and off with the boat. Has anyone installed a stereo in a similar model and could give me some pointers. I was thinking of wring both the memory and power wire directly from the battery with a switch for the power so I can at least manually turn it on and off. Is there a better way to do this?

If you remove the storage tray that holds the fire extingisher (located in the front storage compartment) there is a module with 4 fuses located on it. It contains a spare 10 amp fuse labeled for auxiliary and if your boat has not been tampered, a two wire unused connector (orange and black wires) will be nearby. This circuit provides continuous 12 VDC and is further protected upstream by a 20 amp fuse (located in the main electrical box). If you want switched power, you can use a 12 volt relay and wire the coil to one of the guages purple & black wires, then use the orange and black auxiliary power wired to the relay's normally open contacts to power your radio. Hope this helps
Vetteman