Battery Charger Location on 1995 Carver 325 Aft Cabin

[aldera]

QR_BBPOST It's a 3 bank charger so I suspect the red wire is just another output. Do you have a generator? If so, that might be the third bank.

I don't have a generator but since it was an option back then, I suppose they wired them so it was available, if needed. Thanks for the reply.

[Viper]

Do you have three battery banks; 1 for port engine, 1 for starb engine, 1 house bank, or a thruster or windlass with its own battery? Do you have a battery selector switch; 1-2-BOTH-OFF or 3 separate ON/OFF battery switches?

To be sure, follow the red wire and see what it hooks up to. It's a different colour than the other two so I suspect it was installed by a previous owner. I doubt a third wire was installed at factory as an option and not used. I'm pretty sure you need to jump an unused output on those chargers with an output that's being used, you can't leave an output disconnected and I'm pretty sure it would have been jumped at factory if not used.

[aldera]

QR_BBPOST Do you have three battery banks; 1 for port engine, 1 for starb engine, 1 house bank, or a thruster or windlass with its own battery? Do you have a battery selector switch; 1-2-BOTH-OFF or 3 separate ON/OFF battery switches?

To be sure, follow the red wire and see what it hooks up to. It's a different colour than the other two so I suspect it was installed by a previous owner. I doubt a third wire was installed at factory as an option and not used. I'm pretty sure you need to jump an unused output on those chargers with an output that's being used, you can't leave an output disconnected and I'm pretty sure it would have been jumped at factory if not used.

I have a switch with 1-2-both-off. I'll see if I can figure out what that 3rd red wire is used for. Thanks for the info. Appreciate it.

[km1125]

I'd be really surprised if you couldn't find a manual for that online. If that third wire is much smaller than the other two it could be a "sense" wire to compensate for the length of the cables from the charger to the battery. If it's actually a charging wire it should be capable of handling the full output from the charger.

You might want to email Promariner's help line to see if they can send you the manual as a PDF. They're still in business and I'd bet they have it.

[bud37]

As has been mentioned.......Generally the two in the wire loom will go to the battery switch , one of them to #1 and the other to #2.....the third separate red generally goes to the generator battery ( it looks like there may be a lable there so maybe factory )......was there ever a generator on this boat, can you tell ?

Anyway, can you just take the inspection/connection cover off the charger and take a pic to see what is connected in there. Please be careful to shut off all AC power to the charger before removing that cover.

As said. good to find the other end of the cable in question.

Just to add, that appears to be an old 30amp ferroresonant charger, one of their new smart chargers would be a great upgrade if you plan on upgrading battery systems etc in the near future.

[aldera]

Well, I got my battery charger swapped out. Should have taken the inspection cover off sooner and I could have saved a few minutes wondering how things were wired. That 3rd wire was not connected to the charger at all. It was wrapped in electrical tape and non-functional. I imagine that they build a wire harness with the 3 wires and if there's no generator installed, they just wrap it.

I installed a Noco Genius with 2 banks at 5A each. I don't feel the need for a larger charging capability. I just want something that will work automatically and keep the batteries topped off without overcharging. I took the bare wires from the AC line and connected a female plug so I could connect the new unit that already had a male plug. Then I connected the ring terminals of each pair of 12V cables together with a small bolt, nut and locknut, heat shrink tubing and electrical tape.

Everything is working fine. Thanks for all the help everyone.

[km1125]

QR_BBPOST ....
I installed a Noco Genius with 2 banks at 5A each. I don't feel the need for a larger charging capability. ...

Do all your house loads run off those two batteries? If so (and no other charger present) then I think that charger is WAY undersized for your boat. Are all your lights swapped out to LEDs?

Between the fridge (if it's running DC), all the lights and some accessories like a stereo or the marine radio running you could easily exceed 5A, and it's likely your house loads are just connected to one of those batteries at a time (and limited to the output of just one charger lead).

At one point I had a 30A charger in my boat. We were sitting there in the evening with a bunch of friends with the radio playing and a bunch of (pre-LED) lights on and some other DC loads (I think the DC fan was blowing too. At some point, several hours into the evening, all the sudden the radio quit and the lights got noticeably dimmer. We had been actually discharging the battery the whole time until it finally overloaded the charger and popped the breaker on the charger.

[aldera]

QR_BBPOST

QR_BBPOST ....
I installed a Noco Genius with 2 banks at 5A each. I don't feel the need for a larger charging capability. ...

Do all your house loads run off those two batteries? If so (and no other charger present) then I think that charger is WAY undersized for your boat. Are all your lights swapped out to LEDs?

Between the fridge (if it's running DC), all the lights and some accessories like a stereo or the marine radio running you could easily exceed 5A, and it's likely your house loads are just connected to one of those batteries at a time (and limited to the output of just one charger lead).

At one point I had a 30A charger in my boat. We were sitting there in the evening with a bunch of friends with the radio playing and a bunch of (pre-LED) lights on and some other DC loads (I think the DC fan was blowing too. At some point, several hours into the evening, all the sudden the radio quit and the lights got noticeably dimmer. We had been actually discharging the battery the whole time until it finally overloaded the charger and popped the breaker on the charger.

I did replace all the lights with LEDs. I thought the fridge ran on AC but looking on the panel, it is DC. Guess I better get a larger charger. What size would be considered adequate for this boat?

[km1125]

The fridge may be an AC/DC fridge and just not have a dedicated AC breaker.

But you need to think of ALL the DC loads that you could be running when you would be on dockside power. You have the potable water pump, blowers, head exhaust fans, bilge pumps, electric heads, radios (marine), chart plotter(s), USB outlets for phone chargers or other USB-powered stuff, "mood" lighting, underwater lights, CO alarms, fume alarms, tank monitor systems, etc. Not all that stuff runs all the time, but just bursts of higher-amperage stuff like the potable water pump will exceed the charger output then take a lot longer for a small charger to replace the charge.

Just my opinion, but I'd be thinking 30-40A would be the smallest I'd consider on that size boat. Others can weigh in with their experience.

I've had boat neighbors leave things on inadvertently after they've left the boat for the weekend. Something like a bilge blower would have drained their battery dead if they only had a 5A charger, but if they had a larger charger the blower would still be running when they came back the next weekend.

[aldera]

QR_BBPOST The fridge may be an AC/DC fridge and just not have a dedicated AC breaker.

But you need to think of ALL the DC loads that you could be running when you would be on dockside power. You have the potable water pump, blowers, head exhaust fans, bilge pumps, electric heads, radios (marine), chart plotter(s), USB outlets for phone chargers or other USB-powered stuff, "mood" lighting, underwater lights, CO alarms, fume alarms, tank monitor systems, etc. Not all that stuff runs all the time, but just bursts of higher-amperage stuff like the potable water pump will exceed the charger output then take a lot longer for a small charger to replace the charge.

Just my opinion, but I'd be thinking 30-40A would be the smallest I'd consider on that size boat. Others can weigh in with their experience.

I've had boat neighbors leave things on inadvertently after they've left the boat for the weekend. Something like a bilge blower would have drained their battery dead if they only had a 5A charger, but if they had a larger charger the blower would still be running when they came back the next weekend.

Yes, the fridge does run on AC, when it's available. I'll have to see what my loads look like over the next couple of weeks and see what would work best. Thanks for the input.