[C320-list] Riddle me this - a battery charger question

[dean at vermeire.us]

   Dave,
   No, they are inline and about 8" from the batteries.

   On Aug 15, 2020 11:07 AM, Dave Hupe <hoopdtwo at yahoo.com> wrote:

     Dean were those fuses in the charger itself?  I have a 1240P
     Pronautic charger.
     Dave Hupe1994 C320 #32
     Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
       On Sat, Aug 15, 2020 at 11:50 AM, Dean Vermeire<dean at vermeire.us>
     wrote:   Mystery solved!
     A couple of you suggested checking the fuses, which, at this point,
     is
     one of those "well, duh" ideas - but it wasn't at first.
     What had me going was that battery 2 would charge back up whenever I
     had
     the selector switch on "All".  Why would it charge then, but not
     when
     the selector was on 2?  I don't run the engine long enough to be the
     only source of charging.
     Anyway, based on the suggestions, I went out to the lake on a
     mission to
     check the fuse for battery 2.  I had left the selector on "All" for
     several days and was expecting to find both batteries fully
     charged.  My
     thought was that battery 2 has been charging by current looping back
     through the selector when battery 1 is charging.  When I got there,
     both
     batteries were very low!  Based on the looping back theory, it made
     sense that the fuse for battery 1 had also blown during that few
     days.
     Both fuses were blown.  My boat has FNM-30 fuses, which were not
     readily
     available anywhere near me.  It just so happened that I had a
     battery
     charger sitting in my car - sheer luck.  So, I hooked that up (with
     the
     installed charger off and fuses in my pocket) and headed home.  The
     fuses I ordered from Grainger were delivered the next day, and I
     headed
     to the boat.  I installed both fuses, took off the trickle charger
     (which had done a pretty good job), and fired up the new, smart,
     super-duper ProNautic 1230P with the remote display and temperature
     sensor that took me a whole day to install.  Voila!  The charger now
     senses both batteries and works like a champ.  The remote display is
     very helpful!
     Thanks to all those who joined in the conversation!
     Dean Vermeire
     (#847) Moonstruck II
     On 8/8/2020 5:54 PM, Bruce Heyman wrote:
     > Hi Dean,
     > Sure is a head scratcher.  I see the 1230P is a three bank charger
     of which you only need two.  It sounds like the red wire that is
     connected between the charger and the positive of battery two is not
     doing its job.  Any chance there is a fuse in the line?  Sometimes
     there is a fuse inside the charger for each of the outputs.  Also,
     I'm not familiar with that charger.  Do you have to program or
     configure it to make sure two of the three outputs are energized?
     Sometime you have to configure some jumpers or some switches.
     > Hope it is something simple!
     > Bruce
     >
     > -----Original Message-----
     > From: C320-list [mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com]
     On Behalf Of Dean Vermeire
     > Sent: Saturday, August 8, 2020 2:20 PM
     > To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
     > Subject: [C320-list] Riddle me this - a battery charger question
     >
     > I recently replaced the old charger with a ProNautic 1230P.  I
     have two 4D batteries in the original configuration in a 2001 320
     (#847).  Both of the batteries have positive cables from the
     charger.
     >
     > The problem is that if I leave the boat at the marina with the
     battery selector switched to batter 2, the battery runs down, even
     though the charger is on.  This was true with the old charger, as
     well.  So, at least I haven't made things worse.
     >
     > Now, the fact that the battery runs down (the only load was the
     refrigerator, which was running) tells me that it is hooked up to
     the selector switch.  The negative terminal is tied to the negative
     of battery 1.  The charger's positive cable is hooked up.  The
     charger's negative cable is to the common ground.  The charger works
     and charges battery 1.  It also charges battery 2 when the switch is
     on both.
     >
     > What on earth am I missing?
     >
     > Dean Vermeire
     >
     > #847
     >
     >
     >