Hello;
I typically cruise this forum and try to add my 2 cents or pictures whenever needed, but usually there are others more qualified than myself who answer.
I have a 1977 C-30 which I rewired 6-7 years ago. With a LOT of help from this forum and posters such as Stu. I have had no problems at all, periodically checking connections and cleaning as needed.
My system consists of 2 banks. One 12v battery in the engine bay that is only for emergency, I never use it. It is hooked to a 2 bank Xantrex 30amp charger.
The second bank is 4 T-105 6v batteries in parallel/series. This is the bank that I use for running the boat and starting it.
I always disconnect everything each winter and each summer I top off the batteries with disitilled water and I rotate the 4 T-105's around in their box.
For whatever reason, my bilge still collects water during the winter, so I normally connect the reserve battery, because it's easier to run the bilge pumps.
This is where I think I screwed the pooch. I wasn't paying attention, I believe I created a short when I hooked up the reserve battery. There are 3 cables to this bank, the positive to the Switch on the Panel, the positive to the Xantrex charger and the neutral to a neutral bus bar that ultimately grounds to the engine. However I connected these cables, the bilge worked but I believe I may have connected the charger cable to the negative side...
When I went to connect all of the cables in the other bank I did what I normally do which is connect them in a parallel series.
When I went to connect the cable from the alternator (which is only connected to the house bank for charging) it arced something fierce. The radio which was playing quit immediately.
I turned the switch to off and tripped the 100amp circuit on the panel. I tried reconnecting everything again. No sparks.
When I turned the switch back to the house and hit the 100amp breaker, nothing would work. If I switched to the reserve, the bilge pumps would work, but not the radio ( I may have blown the inline fuse, which I'll check later). I then started troubleshooting wires, checking continuity, connections. All of a sudden I started to smell eggs and I could hear the water bubbling in the batteries. I shut everything down and disconnected all the wires in the bank. It was then that I also discovered that I had NOT hooked up the reserve bank correctly. I disconnect that too.
I then reconnected the house bank but nothing is working. My meter says that all of the wires are fine, when the breaker is set there is continuity throughout the circuit. The batteries read about 12volts on the multimeter. None of the breakers tripped. All of the neutrals are connected correctly and have continuity.
I am lost as to what I am missing. Please note that the cable going from the Battery Switch to the Reserve Battery Bank is Black. I ran out of red cable and had plenty of black. It is flagged on the Reserve side. The Xantrex cable is also black to the reserve. Yes, this is EXACTLY why I am in trouble. I will switch these out this year. At the time, I didn't have any more money in the budget and I had the extra black laying around.
Any suggestions, or any more information you need, please let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Chris
I typically cruise this forum and try to add my 2 cents or pictures whenever needed, but usually there are others more qualified than myself who answer.
I have a 1977 C-30 which I rewired 6-7 years ago. With a LOT of help from this forum and posters such as Stu. I have had no problems at all, periodically checking connections and cleaning as needed.
My system consists of 2 banks. One 12v battery in the engine bay that is only for emergency, I never use it. It is hooked to a 2 bank Xantrex 30amp charger.
The second bank is 4 T-105 6v batteries in parallel/series. This is the bank that I use for running the boat and starting it.
I always disconnect everything each winter and each summer I top off the batteries with disitilled water and I rotate the 4 T-105's around in their box.
For whatever reason, my bilge still collects water during the winter, so I normally connect the reserve battery, because it's easier to run the bilge pumps.
This is where I think I screwed the pooch. I wasn't paying attention, I believe I created a short when I hooked up the reserve battery. There are 3 cables to this bank, the positive to the Switch on the Panel, the positive to the Xantrex charger and the neutral to a neutral bus bar that ultimately grounds to the engine. However I connected these cables, the bilge worked but I believe I may have connected the charger cable to the negative side...
When I went to connect all of the cables in the other bank I did what I normally do which is connect them in a parallel series.
When I went to connect the cable from the alternator (which is only connected to the house bank for charging) it arced something fierce. The radio which was playing quit immediately.
I turned the switch to off and tripped the 100amp circuit on the panel. I tried reconnecting everything again. No sparks.
When I turned the switch back to the house and hit the 100amp breaker, nothing would work. If I switched to the reserve, the bilge pumps would work, but not the radio ( I may have blown the inline fuse, which I'll check later). I then started troubleshooting wires, checking continuity, connections. All of a sudden I started to smell eggs and I could hear the water bubbling in the batteries. I shut everything down and disconnected all the wires in the bank. It was then that I also discovered that I had NOT hooked up the reserve bank correctly. I disconnect that too.
I then reconnected the house bank but nothing is working. My meter says that all of the wires are fine, when the breaker is set there is continuity throughout the circuit. The batteries read about 12volts on the multimeter. None of the breakers tripped. All of the neutrals are connected correctly and have continuity.
I am lost as to what I am missing. Please note that the cable going from the Battery Switch to the Reserve Battery Bank is Black. I ran out of red cable and had plenty of black. It is flagged on the Reserve side. The Xantrex cable is also black to the reserve. Yes, this is EXACTLY why I am in trouble. I will switch these out this year. At the time, I didn't have any more money in the budget and I had the extra black laying around.
Any suggestions, or any more information you need, please let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Chris