1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troubleshoot?

[Bruce LaChance]

Hello Gents,
After I 1/2 way charged the batteries with remote chargers. I switched on the converter on the panel and still see no amp reading on the charger guage. I am assuming a bad charger but did see a 28V reading on one terminal on the chargers side inspection panel. Is there any other breakers or fuses to check for the problem before I replace the charger? I know I have 2 batteries on the stbd side and 1 on the port. Can anyone identify which battery does what? Thanks Bruce

 

[Pyrojodge]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

Oh goodness... ok three batts front to back bow to stern. (Using memory)
Batt 1 closest to the bow is port
Batt 2 mid bank is stbd
Batt 3 jumped to batt 2 is house batt...


I believe the charger is a guest? Yes? Maybe specific make will help someone with more exp.

 

[SCORPIO]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

There are supposed to be fuses in each line from the charger to the batteries. Mine has three (same year different model 300DA) . They are glass fuses in those waterproof rubber holders located right near the batteries. If they are blown, you won't be able to charge.
I don't usually see much movement in that ammeter on the charger itself, usually just a few ticks up from the bottom.

 

[Bruce LaChance]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

Hello Gents,
After I 1/2 way charged the batteries with remote chargers. I switched on the converter on the panel and still see no amp reading on the charger guage. I am assuming a bad charger but did see a 28V reading on one terminal on the chargers side inspection panel. Is there any other breakers or fuses to check for the problem before I replace the charger? I know I have 2 batteries on the stbd side and 1 on the port. Can anyone identify which battery does what? Thanks Bruce

Jason, the one battery on the port is for the port engine or generator? Two on the stbd, fwd and aft are stbd engine and house? Which battery does the gen set run off? I will check for the glass fuses near the batteries...strange I didn't see them the first time. They must be wrapped up in the cable covers.
Thanks, Bruce

 

[Pyrojodge]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

Bruce, I'm am out of knowledge for you since I do not have a genny. I do not believe I have fueses at my batteries either. All of my bats are port side. We will have to wait for someone with a genny to chime in. Sorry.

Just as an opinion if you are getting noting out of the charger but have 120v going in I would say it is done and if it is original 89 equipment would be better replaced.

On a second note we do have battery isolators on the fwd bulkhead just a black heatsink with red posts. Check this as well.

 

[Mike Blake]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

Genny runs off the port battery. 2 on the starboard are house. 89 DA W/ genny. Do you have a volt meter? that would help.

 

[Bruce LaChance]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

There are supposed to be fuses in each line from the charger to the batteries. Mine has three (same year different model 300DA) . They are glass fuses in those waterproof rubber holders located right near the batteries. If they are blown, you won't be able to charge.
I don't usually see much movement in that ammeter on the charger itself, usually just a few ticks up from the bottom.

The converted in the main panel is just used to bring up the batteries correct? I will look harder for the fuses in line from the charger to the battery terminals. Next time im at the boat.......Thanks

 

[Bruce LaChance]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

Bruce, I'm am out of knowledge for you since I do not have a genny. I do not believe I have fueses at my batteries either. All of my bats are port side. We will have to wait for someone with a genny to chime in. Sorry.

Just as an opinion if you are getting noting out of the charger but have 120v going in I would say it is done and if it is original 89 equipment would be better replaced.

On a second note we do have battery isolators on the fwd bulkhead just a black heatsink with red posts. Check this as well.

Hi Jason, I have the boat at a Mercruiser dealer now since they are rebuilding the carbs and going through the raw water impellers and draining the 11 yr old gas. I will just add this charger issue to the list. Thanks

 

[Bruce LaChance]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

Genny runs off the port battery. 2 on the starboard are house. 89 DA W/ genny. Do you have a volt meter? that would help.

Mike makes sense to me. I have the two stbd batteries charging is parallel but only the stbd engine would roll over. Hope the port engine is not locked up. Once they all get a full charge I will try turning them over again. They should be doing a wet compression test on the engines soon. I told them to squirt some marvel mystery oil in each cylinder before rolling them over for any length of time. I was kind of rushed this weekend cleaning up the boat so didn't have as much time as I would have liked to trouble shoot the battery issue since they were not fully charged.

 

[Whitenights]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

Your 1989 smart charger is not nearly as smart as they are today. Was money well spent on my boat to upgrade to a Xantrex True Charge.

 

[Mike Blake]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

Your 1989 smart charger is not nearly as smart as they are today. Was money well spent on my boat to upgrade to a Xantrex True Charge.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Bruce LaChance]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

Jason,
Your boat and mine must be pretty much the same originally except the genny. Do you have any 24V systems on the vessel? I think I screwed up and said series when the two on the stbd side were actually in parallel. What I couldnt understand is why I was seeing 28 V coming out of one leg of the charger. I know I have a central vac system but everything should be 12V correct? Thanks, Bruce

 

[Pyrojodge]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

Hey Bruce,

No 24v on our boats. The central vac is 120v. The batts are wired + to + and - to - giving you a bigger bank of 12v. I'm going to suggest you replace the charger and save yourself the head ache of messing with it. The money is worth it IMO. Let me know if I can help with anything else...

 

[Bruce LaChance]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

I can see the writing on the wall having to get a new charger...Which Xantrex would you suggest for a 3 battery set up? I'm still now sure on the output but believe everything is 12 V.
Thanks

 

[Pyrojodge]

Re: 1989 Vintage 34 ft Sundancer has battery charger issues. Anyone able to troublesh

I do not have a good suggestion for you on the charger. Hopefuly some of the others have more exp. I know the xantrex chargers are good but just no specifics for you...

12v systems(off the top of my head)
Lights
Blowers
Vacuflush
Stereo
Water pump
Spot light
Wipers
Fridge(also 120v)
Ignition
Bilge pumps
Vents
Electronics(depth/gps/sounder)
Windlass
Ship to shore radio


Ok these are all out of my head so I might be missing one or two systems