Emergency start didn't start.

magstang1

magstang1

Active Member
May 30, 2010
1,338
Lake St.Clair
Boat Info
1998 31 Sedan Bridge
Engines
Twin 350 Marine Power
I have twin 4.3 Mercs and a 4kw Kohler generator. 3 batteries total. One starting battery on the starboard motor isolated from all other loads, and two batteries in parallel on the port motor for house loads as well as starting the generator.

All three batteries were replaced at the same time in the summer of 2011. They are Walmart marine batteries (previous owner bought them). The charger is an original Charles Charger.

We overnighted on the hook last night. Motors turned off around 7pm Tuesday night. The radio played most of the night at low volume. The fridge was on dc power. The anchor light was on all night. My son watched a movie on a 19" dc powered TV.

Morning came and I turned on the GPS to see my voltage. 11.8v. I fired up the genny and batt charger for about 30 minutes and made a pot of coffee.

A few more hours of radio throughout the morning and I decide to fire the engines. Port just goes click. Generator cranks very slowly and won't fire. GPS says 11.7 volts. I fire the starboard no problem and hold down the emergency start for about 2-3 minutes. Try to start the starboard and it trips the circuit breaker on the starboard and kills everything.

Reset breakers. Restart starboard motor and tach it up to 1200rpm. Hold down the emergency start for about 5 minutes and try to fire the port engine. Trips the breaker and kills everything. Reset, restart and try the genny after holding the emergency start. It cranks slowly and won't fire. Maybe a little faster than before but not enough to fire it.

I disconnect the batteries and check voltage with a meter. Starboard was 12.5. One of the ports was 11.7 and the other was a little lower. I switch the two with the higher voltage and leave the low one disconnected. Fire the starboard motor on the battery that just wouldn't start the port (but the second paralleled battery is disconnected). Fire the genny and the starboard engine and turn on the battery charger, then I reconnected the third battery.

The genny and charger ran for about 1-2 hours and everything was good again.

I don't understand why the emergency start didn't work. The batteries were low, but nothing was under 11 volts. Why did the breaker keep popping? Does it seem like the batteries ran flat too fast? The port motor didn't even try to turn over. My 280ss could keep the fridge running and radio playing all night and still turn over a 350 with no sweat.

I hope the answer to this isn't three new batteries and a triple bank charger.
 
you know the drill.

clean the connections
verify the water levels
check the battery switch line up sounds like you were using the dual setup for your house loads that night draining both the starting and the house battery
once the batteries were fully charged they worked so the charger is working

If you were trying to use the emergency start with the dead battery switch in the both position this could have overloaded the circuit and caused the breaker to trip

With the switch in both you are trying to charge both batteries and start the engine with the single second battery lots of amps required
 
magstang1 said:
A few moI have twin 4.3 Mercs and a 4kw Kohler generator. 3 batteries total. One starting battery on the starboard motor isolated from all other loads, and two batteries in parallel on the port motor for house loads as well as starting the generator.

All three batteries were replaced at the same time in the summer of 2011. They are Walmart marine batteries (previous owner bought them). The charger is an original Charles Charger.

We overnighted on the hook last night. Motors turned off around 7pm Tuesday night. The radio played most of the night at low volume. The fridge was on dc power. The anchor light was on all night. My son watched a movie on a 19" dc powered TV.

Morning came and I turned on the GPS to see my voltage. 11.8v. I fired up the genny and batt charger for about 30 minutes and made a pot of coffee.

re hours of radio throughout the morning and I decide to fire the engines. Port just goes click. Generator cranks very slowly and won't fire. GPS says 11.7 volts. I fire the starboard no problem and hold down the emergency start for about 2-3 minutes. Try to start the starboard and it trips the circuit breaker on the starboard and kills everything.

Reset breakers. Restart starboard motor and tach it up to 1200rpm. Hold down the emergency start for about 5 minutes and try to fire the port engine. Trips the breaker and kills everything. Reset, restart and try the genny after holding the emergency start. It cranks slowly and won't fire. Maybe a little faster than before but not enough to fire it.

I disconnect the batteries and check voltage with a meter. Starboard was 12.5. One of the ports was 11.7 and the other was a little lower. I switch the two with the higher voltage and leave the low one disconnected. Fire the starboard motor on the battery that just wouldn't start the port (but the second paralleled battery is disconnected). Fire the genny and the starboard engine and turn on the battery charger, then I reconnected the third battery.

The genny and charger ran for about 1-2 hours and everything was good again.

I don't understand why the emergency start didn't work. The batteries were low, but nothing was under 11 volts. Why did the breaker keep popping? Does it seem like the batteries ran flat too fast? The port motor didn't even try to turn over. My 280ss could keep the fridge running and radio playing all night and still turn over a 350 with no sweat.

I hope the answer to this isn't three new batteries and a triple bank charger.
Click to expand...

Why did you hold down the emergency start for several minutes? (or did I read that incorrectly?)

On my boat with nearly the identical power/battery set-up all the emergency start does is join all three batteries together when you have the switch held down, and you should only be holding it down while cranking the ignition on the engine that doesnt start normally.

At least one of the three batteries needs to be "good" for the emergency start to work.
 
The one good battery was the one isolated on the starboard motor.

When I simply pressed the emergency start button and tried to crank, I popped the breaker. My thinking was that combining all three batteries in parallel while holding the emergency start button would allow the two discharged starboard batteries to charge a bit.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding how the emergency start circuit works.
 
GrandMaster is correct. No need to keep the ES switch depressed other than cranking. I would also get the generator off of the house load circuit and over to the starboard motor battery. That way if the 2 house batteries are dead you can start both the starboard motor and the generator. Also, are the batteries "deep cycle"? If they are "starting/cranking" batteries they are not designed for house loads and will go dead quickly. Batteries from 2011 are at the end of 3 seasons and may be on their way out. Only a load test can verify. When time for replacing get quality batteries such as Interstate, Deka or Sears Die Hard.
 
hottoddie said:
I would also get the generator off of the house load circuit and over to the starboard motor battery. That way if the 2 house batteries are dead you can start both the starboard motor and the generator.
Click to expand...

+1! The generator battery should never share a house load - you want to always be able to start the genny and charge the rest of the batteries.
 
I just studied the schematic. The emergency start button simply parallels the port and starboard banks.

I'm thinking that one of the port batteries is done as well. I'll probably replace all three in the spring. The season is just about done here anyway.

Sea Ray wired the boat with the generator on the port bank. I agree that it makes sense for it to be tied to the starboard bank. I'll have to look into rewiring it.
 
techmitch said:
The emergency start button is just that. For starting only, not for charging. My bet is that at least one of the batts. on the parallel bank are bad or the starter is bad and drawing to many amps.
Click to expand...

magstang1 said:
I just studied the schematic. The emergency start button simply parallels the port and starboard banks.

I'm thinking that one of the port batteries is done as well. I'll probably replace all three in the spring. The season is just about done here anyway.

Sea Ray wired the boat with the generator on the port bank. I agree that it makes sense for it to be tied to the starboard bank. I'll have to look into rewiring it.
Click to expand...
There ya go.
 
Speaking of batteries, when did SeaRay go to two batteries on each engine?

My 2010 350 has 5. Two on each engine and one for the generator. I have two battery switches which are for the engine batteries. As it was explained to me the generator's battery is not on the battery switches. My switches say port and starboard.

The emergency start was explained to me: it basically takes the batteries in line to create enough power to start the engines.
 
Last edited:
when you where on the hook where were you battery switch settings? if you had your port battery switch set to both over night it would drain both batteries. when you are on the hook you should set the dual battery switch to the house battery saving the starting battery for starting and i bet you generator is on the starting battery as well.
 
2000SEARAY280SS said:
when you where on the hook where were you battery switch settings? if you had your port battery switch set to both over night it would drain both batteries. when you are on the hook you should set the dual battery switch to the house battery saving the starting battery for starting and i bet you generator is on the starting battery as well.
Click to expand...

I have two switches. Both are simply on or off. On turns on the starboard battery that is isolated from loads anyway. The other turns on the two port batteries that are hard wire paralleled together. I had both turned on. Turning off the starboard switch would have had no effect.

Both port batteries are wired together at the batteries. I can't isolate one for starting and one for house. The generator does draw it's starting power from these two batteries.
 
WDCboater said:
Speaking of batteries, when did SeaRay go to two batteries on each engine?

My 2010 350 has 5. Two on each engine and one for the generator. I have two battery switches which are for the engine batteries. As it was explained to me the generator's battery is not on the battery switches. My switches say port and starboard.

The emergency start was explained to me: it basically takes the batteries in line to create enough power to start the engines.
Click to expand...


The smaller boats don't have the room for 4 or more batteries. My 390 EC has 4 group 31's. The factory wiring had 2 per engine with the starboard 2 batteries used for house loads. The other 2 were for starting the port engine and generator which seemed like overkill to me. I just took one of the port batteries and wired it in parallel with the 2 starboard batteries so now I have 50% more house battery capacity and can still start the port engine and generator if the 3 house batteries go dead. At the same time I changed the OEM 52 amp starboard alternator to a 90 amp single wire (marine rated of course). The whole system works like a charm.
 
FWIW- I have been running those Walmart marine batteries for years. I change them out @ ~30mo just to be safe. We spend 2-3 days at a time on the hook and never have had issues with them failing prematurely. But it happens...Staying on one battery (instead of "both") overnight so you have the other to start in the AM has been my strategy.
 
magstang1 said:
I have two switches. Both are simply on or off. On turns on the starboard battery that is isolated from loads anyway. The other turns on the two port batteries that are hard wire paralleled together. I had both turned on. Turning off the starboard switch would have had no effect.

Both port batteries are wired together at the batteries. I can't isolate one for starting and one for house. The generator does draw it's starting power from these two batteries.
Click to expand...

Interesting. To keep this from happening again I would install an Automatic Charging Relay and switch from BOE and blue sea.
http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/62001-A-second-battery-for-my-170-BR

This will limit the run time on the house battery but it would allow the generator and port engine to have a fresh battery to start.

You will need to move the house loads to the deep cycle and the engine and genny to the starting battery at the new switch.
 
My next step is getting all the batteries load tested. They will probably be replaced in the spring with a larger group size. I think they are 27s now. The trays will accommodate larger batteries so, why not?

i may look into moving the generators starting circuit to the starboard side. If I killed two port batteries in one evening, I can't see one making it all night. The isolator kit looks good but I don't think reducing my reserve capacity is the right answer to this problem.
 
magstang1 said:
If I killed two port batteries in one evening, I can't see one making it all night. The isolator kit looks good but I don't think reducing my reserve capacity is the right answer to this problem.
Click to expand...

Remember deep cycle batteries are designed for deep discharge, recharge and the starting batteries are not. You will shorten the starting batteries life. Enjoying your boat is the main thing.
 
magstang1 said:
I have two switches. Both are simply on or off.
Click to expand...

That doesnt seem right to me. I realize we have different vintages of 290's but our electrical systems are nearly identical except reversed and mine has one on/off and one 1/2/both/off.

Without the 1/2/both/off it seems you are not taking advantage of the benefit of having 3 batteries.

I will let others with the same model 290 as yours comment on whether you switch set-up is factory
 
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