340 Sundancer HELP! - Question

SeeYa Ray

New Member
Mar 15, 2023
24
Boat Info
340 Sundancer
Engines
7.4 Mercruiser
I just bought a 2000 340 Sundancer with an ECM issue on one engine.

If I energize only the STBD main battery solenoid switch in the cabin, the volt meter indicator shows voltage but no power actually powers the switches for the accessories like cabin lights, stereo and other switched on devices.

Now if I energize only the PORT main battery solenoid switch, it powers the lights, stereo and all the other switches but does not show voltage on the meter indicator.

Do both of these main solenoid battery switches have to be on? With both STBD and PORT main battery solenoid switches on, everything seems to work OK but this seems strange to me that you can only operate the accessories on one.
Is this normal operation ??? Please help me understand this
Thanks Gary
 
Pictures of your panel help.
Do you have two voltmeters or a single?
If single look next to the meter for a small Port-Stbd meter switch.
 
20230315_142801R1.jpg
 
Hughespat57 - Here is a pic of the panel - It has 1 volt meter and 1 amp meter for both STBD and PORT.
 
If you see the button labeled voltage test — toggle that and the meter will fire up either port or starboard. Each battery works a portion of the 12 volt system.
 
The meters are always on the House battery supply. House in Sea Ray lingo is the battery that provides the cabin power even though that side is still an engine starting battery bank. On your boat the Starboard engine starting battery bank is also the House battery bank. Sea Ray has vacillated Port to Starboard as House battery banks depending upon boat model and year.
The Voltage Test momentary switch is a quick way to see what the Non-House battery bank's voltage is as indicated on the volt meter.
The Amp meter is always on the House side and will not indicate the other battery bank in any circumstance.

On another note - you don't have to remove the hinge screws to remove the door. If your reach your finger behind the hinge assembly and pull that little button/lever the hinge will disconnect and you can easily remove the door. Then to reinstall the hinge parts simply snap back together.
 
Golfman25 - Thank you for the info - makes sense now - Im new to this Searay boat.
 
Based on the information you guys have provided, I believe our "Port" batteries are our house batteries, as they are the ones that power the cabin lights, fridge, stereo, etc. Now with that in mind, I have a follow up question.
In our searay, we have 4 batteries, a generator and a ProNautic 12-30P battery charger (with 3 positive connections, please see attached drawing). As you will see in the attached drawing, the 2 batteries on the port side are connected in parallel and the positive lead of each battery is also connected to one of the positive leads on the battery charger (taking up 2 of the positive connections on the battery charger). The 2 batteries on the starboard side are also connected in parallel and one of the positive leads, is also connected to the remaining positive lead on the battery charger and the other lead is connected to the generator. My question is, is this set up correct? I think someone wired this wrong when they added the battery charger (as it is a brand new unit), but since this is a new boat to us, I wanted to ask you guys who are more of experts on this.
 

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Based on the information you guys have provided, I believe our "Port" batteries are our house batteries, as they are the ones that power the cabin lights, fridge, stereo, etc. Now with that in mind, I have a follow up question.
In our searay, we have 4 batteries, a generator and a ProNautic 12-30P battery charger (with 3 positive connections, please see attached drawing). As you will see in the attached drawing, the 2 batteries on the port side are connected in parallel and the positive lead of each battery is also connected to one of the positive leads on the battery charger (taking up 2 of the positive connections on the battery charger). The 2 batteries on the starboard side are also connected in parallel and one of the positive leads, is also connected to the remaining positive lead on the battery charger and the other lead is connected to the generator. My question is, is this set up correct? I think someone wired this wrong when they added the battery charger (as it is a brand new unit), but since this is a new boat to us, I wanted to ask you guys who are more of experts on this.
It's an odd configuration but It will work. Usually when the battery banks are configured like that one of the battery charger legs are not used.
The momentary switch to test the other battery bank and voltage gauge - check to make sure it is actually showing the bank indicated - it seems backwards to me.
I assume there is a disconnect switch for the generator also??
If this was mine I would make a couple of changes to increase the reliability.
First the non-house bank typically powers everything on the bridge and half of the critical systems (bilge pumps, etc).
I would add a fifth battery and dedicate that to the generator start then put the charger's third leg on that battery. This will provide you the capability to start the generator without consideration of the other battery banks. Should one of the main engine start banks become discharged to the point it couldn't crank you then have both the Emergency Start tie switch and the capability to recharge through the generator.
 
It's an odd configuration but It will work. Usually when the battery banks are configured like that one of the battery charger legs are not used.
The momentary switch to test the other battery bank and voltage gauge - check to make sure it is actually showing the bank indicated - it seems backwards to me.
I assume there is a disconnect switch for the generator also??
If this was mine I would make a couple of changes to increase the reliability.
First the non-house bank typically powers everything on the bridge and half of the critical systems (bilge pumps, etc).
I would add a fifth battery and dedicate that to the generator start then put the charger's third leg on that battery. This will provide you the capability to start the generator without consideration of the other battery banks. Should one of the main engine start banks become discharged to the point it couldn't crank you then have both the Emergency Start tie switch and the capability to recharge through the generator.
Instead of adding a 5th battery, should I just separate the batteries that are in parallel on STBD side, and make one dedicated to the Generator and the other one just for the STBD starting system? I can then jus do 1 battery connection from the ProNautic Battery charger to the Port side (batteries in parallel), then the 2nd connection from the ProNautic Battery charger to the STBD starting battery and the 3rd connection from the ProNautic Battery charger to the Generator battery. Would that be a better set up?
 
Based on the information you guys have provided, I believe our "Port" batteries are our house batteries, as they are the ones that power the cabin lights, fridge, stereo, etc. Now with that in mind, I have a follow up question.
In our searay, we have 4 batteries, a generator and a ProNautic 12-30P battery charger (with 3 positive connections, please see attached drawing). As you will see in the attached drawing, the 2 batteries on the port side are connected in parallel and the positive lead of each battery is also connected to one of the positive leads on the battery charger (taking up 2 of the positive connections on the battery charger). The 2 batteries on the starboard side are also connected in parallel and one of the positive leads, is also connected to the remaining positive lead on the battery charger and the other lead is connected to the generator. My question is, is this set up correct? I think someone wired this wrong when they added the battery charger (as it is a brand new unit), but since this is a new boat to us, I wanted to ask you guys who are more of experts on this.
I would be absolutely sure you have this right. The ProNautic was essentially a drop in replacement for the old charger. On my 370 we had three coming in. Couldn't really tell where they where wired as it was all tucked into the wire runs. Does it look like you have been rewired? Here is what the original wiring may have looked like.
Old BC wiring.jpg
 
SeaYaRay, I have the same boat as yours. The two port side batteries are connected in parallel and are the house batteries, and start for port engine. The two batteries on the starboard side are not connected together. One is the start battery for the starboard engine, the other is the start battery for the generator. I am fairly confident this is the factory set up. What I am confused about is the fact that on my boat the battery charger does not charge the generator start battery. I have the three positive connections at the charger, same as yours, and I also fitted a ProNautic charger with the ability to charge three circuits. But I have checked voltage at the generator battery with the charger on and there is no charging voltage present. I have seen other posts about this on Club Sea Ray and I think the consensus is that is how the factory built our boat, the charger will not charge the generator battery. So my question has always been is what is the third positive connection at the charger doing? I have never had the time to trace wiring to find out. I suspect a previous owner of your boat decided to parallel connect the two starboard batteries together so both would charge with charger on.
 
Thank you ttmott, Gulfman25 & britandy for your responses & helpful info - So after reviewing the info everyone posted and tracing down the battery cables/wires, wife and I found that our Port batteries neg cable was wired to the starboard engine and the Starboard batteries neg battery cable was connected to the port engine. I rewired the cables to the appropriate engine. Then we found a large ground cable that connects the port and star engines together was disconnected on the star engine. (terminal end completely missing)
I separated the gen and Star batteries and then rewired the Pronautic leads so that 1 lead now goes to the port batteries in parallel, 1 lead goes to the Star engine battery and the 3rd lead to the gen battery. Hopefully resolves the problem with the port motor blowing the ECM. I'm getting a replacement ECM this week for the port engine and will attempt to plug it in, start and run it. Hopefully all these changes fixes the issue with the port engine ECM voltage spike. Can't wait to put this thing in the water!
 
Thank you ttmott, Gulfman25 & britandy for your responses & helpful info - So after reviewing the info everyone posted and tracing down the battery cables/wires, wife and I found that our Port batteries neg cable was wired to the starboard engine and the Starboard batteries neg battery cable was connected to the port engine. I rewired the cables to the appropriate engine. Then we found a large ground cable that connects the port and star engines together was disconnected on the star engine. (terminal end completely missing)
I separated the gen and Star batteries and then rewired the Pronautic leads so that 1 lead now goes to the port batteries in parallel, 1 lead goes to the Star engine battery and the 3rd lead to the gen battery. Hopefully resolves the problem with the port motor blowing the ECM. I'm getting a replacement ECM this week for the port engine and will attempt to plug it in, start and run it. Hopefully all these changes fixes the issue with the port engine ECM voltage spike. Can't wait to put this thing in the water!
Normally, all of the battery grounds tie into a common ground buss bar. Then from that common buss to each engine, the generator, helm, cabin, boat's bonding system, AC power system ground, electronic shields, and any other ground buss' on the boat.
It's pretty important that there is a common master ground buss bar.
 
ttmott - Sorry - I forgot to mention that there is a large grounding buss bar inside the engine room, on the bulkhead that ties all the components ground together.
 
I would be absolutely sure you have this right. The ProNautic was essentially a drop in replacement for the old charger. On my 370 we had three coming in. Couldn't really tell where they where wired as it was all tucked into the wire runs. Does it look like you have been rewired? Here is what the original wiring may have looked like. View attachment 141626

You figure that was original? Some ding dong at Sea Ray used a red terminal on ground?? ha :)
 

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