Battery switches in the 340DA '05

[Dreams Come Blue]

I just took delivery of an '05 340 DA last week with twin 496 mags w Bravo 3s. My previous boat was an '02 240 DA (which I loved for the 5 yrs that I owned it). It had a battery switch which made it easy to run 1, 2 or both batteries, and gave me the flexibility to protect one battery when I was on the hook to be able to start the engine in the morning.
The setup on the 340DA is different with the solenoid battery switches. When my boat was shipped to my marina, it arrived with the stbd battery bank dead.
My question is, when I am on the hook, how do I isolate either the port or STb battery bank to ensure I have enough juice to start up in the morning? (the genie runs off of the STBd battery bank). If I turn off one of the switches, I believe (but am not 100% certain) that not all DC powered devices will work? My owner's manual does not make it clear to me what I should be doing. :huh:

Don

 

[Steve04]

Dear Don, I have a 2004 34 and yes, you will not be able to switch off the stb bank, since some of the DC power items come from that side. the Port side does power most of the items, I am having a problem similar to you my stb side bank died and I have recharged it, only to have a new problem today the gauges are not working. though the battery seems to have enough juice to start the engine. the light on the stb battery switch is now not working as well. Granted I love the boat, but the manuals stink, and they should have set up the power supply differently.
In short though you should have enough power to get started in the morning. we have stayed on the hook several times and never experienced a problem as yet. My batteries are 4 years old and perhaps that could be a problem
all the best with your new boat.
Steve 04

 

[Hampton]

Don,

The stbd battery operates very few items. The ones that it does operate are primarily ones that are only used with the engines running - SmartCraft, GPS... 99% of the house runs off the Port battery bank. This should keep you out of trouble as long as your batteries are at least strong enough to hold a charge. The stbd bank does start the genny and the right engine.

Example - We had great weather last weekend, so we barely ran the genny and the port bank dropped way down. Several items were giving the weak battery signal, so we started the genny easily and re-charged all batteries. I think the setup is ideal. Even if not, you can use the emergency switch to start anything. We learned this after letting our original batteries go bad to the point where one person had to hold the helm emergency switch down while another started the genny down below.

 

[In Two Deep]

I would not worry about the battery switches. I can stay on the hook for hours with the stereo, two refridgerators, GPS, vhf, head system and water pump running with no problem. The key is to make sure your batteries are up to par Four year old batteries will not hold a charge for very long. Also, the more you drain the battery down below 10.5 volts the weaker it becomes over time.


The key is to conserve power. If you have the gps on for the anchor alarm, dim the screen. Believe it or not, LCD display use a lot of juice. Dimming it reduces the draw. Also use a cooler instead of constantly opening the refers. Also monitor the voltage every hour or so. When it reaches 11.5 volts, fire up the genny and turn the ac converter on.

If your batteries are discharging quickly, then you need to service them or repalce them. If you continuously discharge and recharge them, their capacity decreases significantly. 4 year old batteries probably need replaced.

If you discharge to the point that the engines will not start, use the emergeny start switch on the helm. This combines all the batteries to get the engine started.

 

[dpmulvey]

You could consider rewiring the thing. First and foremost, the gennie should ALWAYS have an independent start source. A medium garden tractor battery will fire up the gennie easy. Then one battery for the port engine, one for starboard and couple of golf cart batteries for the house. AGM's are great if you can afford them. If not, Costco has very good wet cells.