2000 carver 356 aft cabin batteries

[Midnightsun]

Source of the post It seems like boat manufacturers have no clue as to what the perfect battery layout is. I have had quite few boats and all differ substantially. This Carver I have now is pretty much up to snuff stock however, wasteful of battery power IMHO. I have dual 31 series AGM's for the port engine and stern thruster, dual AGM's for the starboard engine and strain thruster. Single 31 series AGM for the generator and a stupid single 31 series AGM house battery (what in the world were they thinking) which I replaced with dual Trojan 16L-H 6v 435 amp/hr batteries. Although they go most of it right I cannot believe they give you only a single battery for the houses bank!

Oddly enough they are separated in some weird way as the thrusters and engines each have their own dedicated battery switch (on/off) which leads to believe they are independent however after following the battery cables, they are definitely connected together to form 2 independent battery/thruster banks. I agree, separate systems for both engine and thruster with a combine switch would make it better but carver decided not. Like I said, no one seems to get things exactly right straight out of the box. I am content with the setup and won't bother to swap things around. Plenty of battery power around and no way can I drain the engine banks as they are uncombinable with the house bank. With the available generator and a massive emergency booster pack like this on board. https://no.co/gb150 I see no issues waiting to happen.

[mjk1040]

Battery charges any time your hooked to the shore power or the generator is running, if you have the switch on the #1 AC panel for battery charger in the on position. The position of the battery switch under the step makes no difference. Mike

[cpoint]

Source of the post Battery charges any time your hooked to the shore power or the generator is running, if you have the switch on the #1 AC panel for battery charger in the on position. The position of the battery switch under the step makes no difference. Mike

OK, great, that's what I was hoping the case was. So I should never have any drained batteries, I am always hooked to shore power. Only time it switches to battery is power goes out for some reason, in that rare occasion the batteries should last for 2-3 weeks I hope (provided bilge pumps are not running, or at least a lot) and I think only load is the 3 new CO alarms that I just hooked up and possibly radios that may have very little load.

[Viper]

If it's wired correctly, it doesn't matter what position the battery switch is on, the charge will charge your batteries. The only thing you need to consider is that if you leave the switch on "ALL" you're combining both banks which renders the charger's isolated multi-bank charging ability useless as you'd essentially have only one bank. This is why I don't recommend leaving the switch on "ALL"

With the generator running on the hook, the charger will operate the same as on land.

Engine charging is a little more complicated as it depends on how the charge circuits were wired. Do you know if you have a battery isolator or ACRs on board for engine charging? If you don't, then it's likely one alternator charges one battery, and the other alternator charges the other battery.

[cpoint]

Viper, I shut DC off today and refrigerator was still running, than I realized the AC panel I had the receptacles on. So refrigerator works when DC power is on and refrigerator switch is ON, or if DC panel is off and shore power or generator is on and receptacle (1st one on top) is on the refrigerator works. This is good because this is what I wanted. So I shut down DC power today and left the receptacle ON, with shore power is on. Also on same panel I have battery charger on. So if shore power is interrupted, refrigerator will shut down and not drain the batteries. At same time nothing else is on.

In regards to your comment about not leaving battery switch on ALL, I agree, I will leave it on 2. I am assuming 2 is house batteries. It does not matter I suppose because I am only counting on batteries for bilge pumps, since they are always charged, 1 or 2 will do. I think we are all good.

In regards to your question about engine charging, I have no idea, I have to find out about that.

One other question is if ALL selected rather than 1 or 2, is the battery availability longer?

[Viper]

Switching to the house bank (deep cycles) will give you the most reserve capacity, that's why I recommended it. I guess in your case, if you only have 1 battery per bank, and they are both multi purpose, then it really doesn't matter. But you should get into the habit of always using the same one for starting and the other for house loads.

[g36]

all combines battery 1 and battery 2, yes that doubles capacity. but if you run them down you have no way to start your boat and 2 if something such as a shorted or failing cell or other battery problem happens in one of the batteries it can discharge the "good battery" thus causing it to be dead . its good practice to keep them seperated except when needed. i might add 1 house battery for a house bank is not much have to anchor out overnight with dc fridge running and no changes to your halogen interior lighting or anchor light. if they are not led bulbs you will be lucky to have not run that battery down. unless you plan on the genset running alot. i like the quiet of not having it run all day and safety of not sleeping with it running. batteries that you want to last should not be discharged more than 50%.

[cpoint]

Thanks for the replies. so I will keep it on 2, I am assuming 2 is house batteries? how can I tell, do I need to remove the switch ro see the line where it is going? Also which would be house battery? one only has 1 cable on positive and one on negative (middle battery), the other towards stern has one positive, and 3 wires on negative. I am assuming the one has 3 wires on negative is the house?

[g36]

To check house battery turn off battery charger. Turn on some 12v interior lights. If unsure about what battery in bilge is disconnect the positive one at a time and see when lights go off when they do that's the house battery . Don't worry about the negative wires really could seperate them and have 2 on 2 batteries instead of three one of the batteries as long as everything has a negative they are or should be in essence all connected together

[cpoint]

Thanks, I think I just realized that was a stupid question from me of course, switch to #2, and if lights are on we are good, if not try #1 Ok I think we are now clear on all the issues so far up to this point. Thanks to all.

Not sure I should open another question or continue here for different electrical question. Basically I placed a blue light strip at front (under the overhang). To test, I plugged into the 12 volt plug on the console, worked great. But final app, which I thought would work, was the splice to the courtesy light that is in the front (by the front seat up top), but it did not work. does the courtesy/step light not enough juice to run that light strip? Basically there are 3 lights hooked up to that switch on the console, which would be nice to turn the light strip when I turn on the courtesy lights. Alternatively I can continue plugging into 12 volt plug, with wires coming from front to console, does not look very good, but does not require further work, or spend some time bring wires from under into console, and plug into some other 12volt line and place a separate switch. Anyone did anything like that, any simple suggestions?