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

[Dave Hupe]

Ok thanks Dean.  I have regular battery cables from my charger to the batteries and I have 50 amp fuses instead right on the battery terminals.
Dave Hupe

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android 
 
  On Sat, Aug 15, 2020 at 2:06 PM, dean at vermeire.us<dean at vermeire.us> wrote:     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
    >
    >
    >