12v power system questions

BaRS

New Member
May 15, 2023
9
Boat Info
2020 320 Sundancer
Engines
6.2 Mercs
Hey guys. I just recently purchased my first SeaRay, a 2020 320 Sundancer. We put her in the water last Thursday in Northern Minnesota and spent our first weekend on her. First off I will say I love the boat and the amenities! I am coming from three Mastercraft ski/surf boats and I have no hesitation in saying that this 32' boat maneuvers better then any of my MC's.

Question #1 The boat was plugged in the previous owners (a friend of mine) heated shop all winter. When I went to the shop to familiarize myself a couple of weeks ago I noticed that one of the Simrads just blinked on and off and never got past the "SeaRay" screen. The other one seemed to work fine. When I got out on the lake and the engines were running it came on just fine and so I assumed all was well. We boated for 3-4 hours that night and when we pulled in to our dock that night I plugged in to shore 1 power and I made sure the battery charge switch was on before I walked out.
The next morning I went to the boat and was tinkering around playing some music and trying to learn the Simrads. After about 20 minutes or so I started getting a fault alarm on the "onboard solutions" monitor in the cabin. The Simrads both went out and then the stereo shut off 10-15 minutes later. I started the motors and they came on just fine. The Simrads still seemed to act a little goofy for awhile even with the engines running (the screen would come on but would be so dark that you wouldn't know it was on if you didn't look closely). This same thing happened the next two mornings. I put a battery tester on the two house batteries and they both checked out great. The previous owner made a comment to me this winter about having to start the generator at the beach when he wanted to run the stereo for awhile and I thought maybe he was joking. What I was seeing this last weekend would make that believable. My MC's would play music at the beach while my touch screen monitors were on all day long. Is battery life that short on these boats or do I have some other issue? It seems kind of odd that two perfectly good batteries would die off that quickly. Advice?

#2- My Simrad gauges are only showing the port engine stats. I can shut either motor off and both gauge clusters on the dashboard still show two motors running identically. I cant seem to find any parameters or options to do with Starboard engine stats.
Any advice is appreciated!
Thank you very much!
 
I am guessing you have a bad battery. If they are original, they are 3 plus yrs old, so should replace all. Now you have a starting point for maintenance.
 
I am guessing you have a bad battery. If they are original, they are 3 plus yrs old, so should replace all. Now you have a starting point for maintenance.
Even with a battery tester telling me both house batteries and the engine battery are in "great shape"? This is an old school tester, not a new digital tester.
 
It sounds like weak battery symptoms. Not enough voltage without the engine running. I would replace all batteries as well so you have a starting point going forward on your new boat.
 
Even with a battery tester telling me both house batteries and the engine battery are in "great shape"? This is an old school tester, not a new digital tester.
Batteries can show 12 plus volts, but not have enough amps to get the job done.
 

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