2006 38 Sundancer Bow Thruster Voltage issue

[Quinny]

Hi all,

I'm stumped & need some help. When I use my bow thruster my Port side dash voltmeter gauge drops all the way down like I have a short/bad ground then comes back up once I stop the thruster. This happens regardless if the motors are running or not & the thruster runs fine. When I put a multi meter on the batteries I see that the thruster is run off of the Starboard side battery bank (the 2 stern side batteries). What should I be looking for? This is a new problem in the last 2 weeks. I don't understand why the Port side voltage would be affected by running something powered by the Starboard side batteries. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian

 

[copb8tx]

I'm curious to hear answers on this. My bow thruster isn't putting out the flow it's supposed to. Tested it against a friends identical boat and it was 30% of the flow. Up until now I'm assuming my battery bank is bad. I have 2 dedicated batteries for the thruster.

 

[Quinny]

I have 2 new batteries to put in after work however I don't feel that will be the fix but you never know.

 

[Bt Doctur]

looking at the way the bank is you could have the 2 pos cables reversed and port is now stbd?

 

[Woody]

Disconnect the batteries you think power the thruster and see what happens.

 

[Quinny]

So, 2 new batteries later I have found that whoever labeled the battery banks had them backwards. So, the voltage gauge that is dropping (port side gauge) when I use the thruster is the correct one.
I guess my real question is when I use the thruster should I see that big of a draw on the gauge?