Battery removal.......

[NYSail]

Hello all! Beautiful weekend to do work. Electrical question. Have 2 battery banks, one starter group 27 that is dead. If I remove battery now and not replace, what should I do to cables as battery is attached to shore charger and I'm plugged in right now. I could wait to remove right before I leave when charger is off but would like to take care of business now.

Thanks!
Greg
s/v Souleil
Beneteau 423

 

[Brian D]

I would think just turn off the charger and be done with it (for now). After that, clean the ends of the battery cables (really doesn't need to be said LOL). If you want to keep the charger on while there is not battery, cover the ends of the cables with some insulating material.

 

[NYSail]

Thanks..... that is what I figured. Will wait till I leave tomorrow.
Greg

 

[Davidasailor26]

Not quite the same situation, but my dad once started removing a broken charger, then decided it was too hot and we should go out for a sail instead. He thought he had bundled the wires well enough. After motoring a few minutes down the river the cable from the positive post on one of the batteries started bouncing against the grounded prop shaft. That got exciting, what with the smoke and fire extinguisher and whatnot. Moral of the story is to make sure everything is in its place, even if you're just going for a day sail and you're in a rush to get out of the heat.

 

[SG]

Some chargers, especially inverter-chargers, need to have a battery attached or you might fry the electronics. In any event, I'd turn the charger off while working on that battery.

Is the charger simply attached to the battery switch? i.e., one-both-two? In that case, you might simply isolate that circuit.