Carver Owners Forum

Midnightsun wrote:Source of the post Both images show the unit is charging properly. The first is at 39.1 amps which I assume happened when you switched to both and the second was after your walk where the charge had dropped to 13.2 amp.

Where are you getting the information that neither battery is getting a charge?

Going on the little information I have, sure looks like the charger is hooked up improperly and gets switched via the battery selector switch.

Please clarify your post as it does not make much sense to me at all.

midnight, Initially the bars on top image was full. after an hour it was like on 1 bar. Also both images are with all load off. Still when I switch to #2 no lights come on in the cabin. After that second image no lights were coming on in the cabin in BOTH selection. I started the engine with BOTH switch, and engines started. Now I am thinking I should have started the engine on #2 maybe. To tell you the truth now I am getting confused I did turn on the switches in the wall in the galley, tried the engine room fan with BOTH selection. It worked. I turned the lights, non came on. I tried engine room light did not come on. But I did have all appropriate switches on, including master switch. Also under stair all appropriate switches were on, and selector was on BOTH. Where in the first picture all lights were coming on, all DC stuff was live.

So looking at 2nd picture 0 to 100% bar being on single bar and no DC stuff working made assumption it is not working. I am not sure there are fuses under the stairs. If so very difficult to get to. It may be just breakers which is accessible from top of panel. And it was mentioned here sometime they crack or fail, but all 3 should not have failed.

Only if I was nearby I could play with it and test more thoroughly, but time lately has not been on my side

I agree with Midnightsun. The charger was charging SOMETHING, now you just have to verify what it was charging, and also why you seem to need to switch to "both" to get BOTH batteries to charge (you should not have to do that).

Also seems like you have an issue on the distribution side, and it might just be figuring out how your DC distribution panel works to get power to all your DC components. There might need to be multiple breakers in the "on" position to get certain things to work. On my previous boat, you needed the master switch set to (1), (2), or (both), then one of the "Main" breakers on the panel (there were two, and each provided power to a portion of the panel), then there were individual breakers for each circuit. Normally ALL the breakers would just be left in the ON position, and the master battery switched to (off) as necessary. The most critical circuits (bilge pumps and radio memory) bypassed the battery switch so they always had power as long as the breakers were on.

midnight, Initially the bars on top image was full. after an hour it was like on 1 bar. Also both images are with all load off. Still when I switch to #2 no lights come on in the cabin.

This is normal as when a battery needs a charge because it is drawn down, the charger will give out quite a bit as is shown in the first picture where it is giving out almost 40a to the battery. This does not show how full the battery is, only shows how much it is charging. Once the battery starts getting fuller, the charger diminishes it's output as shown in picture 2 where it dropped from almost 40 amps to 13 amps. If you leave it longer it will eventually get to 1 or zero because the battery is full.

The question is why was the battery not fully charged if the shore power was on as well as the charger while you were away from the boat? It sounds like one battery is charging but not the other. You said you switched to BOTH and all of a sudden it starts charging which leads me to believe the charger is hooked up wrong like I mentioned prior.

You really need to get that electrician in to troubleshoot your issue IMHO.

Midnightsun wrote:Source of the post You really need to get that electrician in to troubleshoot your issue IMHO.

Totally agree.

I agree with you all. That's why I did not want to mess with it more than my understanding. I did talk to one already to schedule time. I did have everything on (switches on the wall main and individual switches as well), also the breakers for everything was on. You are right it must have been charged (#2). Because I hooked up voltmeter to it and it showed good battery. The gen battery shows replace, because that one is about 5 years old. So maybe I may have something not turned on and missed it as I was getting frustrated. I mean everything was always fine on original charger. the only thing changed since is I replaced the charger *80amp with this *50amp more advanced charger. It was pretty much plug and play, so new charger is setup properly and hooked up to same wiring as before. As I was leaving I tried the engine room fan with BOTH switch it came on. But lights would not, and the switches were turned on on the wall (panel I mean). But maybe I missed something....

So are you saying that with the battery selector switch on BOTH, some things work but the cabin lights don't? What about aft cabin and vee berth lights? What about cockpit lights? Are the lights the only things that aren't working? Is everything on the bridge working, and if so, do you have a separate breaker panel on the bridge under the bench? Under your step, you should have a "Salon" breaker. If it's faulty, some items in the salon won't work, I just can't remember which ones are part of that circuit.

I think things are getting a little convoluted with such a large thread and getting hard to follow. It might help if you consolidate in point form what's working and what isn't when the battery switch is in different positions.

Has anyone confirmed with a test meter at each battery whether each is actually getting a charge?

Viper, you are right this thread is overgrown. Basically I talk to my Electrician this afternoon, they will check it and let me know if anything needs to be done and proceed from there.

In regards to your questions, Initially on #1 and BOTH everything was coming on. #2 nothing was coming on. Than I turned the engine fan on while I had BOTH selected. after few minutes started both engines, all good. Afterwards, Tuned off engine, I switched to #2, nothing on DC was coming on. Switched to BOTH, turned on engine fan it came on. shut it off, turned on lights (various sections on different breakers) not coming on. I recall making sure everything was turned on, but now thinking hindsight, if I accidentally did not turn something on, or had wrong combinations on/off. Anyway, better safe than sorry to have professionals look into it. So I will update here after they check it out and resolve it what the issue may be. Thanks for all for the useful information.

So for some reason, you don't get any power when the battery selector switch is set to #2. Some possibilities are: a bad battery selector switch, #2 battery is bad, a poor connection, #2 battery/bank is not being charged

I'd start by confirming the charger is actually outputting to each bank by taking a reading right at the charger's output terminals, then compare with a reading at each battery. If all banks are charging, check the items above. If one bank isn't charging (#2), it could be a bad charge breaker under your stairs, poor connection, bad charger, not wired correctly, missing wire/connection for #2 bank like a ground.

Curious to see what the tech says. I hope they don't condemn the charger without doing some basic checks first.

I have spent some time and reread this entire thread a few times over.

Anyway, guys have a look at cpoints pic of his battery set up on Page 3. Notice anything ?

I don't think anything is wrong there but it did stand out to me.

bud37 wrote:Source of the post I have spent some time and reread this entire thread a few times over.
Anyway, guys have a look at cpoints pic of his battery set up on Page 3. Notice anything ?

I do not see any charging wires from the charger to the positive on each bank. Meaning his charging wires are connected to the main battery cable of each bank up on the selector switch. Also, Group 27, I replaced mime with Group 31 just a thought.

Is that what you see Bud37?