420/44 DB Owners Club

[Flix2]

Thank you for the fast response. I will give that a try.

Another issue is the 24v bow and stern thrusters. They worked well yesterday but did not work today. The green light at the black rocker swith at the brige did not light up when I pushed down and the power switch at the thruster joy sticks did not beep like yesterday.

 

[boaterholic]

They do, There is a combination of velcro and vertical rods attached to the top of the back rest holding them in place. Pull out on the bottom of the cushion to release from the velcro then lift straight up. The rods are about twelve inches long as I remember. There is quite a bit of space behind there for sure, I never thought of using it for storage but I could see storing all sorts of stuff in that space.
Carpe Diem

mom I got it figured out - thanks!

 

[Carpediem44DB]

Thank you for the fast response. I will give that a try.

Another issue is the 24v bow and stern thrusters. They worked well yesterday but did not work today. The green light at the black rocker swith at the brige did not light up when I pushed down and the power switch at the thruster joy sticks did not beep like yesterday.

If your not plugged in the charger for the thruster wont charge the batteries so maybe your batteries are just low. You may have a breaker for them on a sub panel to check as well. It’s been several months since I’ve had mine so details are fogging up a bit.

 

[RBB]

Thank you for the fast response. I will give that a try.

Another issue is the 24v bow and stern thrusters. They worked well yesterday but did not work today. The green light at the black rocker swith at the brige did not light up when I pushed down and the power switch at the thruster joy sticks did not beep like yesterday.

there is a switch on the dash that powers them up.

 

[Flix2]

If your not plugged in the charger for the thruster wont charge the batteries so maybe your batteries are just low. You may have a breaker for them on a sub panel to check as well. It’s been several months since I’ve had mine so details are fogging up a bit.

Since I don't have shore power until the 30-50 amp adapter gets here in a couple of days, I plan to run the generator a few hours everyday. Do I turn the 'battery charger' and the 'thruster charger' in the on position in the main panel? I wish I took notes when the captain was training me yesterday. There is so much to remember and my brain is so limited! Again, thank you!

 

[Flix2]

there is a switch on the dash that powers them up.

I only found one switch at the dash that is labled 'master thruster'. The green light did come on and the thruster didn't work. I played with them a lot when I docked it yesterday. I might have drained the batteries.

 

[Mark.60]

Why aren’t they using black / white / green for 120 volt ac

 

[bbwhitejr]

I only found one switch at the dash that is labled 'master thruster'. The green light did come on and the thruster didn't work. I played with them a lot when I docked it yesterday. I might have drained the batteries.

I only had a bow thruster. Push the green button once and it beeped until you pushed it again. Then it would work. Crank your gen, then turn on the main battery charger and also the thruster charger on your main AC distribution panel in the salon.

Bennett

 

[RBB]

My 390MY had two switch's on the dash, one each for the bow and stern thruster.
our 44DB only has the bow thruster and only one switch on the dash.

 

[Flix2]

I only had a bow thruster. Push the green button once and it beeped until you pushed it again. Then it would work. Crank your gen, then turn on the main battery charger and also the thruster charger on your main AC distribution panel in the salon.

Bennett

Hi Bennett,
I ran the generator for an hour but not sure if the batteries are charged. I found the battery and the thruster chargers in the salon panel but don't know where the 'main battery charger" is.

 

[Flix2]

My 390MY had two switch's on the dash, one each for the bow and stern thruster.
our 44DB only has the bow thruster and only one switch on the dash.

Mine has only one button labeled as 'Bow and Stern Thrusters'.

 

[bajturner]

Hi Bennett,
I ran the generator for an hour but not sure if the batteries are charged. I found the battery and the thruster chargers in the salon panel but don't know where the 'main battery charger" is.

When you were running the generator, did you confirm you had AC power? If you did, once you turn on the thruster charger breaker, the thruster batteries should be charging. You can confirm this by looking at the charger itself. It is under the galley stairs on the forward bulkhead wall. Mine looks like this:

The output level gives you an idea of the charge state.

If you have sufficient battery power, turning on the thrusters is a two-step process (sort of three, if you have a stern thruster). You have to first enable the main thruster power on the helm panel. It's a rocker switch. I don't have a pic of mine, but here is the same panel:

Then, on the thruster control panel / joystick, you have to push the power button once for each thruster.

I can't remember if there is any LED indication of power after turning on the rocker, but before enabling the controller. The controller beeps with each press. If you are getting no lights or beeps, and the rocker is on, you either have dead batteries, a failed rocker, or a blown fuse.

The fuse (or fuses if you have a stern thruster) is located near the thruster batteries in the engine room near the bottom of the ladder just starboard of center on the bulkhead wall.

This clip came from the parts manual. The fuses are item 8. Note: I have found the parts manual to be very useful for figuring out what is where on the boat.

Of course, this all assumes you have enabled the main battery solenoids.

Hope this helps.

 

[Carpediem44DB]

Flix, your chargers are under the stairs in front of the washing machine usually. Your boat, if it is the same one I'm thinking of is pretty well modified with a big bank of batteries and an inverter installed. Who knows what all has been done to the boat. You may need to hire the captain to spend more time on the boat with you if he really knows that boat well. Unfortunately too many times, boats are modified with very little reference put in the owner manual for future owners to refer to. I hope you can figure this stuff out, kinda takes the fun out of it when there are issues like this that are so friggin' avoidable.

 

[bajturner]

I only found one switch at the dash that is labled 'master thruster'. The green light did come on and the thruster didn't work. I played with them a lot when I docked it yesterday. I might have drained the batteries.

Which green light came on, the one on the rocker switch, or the one on the thruster controller?

 

[bajturner]

Thank you for the fast response. I will give that a try.

Another issue is the 24v bow and stern thrusters. They worked well yesterday but did not work today. The green light at the black rocker swith at the brige did not light up when I pushed down and the power switch at the thruster joy sticks did not beep like yesterday.

Ok, sorry...just catching up on these. Should have read them all first.

If the rocker did not light up then either the batteries are dead, the fuse is blown, or the rocker is defective. The controller is not getting any power if there is no power to / though the rocker. I think you need the main 12V batteries enabled for the rocker switches to work, even for the 24V thrusters, but I am not positive of this.

 

[Flix2]

Flix, your chargers are under the stairs in front of the washing machine usually. Your boat, if it is the same one I'm thinking of is pretty well modified with a big bank of batteries and an inverter installed. Who knows what all has been done to the boat. You may need to hire the captain to spend more time on the boat with you if he really knows that boat well. Unfortunately too many times, boats are modified with very little reference put in the owner manual for future owners to refer to. I hope you can figure this stuff out, kinda takes the fun out of it when there are issues like this that are so friggin' avoidable.

I strongly suspect that my boat is the one you saw. AFAIK, it's heavily modified. Since your friend ended up not picking this boat, it makes me even more worried. The boat and engine surveyors thought it was a good boat once the maintenance and repairs are done. I hope they are right. The midsize boat market has gone crazy, much like the housing market these days.
The captain I hired is out of town for a week. I even called him for help but he doesn't remember the details of the boat. I've booked him for a couple more training sessions.
Flix

 

[Flix2]

Ok, sorry...just catching up on these. Should have read them all first.

If the rocker did not light up then either the batteries are dead, the fuse is blown, or the rocker is defective. The controller is not getting any power if there is no power to / though the rocker. I think you need the main 12V batteries enabled for the rocker switches to work, even for the 24V thrusters, but I am not positive of this.

Thank you so much for the pictures and the explanation. I will check the chargers, fuses, tomorrow. My broker came to visit earlier. We took the boat out for 2 hours and I ran the generator for an additional hour. That should be enough to charge the 24v thruster batteries.

The green light at the rocker switch at the dash panel shown in your photo never came on today. There were no beeps like yesterday. I did switch on the 'thruster charger' and 'battery charger' on at the salon panel. If the charger under the stairs shows the batteries are being charged, then blown fuses might be the culprit.

The needle at the AC meter on the salon panel stays at almost zero with the generator running, whether I fliped the generator breaker switch (salon panel) on or off. I'm not sure if this means anything.

The boat sureyor kindly agrees to spend a couple of hours with me to go over the entire boat next week. I hope it will solve some of the 'mysteries'.

 

[ocgrant]

Flix,

a 30 to 50 adaptor cord is not going to fix your issue... You need 220v not 110v. If you have 0nly 110 on the dock only way this is only going to work if there are 2 inidividual circuits (breakers not 2 outlets) ran to the dock on seperate breakers. Then you could convert both of them to 220 by using one leg from each 110 circuit. Most of the older docks in Newport and Huntington were 110 50amp old school for 50' foot and under. I know this well as I had my boat there and it was a 50 amp 110 90's style boat. NEMA stopped recommending 50 amp 110v on boats in the early - mid 90's hence when you saw dual 30 amp cords still on 110 boats. Hopefully you can find 2 seperate 30amp 110 breakers on your dock then you are in business and you can make a 220 circuit.

When you say green light are you refering to the thruster power switch on the sea ray switch panel or the green light on the thruster/joy stick controller? If the first then the solenoid is dead and check the breaker panel(s) (engine room, under dash, not sure in your boat location) if second then go to the thruster and remove the plastic shroud (2 thumb screws) and you will find a 5 amp atc blade fuse that powers to thruster controls, check that.

Good luck and welcome to the fun

 

[Carpediem44DB]

I strongly suspect that my boat is the one you saw. AFAIK, it's heavily modified. Since your friend ended up not picking this boat, it makes me even more worried. The boat and engine surveyors thought it was a good boat once the maintenance and repairs are done. I hope they are right. The midsize boat market has gone crazy, much like the housing market these days.
The captain I hired is out of town for a week. I even called him for help but he doesn't remember the details of the boat. I've booked him for a couple more training sessions.
Flix

Flix, the folks I sold my boat to picked mine in large part because of location. They were right here in the SF area as am I. They were attracted to the New Port boat because of the upgrades as they planned to live part time on it. The one thing I did not like about the boat was that it was owned by a Lawyer in NY that used it for client relations fishing trips and had a professional captain running the boat for him. I counseled the buyers against the boat and they saw more value in buying a boat that was run and cared for by an OCD owner. I hope you can figure out your electrical situation and can enjoy your boat. You will find plenty of support here on CSR as you have found out already.
Carpe Diem

 

[bajturner]

The needle at the AC meter on the salon panel stays at almost zero with the generator running, whether I fliped the generator breaker switch (salon panel) on or off. I'm not sure if this means anything.

It means something for sure, assuming the meter is working properly. Does the meter register correctly when you are connected to shore power? Not sure if you can connect to shore power...I know you are wrestling with a 30A/50A conversion as well (an adapter is a quick workaround...you will need one at some point so may as well grab one).

Start up the generator and see if your air conditioning or cooktop or microwave works. Remember to turn on the respective breakers.

If you have no AC with the generator running and you have enabled the main generator breaker on the breaker panel in the salon, your first check would be the mains breaker on the generator itself. It's located on the generator control panel.

Fun times!