reverse polarity

shess

I need to replace the battery charger on my 2003 rinker 270 fv (it got fried at the end of last season).  The boat is in my driveway now. I plugged the shore power into an outlet in my garage using the adaptor like I do at this time every year and I'm getting the red light on my panel indicating reverse polarity.  I get power in the cabin downstairs (microwave, tv, etc.) but nothing up top when I turn the ignition key to accessory.  Is this due to the battery charger being dead? Could the power cord be bad? Any info would be much appreciated.

skennelly

I could be wrong but shore power doesn't do anything for the 12 volt accessories accept for giving power to the battery charger.  Do you have batteries hooked up in the boat while you are trying the ignition?

reneechris14

X2 what @skennelly said,all 12v must pass thru the battery 

shess

Ok... thats it then.. no batteries hooked up yet... 

shess

This is the battery charger thats in there now.  If you look at the gauge, it appears to be fried.  Any recommendations for an easy swap?

Cableguy Greg

I would consider a Progressive Dynamics PD2120. It can charge all different styles of batteries.

shess

Thanks.. one more question (i appreciate the patience and feedback as my electrical abilities are weak ::) . I installed both of my batteries, hooked up my shore power and the fridge is working and so is everything at the helm.  When i switch on the breaker for the battery charger, I still get reverse polarity.  Am I correct to assume that the battery charger pictured above is indeed fried?  

shess

another bit of info.  the boat is currently hooked up to shore power via an adaptor to the 110V in my house.  I tried two different shore power cords as well as different extension cords.  I'm wondering if I should try a different adaptor as well. Last piece of info. At the end of last season when i went to haul out the boat, i arrived at the boat to find two dead batteries (which is when i first suspected a bad battery charger).  The fuse at the dock had been tripped and the gauge on the battery charger appeared black (see above pic).  There is a 30A fuse on the DC side of the charger which is good (has not blown).

davidbrooks

I would go to Home Depot and get a polarity tester.  Start at the source and see if you are feeing the boat power that is reversed.

Ian

Check your earth pin, seen that also where no earth will show polarity reversed even if it is correct.

raybo3

The reverse polarity light "could" be caused  because your plugged into your house where the neutral and the ground are not isolated like at the marina. Might not have any problem at all.......

jhofmann

I had one outlet in my garage that gave me the reverse polarity issue also, but the rest worked fine, so I swapped the black (common) and the white (hot) and issue gone. When the garage was wired, that one must have been wired wrong.

jhofmann

You could also go to a home improvment store and make ul a short extention cord with the hot and common reversed incase you run into this issue a somewhere else.

Liberty44140

Yea dont sweat the reverse polarity unless you are at a marina. Like these guys said it could be your home outlet, it could be your orange cord, it could be your 30A to 110v connector, etc. This winter in storage I would get reverse polarity on both of my extension cords but no problems if I plugged the shore power cord directly in to the adapter and then in to the 110v outlet. Get to the dock first. 

shess

Thank you everyone for the information.  I guess now I just need to determine if the battery charger is actually charging the batteries.  Its hooked back up, but I don't see any movement of the needle.

aero3113

Put a multi meter on the batteries, you should see the voltage fluctuate.

Liberty44140

It does sound like your charger is shot since you see 0 on the meter. Are you positive that it is getting power? As aero said you will see if it is charging when putting a meter on the batteries. When my charger is on I see over 13 volts on each battery when I hit them with the meter. 

shess

I put mulit meter on the batteries while the battery charger was hooked back up and did not see any fluctuation in the voltage.  I removed the battery charger (left the two batteries hooked up) and connected back to shore power.  When I flipped the switch for the battery charger (without it being hooked up), I did not get the reverse polarity light.  Can I assume that the battery charger is shot? To sum up, the reverse polarity light only comes on when the battery charger is connected.  And when it is connected, the needle is pinned on zero with absolutely no movement.  Thanks again for all the input.  Much appreciated..

Liberty44140

What were the volt readings on the batteries?

shess

12.4 and 12.8.  I had a friend who is electrically knowledgeable test the charger with a multimeter.  The AC is reading fine but the DC side isnt putting anything out.  There is a capacitor that looks blown.  I'm gonna take it off and re solder a new one on and see if that works.. If not, I will buy a new charger.

raybo3

You will need to know what microfarad it is. 

shess

I replaced it with the same microfarad capacitor, but unfortunately that didn't do the trick.. Off to buy a new charger.

Michael T

If getting a new one I recommend one that can charge multiple battery chemistries - dual, AGM, TPPL so that you have the flexibility to take advantage of newer high performance batteries when you replace what you have now./

shess

thats what i did.. I insalled a Intelli Power that can do all of that.  Everything working fine now.