House batteries not charging

[GKuffner]

I have a new Catalina 309 and I've been having problems keeping my house batteries charged. Since I don't have power at my dock it requires a trip to the service dock to charge the batteries. Yesterday I was motoring back to port and decided to test my 3 batteries while under way (1 engine start battery, and 2 - 4D house batteries). When I used a multi-meter to test how the batteries were charging I was surprised to see that only the engine start battery showed any charging activity (14.7 volts) while the 2 house batteries showed only 12.4 volts. I retested all three batteries as I moved the battery selector switch for the house batteries between the 1,both and 2 settings and there was no change in the readings. My engine start battery has its own separate battery switch and can be combined with the 2 house batteries in case it were to die.

How can I tell how the alternator charging circuit is wired and how should it be wired? Can it be wired to charge all 3 batteries or at least the engine and one of the house batteries?

Gary

 

[Stu Jackson]

How to tell???

1.. Check your owenr's manual. Catalina usually includes a very good wiring diagram.

2..Trace the wiring yourself, find out if it's going where it's supposed to go.

3..Look for a loose connection.

 

[Dick 119]

If it is a new boat, call the dealer and have them fix it..

//

 

[Dave19589]

Battery Charging

You may want to look at your wiring setup.....The main battery switch sometimes can play a part in the charging. If you have a 1-2-Both set up and are holding on 1 then it may only be charging to the 1. Play around with trying it on 2 and see if that charges the second bank. If so then try both and see if all 3 are then being charged. If so you may want to run with the switch in the Both position. Good luck!!!!

 

[GKuffner]

Update on Battery charging problem

Well I did some trouble shooting on this with the help of a mechanic. It took a while but here is what I found out.

I have 1 engine start battery and 2 4D house batteries which are connected to the main battery switch as battery 1 and battery 2. The engine start battery is isolated and has its own off/on switch. The engine start battery also has another switch that allows it to be combined with the house batteries to start the engine. The House batteries can not be used to start the engine without this switch being turned on. I have a trickle charger from the start battery to the house batteries. The alternator goes to the engine starter and back to the engine start battery.

My shore powered battery charger - charges all batteries without any peculiar switching arrangements.

I found that the only way to charge all batteries was to have the main battery switch for the House batteries switched to both and the engine start battery switch to on and then combined with the house batteries.

This set up requires that you start the engine with the engine start battery isolated. Once the engine is running you must go below and flip on the combiner switch and turn the house batteries to the both position. When you stop motoring you must go below again and switch off the combiner and select one of the two house batteries.

While I am happy that I found out how to charge my batteries, I feel that there must be a better way of connecting the batteries for charging. Many boats must have a 3 battery setup similar to mine. My dealer is also looking into this problem but I would appreciate feedback from anyone with a similar setup on how their batteries, switches and alternator are setup so that I can have a good discussion with the dealer on possible solutions.

Gary

 

[Stu Jackson]

Gary, glad you did your "homework" and figured it all out. If you haven't yet, now's the time to start drawing a diagram of what you have, which should have, as I noted earlier, been in your manual.

You have the best and worst of all worlds on one boat! Really. There are two schools of thought on boat banks:

1. two equal house banks, switch off regularly

2. one large house bank with a small start (or backup or reserve) battery just in case

What you have is both, which is rare.

A larger house bank will extend the life of the batteries because you end up drawing down a smaller percentage of their capacity with any given fixed daily load.

That said, now that you know how to operate your system, you can do some more research and figure out what's best for you.

"...have a trickle charger from the start battery to the house batteries." sounds suspect, and needs some more explanation, I don't understand what this means.

Your shorepower charger has three outputs, so you get shorepower to each individual battery.

Your alternator only has ONE output, and you appear to be using switches to direct it's output. You could continue to do that now that you understand the operation, or you could rewire your two house batteries into one big bank, or could do that without rewiring by using the 1-2-B switch on B all the time.

Your boat, your choice.

Once you have it all drawn up, take a look at the wiring diagrams www.AmplePower.com and West Marine and figure out what, if anything, will make your life easier, if indeed anything at all needs to be done.

By far the simplest, and easiest to understand is this:

single alternator output to the combined big house bank, your existing switch between the start and house banks (or an echco harger - which is just a relay) to combine the two banks when running charging sources; output of each bank to the 1-2-B switch; 1-2-B switch serves only DC distribution panel and wire to starter

There are. like all things in boats, many different ways to do things.