Hunter 410 with Standard Battery Charger

[Don Lucas]

I'm going to help a dockmate with a 2000 Hunter 410 that has the standard factory 30 amp battery charger change his charger later this week.The current charger has a 3 amp charge line going to the start battery and I'm trying decide if that is really needed. Looking at the manual drawing there is a cross over solenoid that connects the batteries when the engine is on. My Hunter 410 has the factory invert/charger and the drawing for it also shows that solenoid, but it doesn't exist.

So anyone out there with the standard 30-amp standard charger know where that solenoid is?

 

[Stu Jackson]

So anyone out there with the standard 30-amp standard charger know where that solenoid is?

I recall seeing a picture here on this forum: look in the electrical panel.

 

[DayDreamer41]

On our boat the solenoid is between the (2) rotary battery switches

 

[DayDreamer41]

Between tho House Bat and Start Bat Rotary Switches

 

[Bill Murray]

On my 1999 H410 it was located (physically) behind the wood panel next to the breaker panel,

 

[scottdube]

Mine is in the panel under the nav table

 

[Don Lucas]

Mine is in the panel under the nav table

that's where my isolator is so that would make sense

 

[artboas]

Ok, here is what I would do, and I think this is right.
When Hunter installed the solenoids, they were a cheap & dirty solution to having the engine start battery charge along with the house when the engine was running.
But, what it doesn't do is link the house & start together when just using shore power.
I would get rid of the solenoid, and install a Blue Seas battery combiner. Thus solves all the issues, and does it with modern technology.
Plus, the combined has an override input, so if your engine battery is dead, you can start from house.
I really think you want to do it this way

 

[Don Lucas]

Got the charger all taken care of. But found that the alternator only charges the start battery. This is weird as according to the schematic the alternator goes to the house on/off and then to the solenoid to the start battery. It has had an engine replaced so maybe it got messed up. The boat is just enough different from my 410 to screw me up.

 

[SEMPERAVANTI41]

As I recall on my 41DS the charger is directly connected to the house batteries with an "echo" charger connection to the start battery. The solenoid would only work when the engine is on, so there is no connection from the start to the house when just the charger is on.

I also agree with Art on the combiner, but I think the charger output should go to the house batteries.

 

[artboas]

I think that my suggestion of changing he solenoid to tge blue seas battery combiner is truly what you want to do.
Here is how it works:
It is essentially a high current relay, with a voltage sense at both terminals. If the voltage senses goes above (approx) 13 boots, the relay closes.
Now this is why this is so magical.
Let's assume your alternator is connected directly to your start battery. As soon as it spins up, it will output at least 13v, and then the house & start are hard connected. And are charging from the alternator. As soon as you shut the engine off, the voltage goes below 13, and the relay opens. Now, if you turn on your charger, which is connected to house, the relay will close as it senses about 13v on the house side. So, now you are automatically charging the start battery. As soon as you turn off the charger, the batteries isolate from each other.
So, thus is the ideal mode of operation. So for less than $100 you have a permanent no guesswork solution.
Dump the solenoid. Put in the combiner.

 

[artboas]

Yes, I agree that the charger should connect to the house. But, with the combiner it makes virtually no difference.

 

[Don Lucas]

Well based on the manual schematic I figured there had to be 2 problems, the solenoid and where the alternator connected. As suspected the main problem was that when the boat had its engine replaced they didn't wire the solenoid to the engine control panel so it didn't energize. The second was that the alternator output is directly wired to the starter so it of course feeds back to the start battery. The engine panel had a nice accessory wire and the wire for the solenoid was right there behind the panel so it was an easy fix (once it all got identified). I left the alternator connected to the start battery as that wasn't a problem really.

So that boat's last owner who had the engine replaced at Hinckley in Savannah GA, who didn't connect the solenoid, moved that boat to Brunswick GA and the new engine now has 70 hours on it and the house batteries weren't charging the whole time.