Clueless About Batteries and battery selector switch

[Ralph vaughn]

I have looked through all my owners manual and I can't find out much about the batteries. I currently have 3 batteries and my boat has dual GPS and Radar. It looks like the 3 batteries were OEM connected.

Do I have a battery for each engine, port and starboard, and then the third battery is the housekeeping battery. Which battery does my GPS and Radar run from?

I only have two battery selection switches. Which batteries do they control and what settings should I have them on when I am on dock power and what settings when the boat is in operation. If there is any Internet documentation on these settings i would appreciate a link.

Thanks in advance.

Ralph

 

[Lazy Daze]

What model "290"?

 

[bobeast]

In my 310. The helm and the port engine use the single battery bank. The house and the starboard engine use the two battery (paralleled) bank.

You can play with the switches to determine if it is the same in your case.

 

[Juliery]

I have looked through all my owners manual and I can't find out much about the batteries. I currently have 3 batteries and my boat has dual GPS and Radar. It looks like the 3 batteries were OEM connected.

Do I have a battery for each engine, port and starboard, and then the third battery is the housekeeping battery. Which battery does my GPS and Radar run from?

I only have two battery selection switches. Which batteries do they control and what settings should I have them on when I am on dock power and what settings when the boat is in operation. If there is any Internet documentation on these settings i would appreciate a link.

Thanks in advance.

Ralph

There are other possibilities but you may have one battery dedicated to engine Start and two for the House. Everything not engine related, except the charger, should be on the House switch. Bilge pumps and the two onboard charger connections should go direct to the House batteries, not to the switch.

The Start switch could be on position 1 for the engines with 2 switching to House. In the event of a problem with the Start battery, this allows you to start from the House bank by turning the switch to All. Don't leave it there when you anchor out, though. When the engines are running, "All" on the switches will allow the alternator to charge all batteries. On Start switch position 1, it will only charge the Start battery. Never turn to Off with engines running.

The House switch may have one battery on position 1 and the other on 2. "All" uses both house batteries for loads.

Your charger should provide connections for the three batteries to be charged. It should be wired to the AC panel so you can switch it on when using shore power. Separate connections go to each battery so switch positions could be Off on the engine and use 1 or 2 on the House switch for 12 volt loads. Shut both switches OFF when leaving your boat for longer periods of time.

 

[Ralph vaughn]

lazy Daze. I thought 290 was the model. It’sa 2008 Sea Ray 290 with dual 5.0 260 hp Sea Core engines, DTS throttles and dual GPS with radar.

Ralph

 

[Lazy Daze]

Hi Ralph. But is it a bowrider/Select... a Sunsport... a Sundeck... a Sundancer?

However, assuming a Sundancer for now... if you look at your switches you'll see that one of them is probably just an "on/off" and the other is selectable? Then, look at your batteries - they may be positioned such that two of them are closer together. If so, they would be the ones controlled by the selectable switch. The dual batteries would perform double duty by also doing the house demands.

If you look in your manual, look at the wiring diagrams - Sea Ray provides very good diagrams and you can see how things are laid out there. If you wanted, remove a battery's negative lead and see what no longer works.

 

[Ralph vaughn]

Thanks Lazy Daze. You are right forgot about the other models and mine is the Sun Dancer. Thanks for the additional information on the select switch it is very helpful. The wiring diagram in my owners manual just shows 2 batteries and my boat has 3 batteries which is whereI get confused

Thanks again for all of your help

 

[Lazy Daze]

Thanks Lazy Daze. You are right forgot about the other models and mine is the Sun Dancer. Thanks for the additional information on the select switch it is very helpful. The wiring diagram in my owners manual just shows 2 batteries and my boat has 3 batteries which is whereI get confused

Thanks again for all of your help

Anytime! In your size boat, a single engine is probably standard. Make sure you're looking at the twin engine option in the book - that should show three batteries.

 

[Black Valkyrie]

Thank you for this!!

 

[Little Ducky]

You need to spend some time with your boat to see what does what.

I'd start with everything in the off position and then turn on one battery switch and see what gets power.

I have a 3 battery set up.

1 for the starboard motor and 2 connected in parallel for the port motor, generator and house power.

The emergency switch on the dash will allow the starboard battery to be used to start the port engine.

 

[mobocracy]

In my 310. The helm and the port engine use the single battery bank. The house and the starboard engine use the two battery (paralleled) bank.

You can play with the switches to determine if it is the same in your case.

That's kind of interesting, my 310 has two, two-battery banks, one for starboard (which I think is just starboard engine and navigation-related items), and one for port (house power and port start). I have a generator without a dedicated battery and I've never bothered to see which bank is tied to generator start.

I've got to replace the port batteries this year, after 4 seasons they got weak enough that I had to parallel in the starboard batteries via the emergency button a couple of times last year. I've considered migrating one of the starboard batteries to port/house power and making it a 3 battery bank, with the idea that the abuse we dish out will have less damage to the port bank with 3 batteries and that starting the starboard engine isn't taxing enough to warrant two batteries. We're only on a large inland lake, not the ocean, so "being stranded" isn't a life safety issue, just an embarrassing and slightly costly inconvenience.

 

[Ralph vaughn]

You need to spend some time with your boat to see what does what.

I'd start with everything in the off position and then turn on one battery switch and see what gets power.

I have a 3 battery set up.
View attachment 101465
1 for the starboard motor and 2 connected in parallel for the port motor, generator and house power.

The emergency switch on the dash will allow the starboard battery to be used to start the port engine.

Thanks Little Ducky I think my setup is similar. Do you have just two switches for your 3 batteries. If yes what is your selection for each switch. Thanks Ralph

 

[Little Ducky]

Thanks Little Ducky I think my setup is similar. Do you have just two switches for your 3 batteries. If yes what is your selection for each switch. Thanks Ralph

Yes and I'm sorry to say I don't know which one is which.

The boat stays in the water and powered up at all times.

I might check the next time I'm at LDII and mark them.

 

[MoonRiver]

Here's a challenge for you all, newly purchased 330 DA has 4 deep cycle batteries (2 port and 2 stbd) the boat was repowered 4 years ago with new engines and I think they added the 4th battery then. I'm going on the assumption that the port bank = port eng start & house while the stbd bank = stbd eng start & generator. I believe this because the batteries are wired together (in parallel) port down low in the port eng area and the stbd bank is under the cockpit seat.

So here's the question, the barrel switches are ON/ OFF only. I would have expected them to be ON/OFF/BOTH type. So I assume I need to leave them in the ON position all the time in order to keep them charged.

 

[bobeast]

Here's a challenge for you all, newly purchased 330 DA has 4 deep cycle batteries (2 port and 2 stbd) the boat was repowered 4 years ago with new engines and I think they added the 4th battery then. I'm going on the assumption that the port bank = port eng start & house while the stbd bank = stbd eng start & generator. I believe this because the batteries are wired together (in parallel) port down low in the port eng area and the stbd bank is under the cockpit seat.

So here's the question, the barrel switches are ON/ OFF only. I would have expected them to be ON/OFF/BOTH type. So I assume I need to leave them in the ON position all the time in order to keep them charged.

The charger is not typically wired through the switches. If you have shore power, you should be able to leave them off. Your bilge pumps are the same (wired directly to the batteries). Those switches are just to remove any non-essential loads from the batteries. All that said, i just leave mine on when in the slip.

 

[Fill Ess]

The online version of your owners manual shows 2 batteries for the single, and three batteries for the twin engine:

 

[Fill Ess]

Also there's a diagram of the batteries/switches/etc for the twin (zoomed in here)

 

[play dough]

Here's a challenge for you all, newly purchased 330 DA has 4 deep cycle batteries (2 port and 2 stbd) the boat was repowered 4 years ago with new engines and I think they added the 4th battery then. I'm going on the assumption that the port bank = port eng start & house while the stbd bank = stbd eng start & generator. I believe this because the batteries are wired together (in parallel) port down low in the port eng area and the stbd bank is under the cockpit seat.

So here's the question, the barrel switches are ON/ OFF only. I would have expected them to be ON/OFF/BOTH type. So I assume I need to leave them in the ON position all the time in order to keep them charged.

In my 1997 330DA, the factory installation was two batteries in parallel (located in bilge) for port engine start and house, wired to an on/off switch. Under the cockpit seat are two batteries, one for starboard engine start wired to the other on/off switch and one battery dedicated to the generator. The three bank converter charges 1. port bank, 2. stbd start, 3. generator battery. The schematic illustration from my digital manual is poor quality.

 

[MoonRiver]

In my 1997 330DA, the factory installation was two batteries in parallel (located in bilge) for port engine start and house, wired to an on/off switch. Under the cockpit seat are two batteries, one for starboard engine start wired to the other on/off switch and one battery dedicated to the generator. The three bank converter charges 1. port bank, 2. stbd start, 3. generator battery. The schematic illustration from my digital manual is poor quality.View attachment 103807

Now that sounds more like what my brain would like to hear. I will have to get down there and trace the wires. I would like to have the generator separate from the other banks. The previous owner hinted at have an issue running all fours batteries down while on the hook. Had to use jump starter thingy to get things going again. I think I have that schematic somewhere. Is there a designated document folder or place on this site for "manuals" or are they just scattered about in random threads and posts?

 

[sbw1]

You need to spend some time with your boat to see what does what.

I'd start with everything in the off position and then turn on one battery switch and see what gets power.

I have a 3 battery set up.
View attachment 101465
1 for the starboard motor and 2 connected in parallel for the port motor, generator and house power.

The emergency switch on the dash will allow the starboard battery to be used to start the port engine.

You need to be careful doing this. In particular do not start something and then turn the switch to off with an engine running to see what shuts down.Can cause alternator issues.