'90 310 Sundancer Battery Configuration

[Chasing Waves]

Hi everyone,

New to this forum, and new to big boating (as of August 2020)! We (family) have enjoyed it greatly thus far. Located in Bayfield Ontario, Canada on Lake Huron.

Getting boat ready to be splashed on Monday here in Ontario, Canada, and have 2 batteries dead --- the cranking ones.

I am hopeful that someone can shoot me a picture/diagram of the ACTUAL battery configuration, as I am not so sure from reading, that I need 2 cranking batteries + 2 house batteries that I pulled out in the fall last year? I do not have a generator or AC/Heat.

The battery(ies) that I need to replace are Interstate 24M-XHD 1000/135.

I can get them at the local marine store, but as I say, not sure I need 2!

As a note...I had to use the Emergency Start switch to fire the port side engine from day 1, which leads me to believe that the cranking battery was cooked from the start. Maybe someone has thoughts!

I appreciate any help here!

Mat

 

[Lazy Daze]

Given the boat is 32 years old, it may have been altered many times. Plus, someone else may have altered theirs so it wouldn't be a fair comparison. There may be some info in the manual about it - which you can also download on SR's site. If you don't find your model and year, look to other years or other similar models.

However, it sounds like you have a battery for each engine and two batteries (wired in parallel) for the house. Having two batteries for the house is nice since it doubles your "run" time.

It might be best for you to snap a few pics of what you have so we can look at it. Also, test the house batteries for charging - both with the individual engines running and with the charger on -- with switches in various positions -- to see how the house bank is charged.

One caveat... never switch your battery switches to OFF while the engine is running. If the battery switches are cheapie ones, ALSO do not switch AT ALL while the engine is running. Again, at 32 years old, it's hard to say what you've got in there. Better switches can be switched from 1 to 2 to Both/All safely. Research the make/model of switches you have ("make before break" is what you want).

 

[Chasing Waves]

I appreciate the reply. All of that sounds about right --- who knows what has been done in the past.

I am going to the boat tomorrow, so I will start to trace some wires to the switches and see what I can determine. I will snap some pics as well as suggested with anything interesting or not making sense!

Thanks.

Mathew