ACR and switches question

[km1125]

Source of the post Couldn't find a fuse except for the large one between coming from the inverter and the house bank.

There are no lights in the ACRs when the engines are running.

I've got some pics of the wiring to the back of the ACRs and switches that I'll have to edit and post later this evening.

Also noticed that my #2 starting battery isn't getting charged with shore power, but #1 starting and house bank are.

Source of the post On the ACRs, check that the ground connection is good. If there's a fuse or breaker in that circuit (would only be a small fuse or breaker) then make sure they are good too. Sometimes during winterization those are removed so that there is no drain from the ACR monitoring circuit while the boat is laid up. It's a very, very small current, but over months it adds up.

Do either of the ACRs have lights on them when the engine(s) are running?

Is there a black wire connected on the ACR that goes to ground? (that's the line were a fuse should be). if there's not a grounding wire in the ACR, it won't work. At the very minimum, there should be the two larger red wires and one smaller black wire.

[mikesparker]

Update...the ProTech-4 charger for the starting batteries was set for gel...I reset that switch and left the power off of it for a few minutes. Powered up and voltages to both starting batteries spot on. That said, with the engines running I still have no lights in the ACRs and I checked voltage and there was like .5 on all the XKal facts on the ACRs and the blue sea switches.

[mikesparker]

There are black wires coming from each ACR that go to the Perko switch for the starter batteries. I have a preliminary diagram...I'll try to make it look somewhat sensible and post it because I'm confused!

[mikesparker]

Ok, so after doing a bunch of reading and looking at diagrams, I'm pretty sure the way my ACRs are set up is wrong. The ACRs themselves are supposed to be grounded using the spade connector...neither of mine is. The black cables off the ACRs go to the #1 and #2 sides of the Perko 1/2/Combo switch. That doesn't seem right to me, either. I'm posting pics of the back of the switches and ACRs...if anyone can make sense of the mess, please enlighten me. I'm about to pull all that crap out and start over.

[km1125]

I hate when people use black wires for posiive batter runs!! At least they used red shrink on the ends, but it makes things confusing.

It looks like the black wires go to the #1 and #2 posts on the PERKO, which I'd think are directly attached to your #1 and #2 battery positive posts. That's OK, and it's preferrable to make the connection there instead of running all the way down to the batteries and having two big connections right on the battery posts. (although, again, they should have used red wires)

Both those ACRs need a ground connection to work. It doesn't need to be a large wire... a #14 or #16 will work and you should put a fuse in line (check Blue Seas site for the fuse size, but I think it's a 1A or pretty small like that). You can run to any convenient ground.

Both the ACRs are going to the LOAD side of your HOUSE switch, which means they won't charge your HOUSE battery unless that switch is turned on. It also means that if they are working correctly, (once the ground connection is made) that they'll provide power to HOUSE loads even if your HOUSE switch is in the OFF position, which may not be desirable. IMO, those two red feeds from the ACR to the HOUSE switch should be on the battery side of that switch.

I'm not sure what that bottom Blue Seas switch is for... I'll look at the pics closer to see if there are clues.. but do you know anything more about that one?

[km1125]

Hard to tell 100%, but it appears that bottom Blue Seas switch is to be able to connect the HOUSE battery to the engine COMMON. This way the house would be charged from the engine regardless if the ACRs were working (or even installed). It would also allow you to start the engine from the house battery, or even just to use the HOUSE battery as an assist for the engine batteries.

Looks fairly complicated, but that setup could work fine provided you do add the ground wires to the ACR switches. You could also make a few changes to make it "more functional" or "less complicated"

Just some additional notes: The wires going to and from the ACRs are oversized. This is not necessarily a problem, as larger wires are better than smaller (due to voltage drop), but just kind of a waste and harder to get those larger wires in tighter spaces. They do not need to be anywhere near that large, but all of them really should have some type of circuit protection in them, either breakers or fuses. Because of the short distances to the switches, an argument could be made for one breaker or fuse on each ACR, which probably would be fine too, but there should be at least one.

[mikesparker]

Thanks for that invaluable information!! You nailed the bottom switch...with it ON, I have starting power regardless of the position of the Perko. Seems kinda silly and a waste of a switch. The previous owner told me he never touched either of the Blue Sea switches and the HOUSE switch was always ON, bottom OFF.

I'll move the wires from the ACRs to the battery side of the HOUSE switch. What size wires would be more suitable for the connections between ACRs and the switches?

I want to keep it as simple, efficient and functional as possible. Any ideas on how to accomplish that would be much appreciated! I'm assuming that the bottom switch could be eliminated to start with?

[bud37]

Well imo , you already have the cable, looks like good stuff, why not just use that. Maybe at some point you will have a larger house bank or inverter or larger charger...ya never know......you could wrap the black stuff with red electrical tape if you feel a need. That equipment doesn't look very old from the pics.

Km seems to have a handle on this ACR thing.

[mikesparker]

Ok! I was able to move the wires from the ACRs to the battery side of the HOUSE switch as well as added grounds to both ACRs...results were immediate, of course...lights on the ACRs and all is well so far. I didn't get a chance to start the engines to see if the lights were on with just alternators, but I'm excited that they're actually working! I'll redo the connections with the proper hardware...just used what I had at the time. Comments?

[km1125]

Those red wires going from the switch to the ACR should be a larger gauge (probably #6) and be protected with a circuit breaker or fuse, but glad to see the grounds did the trick for getting the ACRs to activate. Oh, and those ground wires also need to be fused correctly (a small in-line fuse would be fine)