Alternator ? Maybe not charging

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Bmoore

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So I have a new boat, new batts ( 1 starter and 2 house batteries ). The house batteries are joined in parallel. I fish on the drift a lot running bait tank etc...yesterday my house batteries were reading 11.2 volts while under way and the starter was reading 14.4-14.6. Shouldn't the house batteries also show a 14+ reading while under way ? I plugged in the on board charger last night ( Dual Bank -20amp ) and starter showed 14+ volts this morning, but house batteries were at 12.3 volts. I decided to plug my 20 amp Portable charger up to the house batteries instead and it said they were at 54% charged. It proceeded to charge at 14+ volts and they are close to 100% this evening. What gives ? I can't figure out if alternator on boat is powerful enough ( Yamaha F300 ) or is it the onboard charger not having enough power to bring them up. I park my boat away from my house, so need to be able to recharge the night after fishing and the night before. I'm thinking of just using the onboard charge for the starter battery and portable for the house batteries. Can I run these at the same time. Batteries are separated, but did notice one of the house batteries is connected to the starter, but only with a negative. Not sure if I only saw 11.2 volts on house batteries while under way because they were so low already ? I thought it would still send 14+ volts at them like it does the starter. Kind of a lot of questions here, but just curious if anyone has experienced something like this. Side note... I have a Blue Seas ( Off-On-Combine ) switch. Dealer said to use the On setting and engine will still charge all batteries. The combine should only be used in the event I need extra reserve to start engine. What gives ? Alternator issue ? Onboard Charger Issue ? I have no idea


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I'm not totally familiar with the combiners functionality but I do know how to hook up a charger and understand the parallel set up on the house. One thing I would check out is the wires going from your house batteries to the combiner and the start. You should have a ground wire (black or negative) from one of your house batteries going to your start battery negative and one hot (red or positive) from the other house battery going to the combiner or battery switch? Both house batteries should be the same type and size and preferably age. As for your charger, the common ground for the charger should also be connected to the ground(negative) at the start battery. The positive from the charge for the house should also be connected to the same positive as the one that goes to the switch(combiner). If all this is good? The next question is, how many Amp hours total are your 2 house batteries? MOST, not all, chargers take the 20amps or rated Amps and split it between the 2 banks (10 Amps each) so we can calculate how many hours it should take to bring your house back to full charge. Your Yam 300 has about a 70Amp charging system which is very good. That said, it may not bring your house up to full charge if it doesn't have enough time to do so. Here are my questions to you: 1. What charger do you have? 2. Exactly what are your house batteries? 3. Do you know how many DC Amps you are using from the house when your are out and for how long? If you can answer these questions we can calculate how long it will take to recharge your house. As a side note, Warthog on here turned me onto the BEP Cluster switches which I used to replaced my standard battery switch and I believe also functions somewhat like the combiner? The BEP manages the charging automatically between house and start depending on the needs.
 
Thanks Shawnee. Appreciate the feedback. I may just put this off on the dealer [emoji23] and save me the trouble. Everything appears to be wired correctly. I think it will for sure take a while to bring up the two house batteries with just 10 amps going to that bank, but I just don't know why it would be only charging the house bank at 12.3 volts, but the starter at 14+, the boat alternator was doing the same thing, but less (11.3 volts) on house batts and 14+ on starter. Does charging voltage not go up until batteries are more charged ? When I tried a portable charger it put 14+ on the house batts within an hour. Sort of confusing with all the variables. I think I'll avoid digging too deep into checking everything. The dealer is pretty reputable and might as well let them figure it out. I'm just curious about the low volts I see from engine alternator and on board charger, but not seeing low volts on the portable ( smart ) charger. Thanks again Shawnee. Mighty kind of you to dive in so deep to help me trouble shoot.


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No problem, with a brand new boat and if the dealer installed everything, I'd let the dealer figure it out too. Good luck. Here are a few pics of my set up and the BEP Cluster switch. I went with one large 4D AGM 200AH vs. 2 in parallel but we basically have a similar set up.
 

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Thanks for that compliment B, it was a challenge for me. Here is a link to a quick calculator. I'm not sure if they are using a 50% discharge on the batteries as the baseline but it gives you a good idea of how long it should take. I ran it and it says it should take between 16.5 and 18 hours for your charger to recharge 150 AH worth of batteries. I'm guessing that you have 1 each at about 75 AH? I didn't answer one of your questions you about the readings while running. Your questions about the readings while you were running...It sounds like you are getting the current status of the bank and not the output? Maybe somebody else can answer that. On my old command link gauges I can't see battery banks info just output. When my charger is running I can see status on the remote at the helm. If it turns out to be a battery charger output issue/time, I suggest looking into the Promariner Pronautic line that I installed. They are fully digital and they will take their full power to whichever bank that needs it if the other is charged. Mine is a 1220P which is 20A but if my start is charged it will send all 20A to my house bank. Good luck.

https://www.easycalculation.com/physics ... charge.php
 
At first blush I'm wondering if you have a bad cell in one of your batteries.
I'm not sure I understand your wiring or switching layout. Do you have a battery combiner? Not the selector switch, but a device called a Combiner. Think of it as a check valve for electrons. It allows charging current to go to multiple batteries but keeps them separate when not charging.

BTW, my boat runs showing 14v once the RPMs dial up.

I think you need to have some in-depth discussions with your dealer. It's pretty easy for a mechanic who doesn't really understand marine electricity to just say "leave it both and you will be OK". (In fairness, they understand that people who don't know better will fry the diodes in the alternator by switching the selector switch improperly.)
 
Dealer's going to look at it. Sounds like alternator isn't sending power to house bank. I'll post the resolution once they diagnose. I think on board charger was working, but never had enough time just plugging in over night to keep up with the excessive drain.


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How far are you draining the batteries? 10.5 DC volts is bad and can damage them

Sounds like alternator is fine and it takes time to slow charge batteries or they are damaged will not fully charged or possibly the battery charger is faulty

Would be useful to see how everything is wired.

Post an update
 
99b37c367eb79db7d0e6d7fcf4157983.png

Circuit breaker wasn't turned on [emoji23]...or it was tripped. I'm thinking it may have never been switched on. Dealer's checking it out tomorrow. I didn't even think to check this.


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shawnee83":sbhs24f7 said:
I would like to see the rest of that wiring. 100A shouldn't trip.
Installer thinks it was never switched on when installed. Everything checked out fine.


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I was thinking about this the other day while mowing grass.

It reminded me of a 18ft Hewes that I rewired. It had a BEP cluster installed and a ON/OFF switch and CB for the TM.

The guy brings it back to me and says the TM doesn't work.

I check it out and find the CB for it is tripped. I asked him about it.

He said "Oh.....I throught I needed to trip that when I charge the battery."

No You do not! Operator Error!
 
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