battery switch operation

rasbury

Well, the wife is complaining about all the things I am running across, I'm just happy it's not on the water (so far) running into problems....confused a bit on my battery switch and have searched the forums and on line and really could not explain what I ran across. I think I'm having issue with one of the two new batteries- goes from don't want to start on battery 1, but the battery seems to "recover" and start later. I ran the boat all day (without really using power for anything else) So, I was going to pull that battery and have it tested, maybe it has a bad cell or something. Anyway, I wanted to make sure that the battery I pulled was number one. I can see the wires go up to the switch but can't really tell if they cross or not. So, I pulled the hot wire off battery one and put the key into the ignition and to my surprise, it turned on. So, I put that wire back on and pulled the wire off the other battery, and, to my surprise again, the ignition still turned on. The battery switch was left on Bat. 1 position. The switch was not on the both position. What am I missing here? I went ahead and pulled both batteries to have both of them load tested anyway but that was real confusing...do I have a problem with my switch? When battery number one would not start, I switched to #2 and it started fine. I also checked the alternator out put and I have 13.8V on one and 14 on the other so it looks like I'm charging ok...switch sure has me puzzled.

rasbury

also, as far as what is wired to the battery, battery number one has the normal neg and pos and then on the smaller post a wire on each I assume is for the genny, the other battery only has the neg/pos normal connections on it.

MarkB

Can you tell me what settings you have on your battery switch?

Also did you do this while the charger was on with shore power connected?

rasbury

Mark- my battery switch has battery 1, battery 2, off and both....and I was on shore power and the battery charger was on....hmmm......

MarkB

So, I'm wondering whether the shore power wasn't actually turning over the starter.  It could very well be that the 110V supply was providing the energy via the charger, so it didn't matter that the battery was disconnected.

Try doing that test with shore power off.

rasbury

I am having the batter is tested but will try shore power before I put them back in and then will try the combinations and see...it would not seem that both are working when only one is on but that was the direction I was heading...had not thought about the shore power. It will be a week or so before I get back to it. Thanks for the input.

rasbury

I had the batteries tested, the shop tells me one battery is at 70% and the other is at 80%.  It appears then that the charging is not going well although the alternator out put seems to be good.  I was using juice on shore power while I was getting the boat ready for the trip. Maybe I used more than I was replacing. I will get them charged up at the house on my charger and see what happens from there and I will also check out the shore power and battery switch operation as if the switch is not working properly, I sure need to handle that one! Will update later. Also, my trip had extensive idle zones, I know these newer motors use a lot of juice for all the electronic stuff but at idle I was putting out more that 13V so I would think that acceptable.....

rasbury

My boat is not readily available to look at, but, can someone tell me on the 270 around the 2005 year what the brand of the switch is? I'm thinking I should contact them perhaps with a couple questions...I am charging the batteries up and need to look at my battery charger on the boat and see how that is working...just an area I have not delved into yet! I know the light comes on but that's about as far as I have looked.....

Bruce

I bet there is nothing wrong with your battery selector switch, I would wager that Mark is right, try doing the same thing with the shore power and battery charger off.

rasbury

Yep, I think I'm good...just not sure why I'm not charging...maybe the new batteries weren't charged up enough? I always wonder when I buy a battery off the shelf whether it is charged properly or not but have never had a problem like that before. I have them all charged up and will try them in a couple of weeks, will report back!

Thanks all for the input.

Babyboomer

Sounds like switch is on Both (may be back feeding) that's what it would do. Never seen a bad switch but I guess it could happen. Put the batteries back in then turn on the cabin lights disconnect one battery at a time and see if the lights go out this will tell you which battery is #1 and #2 use all #1 #2 All or Both 

Babyboomer

Read this http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f14/do-battery-selector-switches-go-bad-12669.html