Lights and shore power

aero3113

If the boat is plugged into an outlet over the winter, will the interior lights still work with the batteries removed?

diggin2day1

I never remove my batteries... keep my boat plugged into shore power though. 

aero3113

@diggin2day1 , do you leave your charger on all winter? I’m trying to decide if I should remove the batteries or not (4).

aero3113

Now that I think about it, I think I saw a trickle mode on the charger.

raybo3

@diggin2day1 not sure but I think there is a thread on this. Boat insurances say that the boat has to be fully decommissioned for the winter (usually Nov 1st thru April 30th). Fully decommissioned means batteries remove from boat. If you have a "insurance" problem over the winter they may not cover if the batteries are still in the boat. You might want to check with them. BTW ask me how I know...lol

Ian

Interesting point, don’t believe I have any such requirement. As for the lights working, even if batteries are out if you secure/wrap the connectors - so you have no shorts - with charger on I expect they will work. My house battery went open circuit last year and while on shore or engine power the 12v stuff worked fine. For the last few weeks of the season when it died if anchored and needed 12v for the head pumps etc I just started the engines.

Liberty44140

I would not leave the charger on all winter. I dont have access to my boat from Nov 1 to Feb 1 so I just remove the blacks during that time. When I start going to the boat most Saturdays starting Feb 1 I turn the charger on just for the 4-5 hours I'm on the boat and thats more than enough to top off. My dad keeps his boat outdoors covered only a few minutes from home. He keeps his charger on and the plug hanging off the side of the boat and he will go to the boat every couple of weeks and plug it in just for the weekend and then unplug after a day or two. He doesnt get on the boat as the plug is just hanging off the side. More than enough to top off.....

Liberty44140

Oh and by the way, on my boat and most if your batteries are removed you can plug the boat in and turn on the battery charger and the isolator gives you full 12v power. I've read that this is not good for the system so I very rarely do it, but it allows you to open & close the hatch to remove and reinstall batteries...

Ian

I'm not suggesting to leave on all the time and I am the same as you - when I pay my preseason visits to get her ready I plug in while there then switch all off again. My nice new AGM's from April should hold up well anyway.

MarkB

Good question, isn't the house live via the battery switch? And charger/isolator direct to battery (so it by-passes the switch)? Doesn't that mean the charger is not directly connected to the house circuit, so if you remove the battery, you lose the connection to the house circuit?

aero3113

As much as I’m not looking forward to removing the batteries I think it might be best to remove them, at least for this first winter. I can check the state of each battery, add water if needed, clean the trays and keep them on trickle. Once out I can play with the switches and see what works. I bought a Deltran 4 bank tender that I will keep in my basement.

MarkB

I think best to pull them, bring them inside so they don't freeze, and put them on a trickle charger.

Was there a reason to not pull them, other than the work involved?

Spyderweb

I know it’s always recommended to bring batteries inside for winter, and I always did with my 1st 3 boats.  But my last boat I bought new, and dealer I bought it from always stored and winterized boat and said they always leave batteries in boats.  So I did too.  Those batteries lasted 9 years.  So I stopped worrying about it.  

aero3113

No, no reason not to pull them other than wondering if the lights were going to work without them. I can always use a drop light if needed.

aero3113

I pulled the batteries today and verified no lights with them out. Obviously shore power works for outlets and other 120 Volt items. Batteries are on trickle in the basement.

Spyderweb

@aero, are 3 of those batteries deep cycle and 1 starting?

aero3113

No, 2 starting and 2 deep cycle. The black one is a battery I had laying around. One of my batteries was on its way out so I used that one temporarily.

rasbury

I skipped through the comments so it was answered disregard..when I pulled my motor and batteries were out, everything worked on shore power..but I think the battery leads were hot so protect them carefully...

aero3113

@rasbury , do you remember how your switches were selected?

Spyderweb

@aero3113 I asked about the batteries because my boat came with 4 batteries that looked just like that, 3 green Interstate and one black one.  The 3 Interstates are deep cycle and all on the port side together.  Not sure why it wouldn't be 2 + 2.

rasbury

not sure what you mean @aero3113 ...I think I had the charger on and the selector on one or both battery positions....but I'm not 100%...that was a small piece of a very large puzzle I was working on!

aero3113

Spyderweb said:

@aero3113 I asked about the batteries because my boat came with 4 batteries that looked just like that, 3 green Interstate and one black one.  The 3 Interstates are deep cycle and all on the port side together.  Not sure why it wouldn't be 2 + 2.

@Spyderweb , So only one cranking battery?? The trays are bigger for the deep cycle batteries though? I think I have 2 big trays and a smaller tray on the port side?

aero3113

I noticed that I was losing charge to start my port engine, I didn’t realize my cockpit refrigerator was on drawing it down. Why would the refrigerator be drawing down a starting battery?? 

aero3113

Unless it was a coincidence and the battery was going bad, that's why I put the black one in temporarily.

aero3113

The interstate on the table to the left is a cranking battery the other two interstates are deep cycle. Also you can see how the tray for the black battery is smaller, that’s why I figured two cranking batteries one port and one starboard.

Spyderweb

I guess I never noticed the battery tray sizes.  Will have to check mine when I see boat again next spring.  

So do you assume each engine has a dedicated starter battery, with the genny also using the starboard engine battery?  Or does each engine pull off the same port battery (your black battery in picture), and that starboard battery is dedicated to the genny?  And then that "Emergency Parallel Switch" combines the 2 batteries when it senses they are getting low and engines need help to start?

aero3113

I thought each engine has it's own cranking battery? Makes sense if the Port side is for the generator because the generator has its own battery switch. Now I'm all confused!!

reneechris14

1 start battery for port
1 start battery for starboard
2 deep cells for house and helm
My house batteries are behind the start ones
My genset has enough wire to go anywhere, I have it on the port start battery.
I actually have all group 31 deep cells cold cranking is like 800 or something like that.