420/44 DB Owners Club

If your house batteries are dropping to 11.5v, this is some 80% of the capacity ... with deep cycle you shouldn't go below 50% or 12.1v. Dropping to 11.5v on a regular basis will drastically shorten battery life and is likely why it couldn't start the generator! I also have solar and replaced my house batteries with Rolls AGM (x3) this year - I don't drop below 12.4v overnight (about 20% drop).

This is good info...for some reason I did not correlate the percentage discharge to the voltage. It is not close to being linear. Normally, I do not drop below 12.2 or so. The stereo kills the batteries. So it is not going to be used while on the hook. The JBL battery powered speakers got here today and they are pretty nice.
 
I am not a prop expert by any means. So I thought that new nibral was what u wanted. Is my thinking correct or not?
Yes, everything I have read says if the pitch is greater than the diameter then you should use nibral.
I am thinking about replacing my props and save the old ones for spares.
 
...I am puzzled why the crossover did not work.

I believe I did a write up on this few years ago. Long story short, mine was wired wrong from the factory and when I needed the most, same thing, crossover wouldn't do the magic. The reason being (and what I mean by wrong wiring), the emergency switch was wired in such way that emergency solenoid was constantly engaged. So, this means that both sides were constantly crossed over, which also means that all 4 batteries were always used along the house, when the keys were turned on in the control panel.

It took me a while to find this, and eventually I had a jaw dropping moment of discovery.

I'm not saying that this your problem, but something to trace and verify.

When all wired correctly, and this is what I think the initial design was, that when needed cross over would give enough juice to get the genny fired up, even when port side is dead.

If you keep a set of long jumper cables onboard, keep in mind that you have 2 bow thruster batteries as a reserve. Just disconnect the jumper to break 24v circuit.
 
If you keep a set of long jumper cables onboard, keep in mind that you have 2 bow thruster batteries as a reserve. Just disconnect the jumper to break 24v circuit.

I just jump from the terminals from just one of the thruster batteries. That gives 12V.
 
Yes, everything I have read says if the pitch is greater than the diameter then you should use nibral.
I am thinking about replacing my props and save the old ones for spares.
Yep, I have 2 sets also.
 
I'm not 100% on this but I think the crossover connects the starboard and port starter solenoids ... I believe the generator is a separate solenoid. If so, the crossover switch would have no effect.
From the wiring diagram it looks like once the generator solenoid is energized, any batteries put in parallel would be applied.
 
I thought you would have to disconnect them before using ... learn something everyday!
It would be like taking two AA batteries and placing them end to end to get 3V, then inserting a wire between them and another wire at either end. There would be 1.5V across those wires.
 
Having a strange problem. 2006 440DA Cummins QSC 500’s. Port engine will only start and continue to run if parallel switch is engaged. As soon as parallel switch is released the engine dies. Batteries are at 12v. This started after using the parallel switch to start starboard engine.
 
A fellow 420 owner just called me the other day with a similar problem. It was traced to a bad Bigboy battery contactor in the battery disconnect box. His port contactor would close but not have enough current going thru it to keep it closed. He was only getting 4 volts out of if but 12.5 going in. Place to start anyway.
CD
 
A fellow 420 owner just called me the other day with a similar problem. It was traced to a bad Bigboy battery contactor in the battery disconnect box. His port contactor would close but not have enough current going thru it to keep it closed. He was only getting 4 volts out of if but 12.5 going in. Place to start anyway.
CD

Thanks CD. The battery disconnect had the same voltage in and out, but that did lead me to stumble across the actual fault while I was looking in the main panel box. It turned out it was just a breaker. The port ignition breaker did not look tripped but I found voltage coming in and no voltage going out. I cycled the breaker switch on and off and everything fired right up.
 
I figured asking this question would involve some learning on my part!

I have been noticing differences between the headings reported by the autopilot and the heading reading on the magnetic compass. It's not exactly 5 degrees...it varies by more or less depending on the direction the boat is facing. I will take some time and note the deltas.

As for compensation of the magnetic compass, no I haven't. My understanding is that deviation is a function of the installation and surroundings, not geographic location. I assumed it was compensated correctly (perhaps wrongly), and the boat has not changed significantly so it should be good. Variation, on the other hand, is a function of location and is not something you compensate for in the compass. Were you suggesting I need to compensate the compass for location? Maybe I am misreading you.

My baseline understanding is that if the compass is compensated properly, and the autopilot calibrated properly, given they both read magnetic headings they should be fairly close.

I will see about confirming the compass compensation...
I know this is an old threat, but I went through this years ago, had a professional compass guys check it out. He told me the external Raymarine VHF speaker is too close to the compass in order to properly calibrate it. So I have given up on the compass, using the one from the Autopilot and GPS while moving!
 
I noticed on my 2004 420 DB a slight wining noise when in gear, this is starboard side only.
Could this be the Cutless bearing? Has anyone experienced that and replaced the cutless bearings?
 
Hello everyone. I’ve searched but could not find anything specific to the interior carpet for the salon. (Foamed backed carpet.). Does anyone know the manufacturer and color by chance? Looking to source replacement. Thanks.
I just went to a regular carpet store, have them the old one as a pattern, came out very nice!
The backing coming off on the old one was driving me nuts!
 

Attachments

  • 0D3D7637-9A12-4F65-AF74-8F7F997A6B4D.jpeg
    0D3D7637-9A12-4F65-AF74-8F7F997A6B4D.jpeg
    293.3 KB · Views: 75
Another project came up. Most days the batteries on the Port bank stayed charged up enough to make it to the next morning without running the generator. I would run it in the morning for coffee and let the solar panels keep the batteries charged up during the day.

Sometimes in the morning, the batteries would be down to 11 1/2 volts. Not too bad but not enough to start the generator even with the extra battery on the Port bank. I scratched my head about this and realized the stereo was used for 5 hours the previous evening. I did some searching here and the stereo is a big current draw. Thanks for every ones input. I thought about it and there must be 4 amplifiers on the boat and 2 subwoofers. I'm getting some rechargeable blue tooth speakers for when we are on the hook and want low level background music. I don't need to blast the music and sound carries on the water so we should be fine.

The other thing I am going to do is run a permanent jumper cable from one of the thruster batteries to the Port bank with a battery switch. If I do not run the big ass stereo, I shouldn't need it.

Again, thanks for all the posts. I was going to put in a dedicated battery for the generator bit this seemed easier.

Cheers!
Running the batteries down to 11.5V is not good for battery longevity!
I installed a battery monitor for my house bank. It reports the status via Bluetooth to my phone. Based on the state of charge I will run the generator as needed!
 

Attachments

  • C1289B57-3028-4B98-ACD2-407D011D41BA.png
    C1289B57-3028-4B98-ACD2-407D011D41BA.png
    249.8 KB · Views: 54
Running the batteries down to 11.5V is not good for battery longevity!
I installed a battery monitor for my house bank. It reports the status via Bluetooth to my phone. Based on the state of charge I will run the generator as needed!
Is this via a smart shunt?
 
I was checking fluids today and noticed the forward sump had water in it. Turns out to be the stbd engine sea strainer has a crack in the plastic. Does anyone know the brand or where I could get the plastic canister. Would hate to haul out to change the whole thing this late in the season.
 
I was checking fluids today and noticed the forward sump had water in it. Turns out to be the stbd engine sea strainer has a crack in the plastic. Does anyone know the brand or where I could get the plastic canister. Would hate to haul out to change the whole thing this late in the season.
I had/have a similar problem on the port side last season, turned out one of the bolts was cranked too tight and it cracked the sight glass. Mine is a Groco Part Number ARG-2003. Purchased thru the local Chandlery.

You don't need to haul, just close the thru-hull. Before I got the replacement I took it apart and applied some sealant to the top ... dead dry now! Have been delaying pulling it apart again.
 
Thanks for the part #
I was looking for the canister with no luck, when I changed search to sight glass I located it at Defenders a local marine store. The sight glasses are in stock so I’m going to change both today.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,950
Messages
1,422,874
Members
60,932
Latest member
juliediane
Back
Top