Background - Purchased the '98 405 AC in Aug '22. Brought it home from Knoxville, TN to Lake Guntersville, AL; nice 4 day trip no problems. We took an extended vacation (without boat) and I'm just now back home to start going through the boat and figuring out what's what. I'll start with the batteries. First of all, there's no issues starting either engine or generator. I'm just trying to figure out what's been done and what batteries run through which Battery Selector switch, and which batteries run the house, port engine, std engine, and generator. Another thing I was looking at is how to connect an inverter to run minimum stuff. While looking through all the manuals in the Carver briefcase, I found a Power Inverter Owners Manual (Original Equipment- Heart Interface Model HF600-12). I figured maybe the boat came with an inverter but perhaps it was removed?? Then I started looking through compartments just familiarizing where stuff is located. Low and behold under the dinette seat I found a milk crate with 3 qts Castrol HD30 engine oil, 1 gal antifreeze, transmission fluid, and a couple funnels' AND two black boxes with wires. One of the black boxes is the aforementioned 600w inverter and the other black box is an auto transfer switch. It appears the inverter only powers the stereo system and salon TV (possibly the main stateroom TV, too. just didn't think to look at it?)

Now to the batteries! All the batteries look new and in good condition; I guess they were just bought at different times and different places. Two batteries are Rural King, Two are Autocraft, and the other is a DieHard.
Batteries 1 (675cca), 2 (750cca), 3 (750cca), & 4 (750cca) are ALL Deep Cycle Batteries. Battery 5 is a Cranking Battery (1000 mca).

Battery 3 is the Generator Cranking battery and wired through an ON/OFF switch. It's pretty straight forward.

Battery 2 is apparently the Port Engine cranking battery. I came to this conclusion because the Black/Ground wire goes to the Port Engine. The POS Red cable goes back through a bundle to the 1/2/BOTH/OFF switch.

Battery 1 is apparently the Starboard Engine cranking battery. I came to this conclusion because the Black/Ground wire goes to the Starboard Engine. The POS Red cable goes back through a bundle to the 1/2/BOTH/OFF switch. But Battery 1 is also Parallel wired to Battery 4, and Battery 4 is Parallel wired to Battery 5.

All 5 batteries are wired to the Battery Chargers. The battery chargers are new equipment installed prior to my purchase. They are Xantrex TrueCharge 2 chargers that can charge 3 batteries each.

For whatever reason, the Inverter is not connected to the batteries. The Red (positive cable to the Inverter) cable is just lying in the bilge next to Battery 1, as if it used to be connected to Battery 1. This red battery cable was a writeup on the Survey, so I just electrical taped the cable-end for the journey home and wire tied it off so not to vibrate against anything. Although now I know what the red cable goes to; therefore, it was not a hazard.

SO??? Where do I go from here??? It's organized but the wiring diagram looks unnatural!! Does anyone have a factory service manual with the wiring diagram???

I'm not real sure where the Positive cable comes from that goes to the DC distribution panel?? It comes out of the bundle that goes to the 1/2/BOTH/OFF switch. I'll have to take the DC panel cover off and trace that wire.
Battery 1 is paralleled with three batteries and I think goes to the 1/2/BOTH/OFF switch. Battery 2 goes to the 1/2/BOTH/OFF switch. The switch is set on BOTH. Which means that when I start the engines they're getting power from 4 batteries! The house power is, I guess, coming from Batteries 1, 4, & 5. But if the house is getting power from 1, 4, & 5 that could pull the batteries down if running interior lights, refer, and 12v stereo at helm? Then throw the Inverter in, if connected to Battery 1, running TV and 110v stereo in the salon. It just doesn't look correct!!

The Carver Operation and Maintenance Manual says to start the engines using the high voltage battery by using the selector switch and after starting both engines select the low voltage battery "to permit the engine alternator's voltage regulator to sense the charge level of an individual battery." But if Battery 1 has three batteries in parallel??

Am I missing something?? Shouldn't the house batteries be separate so not to pull the cranking batteries down while at anchor? I'd like to re-connect the Inverter, do I wire it to Battery 1 where the cable will reach?

Any information from you guys would be appreciated!!


Attached is a JPG file that I drew trying to figure out what's been done.