On my new to me boat, which I took possession of three weeks ago I noted that the battery charger wasn't working. The battery charger is on the AC/Shore Power panel and the little green light would light up dutifully. But the battery chargers LED's didn't light, and climbing in the battery space the multi tester confirmed that the batteries were at 11.98 or so. So it wasn't working. This took two weeks worth of boat time (Time when you can actually visit the boat with the tools and materials needed) to establish. First I had to learn how to access the battery area and spend a good deal of time looking at wires and where they led. Not to mention reading MS's articles and associated posts.
So I bought a new battery charger, on sale, which was a 20 amp. The existing was 12 amps. I returned the 20 amp after realizing that it would probably exceed the existing wiring and got the modern version of the 12 amp. MS, you may want to avert your eyes at this point. But I suspect you already know the story.
So over a few days, but only an hour or so a day after work, I installed the new charger. I had to put a outlet in the "Junction box" where the formerly hard wired charger received it's AC input. The new charger has a plug which most of the ones I saw online did. Except for the one MS demonstrates on his website. But that unit is more complicated than I need and if you include wiring a lot more expensive.
That done I wired the thing up, plugged in the shore power, threw the double pole switch and the charger breaker - and nothing. A big fat nothing. I'm sure many have figured this out by now. But I'm despondent because this means a problem with the wiring in a much less accessible part of the boat than even the barely accessible battery area.
So, I go to the panel and check with the multi tester and find there is, in fact 120 volts across the switch or breaker. That wire is energized and then it disappears into the abyss. Here it is. Maybe someone, maybe the PO, certainly some PO didn't wire the charger on the charger circuit. Why? No one knows. So I flipped all the switches that weren't known to me to be useful, the water heater (Which the boat doesn't have), the air-conditioning (Which the boat doesn't have), and the ubiquitous "Access ." I go look at the charger and LED's are happily blinking and doing what ever they do.
The thing is, I bought this boat from a guy I know, who works at a local boatyard. I've been on the boat many times. I told him the battery charger wasn't working to see if maybe I was missing something - I wasn't asking him to solve the problem. He just said it was working and had a blank look. I don't thing he even remembered that it was wired on a different circuit. So I spent five or so boat hours on this and if I had the presence of mind to flip those other switches at the onset, I would have missed laying backwards over the engine with my head in a compartment with little ventilation, and at least five pounds worth of sweat, with my cheek occasionally laying on one of the positive battery terminals, and trying to learn how to break into the compartment where the wiring ran from the charger, and quite a bit of other fun.
Thanks PO. I tell you that PO guy is no good.
So, where do those other wires go? How do they terminate. Yikes.
So I bought a new battery charger, on sale, which was a 20 amp. The existing was 12 amps. I returned the 20 amp after realizing that it would probably exceed the existing wiring and got the modern version of the 12 amp. MS, you may want to avert your eyes at this point. But I suspect you already know the story.
So over a few days, but only an hour or so a day after work, I installed the new charger. I had to put a outlet in the "Junction box" where the formerly hard wired charger received it's AC input. The new charger has a plug which most of the ones I saw online did. Except for the one MS demonstrates on his website. But that unit is more complicated than I need and if you include wiring a lot more expensive.
That done I wired the thing up, plugged in the shore power, threw the double pole switch and the charger breaker - and nothing. A big fat nothing. I'm sure many have figured this out by now. But I'm despondent because this means a problem with the wiring in a much less accessible part of the boat than even the barely accessible battery area.
So, I go to the panel and check with the multi tester and find there is, in fact 120 volts across the switch or breaker. That wire is energized and then it disappears into the abyss. Here it is. Maybe someone, maybe the PO, certainly some PO didn't wire the charger on the charger circuit. Why? No one knows. So I flipped all the switches that weren't known to me to be useful, the water heater (Which the boat doesn't have), the air-conditioning (Which the boat doesn't have), and the ubiquitous "Access ." I go look at the charger and LED's are happily blinking and doing what ever they do.
The thing is, I bought this boat from a guy I know, who works at a local boatyard. I've been on the boat many times. I told him the battery charger wasn't working to see if maybe I was missing something - I wasn't asking him to solve the problem. He just said it was working and had a blank look. I don't thing he even remembered that it was wired on a different circuit. So I spent five or so boat hours on this and if I had the presence of mind to flip those other switches at the onset, I would have missed laying backwards over the engine with my head in a compartment with little ventilation, and at least five pounds worth of sweat, with my cheek occasionally laying on one of the positive battery terminals, and trying to learn how to break into the compartment where the wiring ran from the charger, and quite a bit of other fun.
Thanks PO. I tell you that PO guy is no good.
So, where do those other wires go? How do they terminate. Yikes.
