Helix 10 gen4 Voltage Drop Question

[samcobra]

I have a Helix 10 Gen4 and it is displaying a different voltage (lower) than what my actual battery voltage is. I get a 12.74 volts reading at the battery. I get a 12.74 volts reading at the power plug to the graph. But the voltage displayed on my graph is 10.1 volts. Not sure why I get such a voltage drop on my graph? Graph is connected to my starting battery and by the end of a days fishing the graph shows a low voltage reading of 8.9 volts and the graph powers off, I still have plenty of power to start my big motor. Anyone have an idea of what my problem might or solutions to fix the voltage issue?

[CatFan]

Bad connections or undersized wire

[SLYDoggie]

Agree with CatFan.

[samcobra]

I am running 10 gauge marine grade wire to graph. As a mentioned there is no voltage drop from the battery to the end of power cable. Could it be a bad connection in the two prong power cable going to the graph?

[Wayne P.]

I am running 10 gauge marine grade wire to graph. As a mentioned there is no voltage drop from the battery to the end of power cable. Could it be a bad connection in the two prong power cable going to the graph?

A voltage meter doesn't show how good a circuit is since it doesn't put a load on it.
You get the voltage drop with the circuit loaded which means it is not good enough to support the load. Your wire gauge is OK, but obviously your connections are poor.

[CatFan]

I am running 10 gauge marine grade wire to graph. As a mentioned there is no voltage drop from the battery to the end of power cable. Could it be a bad connection in the two prong power cable going to the graph?

There is a voltage drop between the battery and the end of the cable. 2.64V. Measuring the end of the cable with no load gives you no useful information about the connection. Only the loaded voltage is useful.

[Coho975]

I have a Helix 10 Gen4 and it is displaying a different voltage (lower) than what my actual battery voltage is. I get a 12.74 volts reading at the battery. I get a 12.74 volts reading at the power plug to the graph. But the voltage displayed on my graph is 10.1 volts. Not sure why I get such a voltage drop on my graph? Graph is connected to my starting battery and by the end of a days fishing the graph shows a low voltage reading of 8.9 volts and the graph powers off, I still have plenty of power to start my big motor. Anyone have an idea of what my problem might or solutions to fix the voltage issue?

When you check power at the plug, it is going to read the same as at the battery because you have no load. as soon as you plug the graph in and load the circuit, it will drop. It should not be dropping ~3 volts though. If your battery is testing OK, it sounds like your wire is very undersized. Also if you're running a 3 amp fuse or similar, you can easily lose a half a volt across that alone. size them to the wire, if you've got 12 ga wire run a 20 and you won't drop any voltage across it.

[venomvee]

The only reasonable culprit in your situation has to the Huminbird power cable itself, or the connections of that cable to your main supply line. It was not mentioned how it is connected, i.e. wire spliced, terminal ends to a fuse block, etc. A faulty connection there is most likely the cause, unless the Humminbird power cable itself has been damaged by pinching or straining some way. A wire connection can be either strained or poorly made so that just a few strands of wire are carrying the load at that point, which will cause a reduction in voltage under load. It would still read source voltage under no load however, such as if you read the voltage at the 2 pins of the connector while it is unplugged from the Helix. That's my 2 cents.

[bobcoy]

The identical reading at the graph proves there is no load on it. Turn the unit on and read both places again. Go from there. Bob

[SLYDoggie]

The load definitely has an impact. My Apex 19 and my previous Solix 15 always had about a .75 Volt lower reading than the companion Apex 13 and my previous Solix 12. I even swapped the units to their counterpart's power connections and the lower voltage followed the Apex 19 and Solix 15. I also have an AC to 12V Power converter I use for the units indoors and the Apex 19 and Solix 15 also show lower voltage than their Apex 13 and Solix 12 counterparts. I finally just accepted the fact that the larger units would always read lower voltage than their smaller counterparts.

This doesn't, however, fully explain your 2+V power drop, and I agree with others that your issue is probably a connection issue at the battery or at the power cable connection. It sounds like you have adequate wire size, so I don't know what else it could be.

[samcobra]

Thanx guys for all of your input, I will be looking at my connections to see where I may be losing voltage......sam

[CatFan]

Thanx guys for all of your input, I will be looking at my connections to see where I may be losing voltage......sam

Easy way to find it is to put one lead of a meter on battery positive and then probe at every connection on the wiring (fuses, junctions, splices etc.) with the unit on. You'll be measuring voltage drop directly. Repeat on the negative post.