Beneteau house-starter battery switches

[Syversens]

Hey all,

Our new to us Beneteau has lithium house bank and a lead acid starter battery. There is a echocharge connected between house and starter batteries on the main switches (bottom). On the boat side (top of switches) there is a big cable connecting the house and starter so once a battery is connected it's both to house and starter...

There is a label on the starter switch that says "normal position off". I'm thinking with this setup "normally" means "when not starting"... Anyone have this setup or have changed it?

I kind of want to remove the jumper and turn on the starter to always on in this case.....

 

[Davidasailor26]

It’s likely that your original factory wiring was changed by a previous owner, adding the ecocharger and lithium.

A good write up of some considerations for the Beneteau switch configuration is pasted by Maine Sail at One black and two red electrical switches

There is a label on the starter switch that says "normal position off". I'm thinking with this setup "normally" means "when not starting"... Anyone have this setup or have changed it?

“Normal” might also mean “both banks are functioning normally”, and only switch the starter switch on if one of the banks goes dead and you need to power everything off the other one. You’ll probably need to check all of the wiring in that area to make sure you understand what connects where and exactly when things are independent or parallel.

 

[Syversens]

Excellent, thanks! Not sure I'll go all the way with the negative bus and repurpose of the negative switch as I'm thinking the existing jumper can be installed in a pinch but I'll try removing it and turning the house on and see... I might also do some tests on how isolated things really are. Thanks!

 

[SycloneDriver]

It seems that the house bank is also the starting bank under normal circumstances. That should be fine as long as the house bank and the BMS are up to the task. Do the research on the components to determine the maximum surge load they can handle. In my opinion a combination house/start bank is fine as long as it designed for the high surge load of starting the engine. The lead battery is likely for emergency situations.

Sure the jumper cable can be reinstalled in a pinch. Emergency situation are often just that. Have you ever tried to work on a boat in rough conditions? I was working on my boat at the dock once when the wind and waves were terrible, I could barely move through the boat let a lone work on it. That said I don't have an easy way to "jumper" the house to the starter. I've had to move one of the house batteries to the starter location before but it was calm at the time. A small jump pack or a short jumper cable with spring clamps would work.

 

[jssailem]

your original factory wiring was changed by a previous owner, adding the ecocharger and lithium.

With Lithium Batteries that can put out a "LOT OF POWER - enough to weld a screwdriver to the wrong metal part" guessing is not listed in the best operating practice manual.

If electricity is not your strength spend money on a good electrical marine engineer to help you identify the key parts of your new boat systems.

 

[NYSail]

I am ignorant when it comes to Lithium batteries as I have too many projects ahead of this, however it seems to me like you would never want to combine a lithium bank with a lead acid. The jumper is factory set-up..... many people remove it and isolate completely the starter bank.

Good Luck

 

[Syversens]

Ill take the jumper off next time I'm down there. I looked at echocharge for my first 361 and decided to go yandina combiner instead but that was lead acid all around. Echocharge makes much more sense on two different types and seperate the batteries but have the echo charge on battery side.