Battery Usage

[Rickross]

On my 2005 Sea Ray 340 Sundancer I have two deep cell battery banks, 4 batteries total. The batteries in each bank are connected in parallel. I have looked at the schematics but have not determined with any confidence what each battery bank does. I don’t want to leave myself without starting power when weekending away from shore power.

Are the port and starboard battery banks isolated from each other? Can anyone advise the usage ie; which battery bank supplies what?

 

[Little Ducky]

You just need to figure it out.

Do you know if you have a battery "selector" switch (1,2, Both, Off)....or do you just have 2 battery switches just say ON/OFF?

If you don't have a "Both" selector I'll bet the farm the only way the battery banks ever get connected together is by pushing the Emergency Start switch on the dash.

 

[yobub]

If you bought the boat used you might not have your owner's manual available, but you can find a PDF of it here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/srweb-pvt-...manuals/2005_340 Sundancer_2005 340 DA OM.pdf

Section 6 is electrical, beginning on page 6.6 there is a nice walkthrough of what components are on the port system and the starboard system. It should be pretty easy to follow what is on the port battery bank and what is on the starboard battery bank. It then does a nice job of breaking it down from there.

In summary, based on your manual, your port batteries power your cabin main, refrigerator, three accessory switches, sump pump, and emergency bilge pump. Starboard powers your EIMs, electronics, one accessory switch, and two more bilge pumps.

You should be able to isolate the specifics following that guide, but the config of your accessories may be unique to your boat configuration.

 

[Korkie]

Have had our 06 340 for 4 seasons now. We are on the hook a lot. Sometimes 10 - 12 hours at a time. I keep my GPS (Garmin) on and the voltage alarm set at 11.5 volts. I also have a voltage monitor on USB charging ports I installed in the cabin and on the arch near the Ice Bucket that is visible at a glance. If the alarm goes off, I just run the genny for an hour or so and charge things back up. Starting the genny doesn't happen often, but has always worked well. We normally run both fridges, misc LED lights, stereo with 3 amps and a 12v to 120v inverter for a small fan in the cabin, occasionally the TV and of course the blender. I also have a third battery in my stbd bank which was added at the factory when ordered by the original owner.

 

[Rickross]

Good info, thanks for the replies

 

[Rickross]

Korkie, I was determined to figure this out myself but alas. I have Smart Craft Systems gauges and have read what I could on it's operation but was not able to figure out how to set the voltage alarm....water depth alarm yes, but not a battery voltage alarm. Could you point me in the right direction?
P.S Looking forward to seeing your cockpit sink table dimensions.

 

[Rickross]

Korkie, make that System Craft, not Smart craft. My bad!

 

[Korkie]

Not on your System Craft. There should be one on your GPS - The Raymarine C80. Haven't been down to the boat to do a measure on the table, nothing but rain here in Maryland for past several days.