Portage_Bay
Guru
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2015
- Messages
- 2,657
- Location
- United States
- Vessel Name
- Pacific Myst
- Vessel Make
- West Bay 4500
I can't make heads nor tails out of this setup. New to me boat, still crawling around sorting things out. To be honest I'm close to admitting I'm in over my head and bringing in the pros.
- Twin engines, internally regulated alternators
- Port alternator 90 AMPs should charge start bank
- Stbd alternator 90 AMPs should charge house bank
- House bank FLA
- Start bank FLS
- Combiner switch. Blue Sea 3200
- Battery separator. Sure Power 1315-200
- ON / OFF switch between house bank and house bus
- Ignorant PO mislabeling things
- Creative wiring cobbled onto OEM wiring
- House bank not being charged when underway. Appeared during survey to be a faulty alternator. Was probably a blown fuse in the alternator output line mislabled "water maker" and too small at 60 AMPs. New fuse and holder on the way. Should fix that.
- During survey the start bank appeared to be dead. Probably was. Replaced. But wait, there's more!
- Combiner switch set to the PO's "Start" label the engines do not start. Assumption by surveyor and later on hired tech was the battery separator was dead. Had killed the batts.
- New Blue Sea ACR 7622 in hand to replace separator. Given this is an older boat with FLA banks I'm not inclined to go Balmar, Wakespeed or any other fancy gear as long as the FLA's live. Following Rod Collin's in Making Sense of the ACR where he says the two alternators can work together through bulk that is my current plan. After I understand this mess.
- The house bank ON / OFF switch does nothing. Absolutely nothing. With the combiner switch set to OFF and the house bank switch set to OFF two curious things happen. The engines start. Voltage from house bank bus to negative bus is still there. All the house circuits still work. Go figure.