Solenoid Problem, Battery Combiner

[SEMPERAVANTI41]

On my 2007 41DS I am not getting any charging to the house batteries from the Hitachi 80 Amp alternator on the Yanmar diesel. It appears that the starting battery is OK, but I am not sure as so little power is used starting the engine. The Xantrex battery charger is working OK and correctly charges both the start and house batteries.

Before starting the engine the alternator light glows on the Yanmar panel and goes out when the engine runs. Also the tachometer works OK and it gets its signal from a dedicated wire on the alternator. Does this indicate that the alternator is OK?

I suspect that the “Cole-Hersey Solenoid #24117” that combines the start & house batteries is not working properly. I see there is a 16 gauge yellow/red wire that is attached to the positive solenoid control terminal. Where does this wire get connected to? The wire schematics I have do not show where this wire is connected to, but from other posts I think it is the "ignition switch".


Is the solenoid a frequent source of problems? Has anyone out there had to replace the solenoid?


Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Benny17441]

If the batteries are fully charged the voltage regulator will limit the output voltage from the alternator. Take the charger off shorepower and allow batteries to discharge down to 65-70% and then take a reading.

 

[SEMPERAVANTI41]

The house batteries went down to approx. 11.5 volts while I was motoring. My chartplotter started to flash. That is what alerted me to the lack of charging of the house batteries.

 

[Marc14857]

Solenoid Problem

Could not find any detail on my schematics either though I am pretty sure that the solenoid is energized via the key switch. I wonder if it would be possible to check continuity across the solenoid connections to each battery with the key switch on? This might give you an indication that the solenoid was energizing.

 

[Paul Mermelstein]

On my 2007 41DS I am not getting any charging to the house batteries from the Hitachi 80 Amp alternator on the Yanmar diesel. It appears that the starting battery is OK, but I am not sure as so little power is used starting the engine. The Xantrex battery charger is working OK and correctly charges both the start and house batteries.

Before starting the engine the alternator light glows on the Yanmar panel and goes out when the engine runs. Also the tachometer works OK and it gets its signal from a dedicated wire on the alternator. Does this indicate that the alternator is OK?

I suspect that the “Cole-Hersey Solenoid #24117” that combines the start & house batteries is not working properly. I see there is a 16 gauge yellow/red wire that is attached to the positive solenoid control terminal. Where does this wire get connected to? The wire schematics I have do not show where this wire is connected to, but from other posts I think it is the "ignition switch".


Is the solenoid a frequent source of problems? Has anyone out there had to replace the solenoid?


Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Are your house batteries dorm 2007? If so, probably time to see if they need to be replaced.

 

[SEMPERAVANTI41]

I replaced the batteries in June.

 

[Maine Sail]

Could not find any detail on my schematics either though I am pretty sure that the solenoid is energized via the key switch. I wonder if it would be possible to check continuity across the solenoid connections to each battery with the key switch on? This might give you an indication that the solenoid was energizing.

Usually these solenoids are run off the key ON and then the engines alarm circuit. I have seen them wired differently but that is the one that seems to be most prevalent.

My advice would be to ditch that set up and go with a automatic voltage sensing relay such as a Blue Sea 120SI ACR. It will do the combining and uncombining automatically based on voltage.