Looking for some help.

[Bassbme]

I have a 97 Bumble Bee V 16 with a 120 Force on it. It's a Mercury Force so it has Mercury controls. I fished a tournament last night and got the boat on the trailer just before a big time thunderstorm came in. Thunder, lighting, wind ..... a real soaker. Anyhow, I get out in the garage today to dry the boat out and I wanted to check how much gas I had left so I turned the key. What I got was a barely audible and very high pitched sound coming from the control box. Anyone have any idea what it might be?

It's not the warning beep from an over heated motor or anything. Being a Force motor means I have to mix the gas in the tank, so it's not a low oil warning or anything like that. I did notice that the little lever that you lift to bring the RPM up without putting the motor into gear was slightly raised. Thinking I may have inadvertently bumped it when I reaching for my live well pump out switch, but I can't see that having anything to do with the sound, but who knows ....

Maybe with the very heavy rain it got some water down in it and it will go away when it dries out? Hoping to get it squared away before my up coming tournament on Saturday. Any thoughts or experience shared will be greatly appreciated.

[CatFan]

Is the battery on a charger?

[Bassbme]

CatFan, I really appreciate the response, and your help trying to figure this out. To answer your question, yes. I have a Dual Pro Sportsman 3 bank hooked up to my starting and trolling motor batteries. But I didn't have the charger plugged in. Just to see if it made a difference, I disconnected the charger from the battery. Still have the sound. Although I will say that when I first turned the key after disconnecting the charger, it didn't make the sound. I turned the key back off and then back on right away, and the sound started right away. I hadn't reconnected the charger.

This is puzzling to me. I have fished in heavy downpours before ..... just baffling me.

Any further questions or suggestions will be greatly appreciated/ Thanks again !!

[CatFan]

Purely a guess, but hoping it got wet and will straighten out when it dries.

[Bassbme]

That's what I am hoping, too. I really don't want to tear it down because I am thinking that could lead to more water intrusion problems, (if that's what it is) and a new one goes for around $400 or I could go the E bay route if need be, and pick one up for a little less.

Anyhow ........ thanks for the reply CatFan. Very much appreciated.

[wmitch2]

Have you checked the voltage of the starting battery ? Plug in and connect the charger and bring it up to full charge. Check the voltage and try starting it again. If you have a compressor, try blowing thru the key hole, and around any switches that could have gotten wet. I'm suspecting the Battery.

[Bassbme]

wmitch2, thanks for the response. I really appreciate it. The problem rectified itself. Most likely what I suspected from the beginning. It just got wet inside somehow. I do have a compressor and did try blowing air down inside and all around it yesterday, but the sound was still there. I ended up parking it outside in the sun for a few hours to help dry things out. Tried it before I put it back in the garage and still had the sound. Just got home from work and tried it, and the sound is no longer present.

I guess it finally dried out. I knew it wasn't the battery itself though. It's only a month old, (I know new batteries can be bad) and my charger has diagnostics in it that will tell you if you have a battery problem. Also, the noise started the second you turn the key to the on position. I did turn the key to engage the stater, just to make sure it was still good and it turned over beautifully. Odd sound to be sure. But it's gone now so ....

I am curious as to if it will happen again the next time I fish in or the boat is out in a very hard rain. Wondering if I can do some kind of preventative thing for it. Back in my hot rodding days we used to spray distributor caps and plug wires with I think it was a silicone spray, to keep any water from causing a cross spark situation. I may try something like that.

Any ideas on something that may prevent it from possibly happening in the future would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again to both of you guys for your ideas. They are sincerely and greatly appreciated.

[375VTROCKET]

try spraying the area with WD40 that's what it is made for WD--water deterrent. It can/will help if it happens again.

[CatFan]

try spraying the area with WD40 that's what it is made for WD--water deterrent. It can/will help if it happens again.

I’d advise against spraying electronics with WD-40. The D is Displacement.

[billnorman1]

I spray switches with WD-40 if they need to be resurrected. It works frequently, but it's just for temporary urgent situations.

Also, because battery chargers use AC current with rectifiers, sometimes some AC sneaks through and can turn circuits on that shouldn't be turned on resulting in noise as stated earlier.