[C320-list] Electrical problem

[Brad Kuether]

Mike,

A battery that dies after one start tells me one of two things.

1. Your battery is dead and only had enough to do one start.
2. Your battery charger is dead or the plug was loose and you really weren't 
charging all this time.

One thing you do want to be careful about is starting on "both".   When out 
and about I feel it is best to run on one battery at a time.  If your other 
battery was marginal, and you started on "both" you would have equalized a 
low charge over two batteries and may not have gotten your engine started. 
By accident you actually may have saved yourself from two very low batteries 
and a tow.

-Brad, Mary, Monica, and Jarod
"Independence"
2004 Catalina 320 Hull 1006
Middle River, MD


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Paris" <mparis495 at gmail.com>
To: <C320-List at Catalina320.com>
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 9:01 PM
Subject: [C320-list] Electrical problem


Last weekend I went out for a day-sail. I usually put the battery sith on 
"both" but I forgot and left it on "2" for the trip. The engine started 
normally, I motored for about 30 minutes and then sailed for about 2 1/2 
hours. When I went to restart the engine it was dead (no sound when pushing 
the start button). I changed the battery switch to "both" and the the engine 
started right up. The electrical draw during the sail was a fully cooled 
refrigerator, the chartplotter and ST60 gauges. My boat is always plugged in 
to shorepower with charger on when in the slip. I have two wet-cell 
batteries that I believe are about four years old (I've owned the boat for 2 
1/2 years). I'm not knowledable about electrical systems so I'm looking for 
advice as to steps to take to find possible problems when I head down there 
this weekend.

Thanks to all,
Mike P
#734