I was imagining a spinning crank handle which you would somehow try to take off the shaft. "Quick - grab it, Hon!"Hmmm.... not as interesting of a mental exercise.
I was imagining a spinning crank handle which you would somehow try to take off the shaft. "Quick - grab it, Hon!"Hmmm.... not as interesting of a mental exercise.
I installed a "house bank - starter bank crossconnect" per Mainsails instructions that allows me to start the engine from the house bank if necessary or run the dc electrical system from the starter battery if the house battery dies. Comforting to know you can do this easily with just the flip of a couple switches.Jumper cables that I kept on board for just such an occasion worked for me when the starter battery died. Jumped from the house bank.
Have the same set up on my boat - and have been forced to use it a few times.start the engine from the house bank if necessary
Couldn't you select "Both" on the battery switch?Jumper cables that I kept on board for just such an occasion worked for me when the starter battery died. Jumped from the house bank.
Since we've owned the boat, our battery switch has always been and remains on "Both". I suspect the isolation transformer was doing its job by keeping the house bank separate from the starter bank. To me the jumper cables were a simpler solution to the off chance that the starter battery decided to give up the ghost. I suppose there is an electrical; solution to adding this switch or that to activate the house bank, but that was eight years ago of those switches sitting idle waiting for the call to duty.Couldn't you select "Both" on the battery switch?
An isolation transformer does not isolate the house bank from the start bank. Do you mean ACR (automatic charging relay)? Both usually means both banks. Your running everything off both banks until there's no juice left, then your stuck.Since we've owned the boat, our battery switch has always been and remains on "Both". I suspect the isolation transformer was doing its job by keeping the house bank separate from the starter bank.
The old volvo's (1, 2, 3 and 4 cylinder engines) used to be easy to hand crank in a sailboat. A sailboat I used to own I would start sometimes with the crank. My current Yanmar will also start by hand, but is difficult to do given the interior layout and the position of the decompression lever, but if I had to I could. Not as easily as my old volvo though, for sure. Fired of mine had a boat with an old Vetus that also hand cranked easily by hand. Those engines are hard to find now though.If you have a small diesel engine, maybe this discussion has meaning. I had a friend years ago with an O'Day 30 and 2 cylinder diesel engine. It wouldn't start once and she asked if I'd try to start it with a hand crank. I couldn't even get the handle into a position where that would have been conceivable -- the configuration of the engine compartment, pulleys, and belt made it a joke (that's before I ever tried to release the compression valve).
I think for a small tractor, or a generator, maybe.
Who has really done this in the real world?
While the battery switch remains on both, that seems to have little effect on whether the house bank is down and the starter battery unaffected. Unsure how Hunter wired this complex electrical beast, but whatever they did, keeps the two separate. Maybe, as you say, the ACR keeps the two banks separate, assuming the boat has one. Either way, when the house bank draws down to 12.0v, starter bank remains at 12.6-7v. Been this way ever since we owned the boat. No plan to change the arrangement unless something breaks.Your running everything off both banks until there's no juice left, then your stuck.
Not so in the case of our boat, Capta. I suspect that Hunter wired both house bank batteries to the battery switch one and two, and kept the starter battery a separate bank.That means they have only one battery bank and no back up at all.
This would be most unusual and unorthodox. Normally, in a standard US wiring configuration, a boat (sail boat, motor boat or fishing boat, both pleasure and commercial, in my experience) has a house bank and an engine start bank, labeled #1 and #2. Combining the two (#1 and #2) as you say your system does gives one one larger bank, but no back up. I see no need for two house banks. If it was my boat I would just combine them into a larger bank (#1), make the start bank #2 and make sure I had a (several) proper charging system(s) to maintain both banks.While the battery switch remains on both, that seems to have little effect on whether the house bank is down and the starter battery unaffected. Unsure how Hunter wired this complex electrical beast, but whatever they did, keeps the two separate. Maybe, as you say, the ACR keeps the two banks separate, assuming the boat has one. Either way, when the house bank draws down to 12.0v, starter bank remains at 12.6-7v. Been this way ever since we owned the boat. No plan to change the arrangement unless something breaks.
Not so in the case of our boat, Capta. I suspect that Hunter wired both house bank batteries to the battery switch one and two, and kept the starter battery a separate bank.
If true, you should have no trouble starting on the start battery only. Move your switch to position #2 and see what happens.Either way, when the house bank draws down to 12.0v, starter bank remains at 12.6-7v. Been this way ever since we owned the boat. No plan to change the arrangement unless something breaks.
Again, why would you want all that extra wiring and two house banks? What's the point if you keep the switch on both? I'm of the KISS school of marine systems, especially on the electrical side.I have two, two-battery house banks. They are connected by a 1-2-Both switch, and I normally leave that in the Both position for a single, large house bank. I have a separate start bank. There's an emergency parallel switch that allows me to connect the house to the starter circuit.
Our boat has one house bank with two batteries. No plan to make any changes as the one we have seems to work just fine and has over the years. I figure Hunter knew what they were doing when they designed the electrical system for this model. Our power panel has a selector switch that displays DC voltage for each battery; the two house and one starter. That gives me the voltage state of each one.I see no need for two house banks.
Boat came that way. One house bank is under the v-berth for the windlass, and the other is under the quarter-berth.Again, why would you want all that extra wiring and two house banks? What's the point if you keep the switch on both? I'm of the KISS school of marine systems, especially on the electrical side.