DHeckrotte
Guru
Clearly, I do not have the same system the other current poster has.
I've got a start battery for each engine. Of course, each engine has an alternator and regulator. I've got a couple weird battery switches presumably associated with each engine; they're adjacent to the engine panels. They each have honkin'huge wires leading down to the respective batteries. I was told that they were intended to charge the house bank from either engine; seems specious to me.
I've got a house bank. I've got a genset w/o start battery. All batteries are sealed lead-acid. I've got a battery charger which received 110v from either the shore or genset. The charger is wired to feed all three battery banks. I've got a 110v system fed from its own shore feed and from the genset. I've got a second, added 110v system fed from its own shore feed and also from the genset. The second one runs only the air conditioners. The original 110v-12v panel has a battery switch reading the usual Off, 1, Both, 2.
I've done just a little grovelling in the crawl space, and nothing makes sense. If it made any sense, I'd ignore this system until it failed to do its duty, and fix something else. However, when the boat is plugged into the dock, as recently as Sunday morning, the battery charger would leave about a 14v reading on the 12v panel meter which can be switched from Bat 1, off, Bat 2. The gen set feeding the battery charger leaves only a 12v reading on either battery banks. When the engines are running, the reading gradually creeps up from wherever it started (12v or less), to about 14v on either bank.
The only reason I'm blathering on is that the Norcold refrigerator/freezer doesn't like anything less than 12v; it gradually lets the contents warm/thaw.
In the 'true confessions' department, I've not noticed any sort of obvious relationship between the engine's battery switches and the willingness of one or the other start batteries to start the engine. So, Sunday, I left 'em both 'Off' (duh?!) and by two hours later, at 3:30, having driven across the Bay, the battery meter read 10 volts in both banks. The engines would not restart and the fridge was warming. The genset started right up and I charged the bats and ran the fridge; charged for over an hour. By 8 AM yesterday, the batts still read 12v but the fridge was warming. Started the genset, charged the batts and ran the fridge for an hour. For the remainder of the day and through the night we monitored the fridge and ran the genset for an hour. The fridge would be warming in about 4 hours. So, why 20 hours, then every 5 hours? We drove down to Annapolis today, two hours run time, about 5 hours from arrival and the fridge is running.
So the questions: Do I not have three battery banks? Three wires lead out of the charger, one to each bank (the ground is daisy-chained(!). What are the battery switches at the engine panels actually doing? They're shown on some of the old Perkins manuals but no explanation given. Either engine will start with its battery switch at Off, 1, Both, 2, although the stbd engine likes 'Off' less well.
I've got a start battery for each engine. Of course, each engine has an alternator and regulator. I've got a couple weird battery switches presumably associated with each engine; they're adjacent to the engine panels. They each have honkin'huge wires leading down to the respective batteries. I was told that they were intended to charge the house bank from either engine; seems specious to me.
I've got a house bank. I've got a genset w/o start battery. All batteries are sealed lead-acid. I've got a battery charger which received 110v from either the shore or genset. The charger is wired to feed all three battery banks. I've got a 110v system fed from its own shore feed and from the genset. I've got a second, added 110v system fed from its own shore feed and also from the genset. The second one runs only the air conditioners. The original 110v-12v panel has a battery switch reading the usual Off, 1, Both, 2.
I've done just a little grovelling in the crawl space, and nothing makes sense. If it made any sense, I'd ignore this system until it failed to do its duty, and fix something else. However, when the boat is plugged into the dock, as recently as Sunday morning, the battery charger would leave about a 14v reading on the 12v panel meter which can be switched from Bat 1, off, Bat 2. The gen set feeding the battery charger leaves only a 12v reading on either battery banks. When the engines are running, the reading gradually creeps up from wherever it started (12v or less), to about 14v on either bank.
The only reason I'm blathering on is that the Norcold refrigerator/freezer doesn't like anything less than 12v; it gradually lets the contents warm/thaw.
In the 'true confessions' department, I've not noticed any sort of obvious relationship between the engine's battery switches and the willingness of one or the other start batteries to start the engine. So, Sunday, I left 'em both 'Off' (duh?!) and by two hours later, at 3:30, having driven across the Bay, the battery meter read 10 volts in both banks. The engines would not restart and the fridge was warming. The genset started right up and I charged the bats and ran the fridge; charged for over an hour. By 8 AM yesterday, the batts still read 12v but the fridge was warming. Started the genset, charged the batts and ran the fridge for an hour. For the remainder of the day and through the night we monitored the fridge and ran the genset for an hour. The fridge would be warming in about 4 hours. So, why 20 hours, then every 5 hours? We drove down to Annapolis today, two hours run time, about 5 hours from arrival and the fridge is running.
So the questions: Do I not have three battery banks? Three wires lead out of the charger, one to each bank (the ground is daisy-chained(!). What are the battery switches at the engine panels actually doing? They're shown on some of the old Perkins manuals but no explanation given. Either engine will start with its battery switch at Off, 1, Both, 2, although the stbd engine likes 'Off' less well.
