2000 Carver 404 - All Batteries and DC Equipment Dead - Suspect Battery Charger?

[Reardon]

Hi Fellow Boaters

Picked my 2000 Carver 404 from her winter storage, Started up fine, took her to her home slip 5 miles away and plugged in the shore power on Friday.

This morning, no power to any of the DC equipment. All batteries dead (2 engine/house and 1 generator).

When the shore power is plugged in, both AC panels show power (Volts and amps) and the equipment on those circuits all seem to have power (AC, micro, etc.) and work But, none of the DC equipment works, batteries are dead.

I am suspecting a battery charger issue. Especially after I read some of the reviews for my charger (not so positive). I have tried to check out all the obvious stuff like main breakers, safety panel breakers, etc that might be switched to off, but all seems in order.

Any thoughts would be appreciated?

Thanks
Rich

[docbob3704]

Check and make sure your connections are correct last year the yard connected one of my battery leads incorrectly and I had exactly the same issue.

[Ramsport47]

Also check to see that the main breakers by the battery switch are on. It is possible that they got turned off when you reached in to turn off the battery switch. Also...there should be 3 circuit breakers for the battery chargers in there as well...make sure those are on

[Viper]

All the above are good things to look for. Check that your charger ground is actually hooked up. Pretty common to miss wire hook-ups during commissioning. They get laid down by the batteries and are often easy to miss.

After you check all the above, a volt meter will tell you if the charger is putting out or not.

Did you run your generator during your trip? A dead generator battery may have nothing to do with what's currently going on as some vessels do not charge the generator battery with the house charger, and leave the generator battery to be charged by the generator when it's running. When it's not running, there should be no load on that battery so if it's good, it should hold a charge. Even if that battery is charged by the house charger, there is no reason for it to discharge due to a charger hook-up issue or breaker trip. A certain circuit failure in the charger will discharge a battery though.

Curious, what was left on from Friday to Sunday morning that would kill your batteries? And why are you leaving the battery selector switch on "ALL"?

[AaHubb]

At this point a volt meter is a requirement. Start at the batteries to determine if they are actually dead.
..Aaron

[Reardon]

Thanks everyone for all of your ideas. So far, the boat mechanic says that both of the house/engine batteries were no good. One wouldn't take a charge at all and the other would take a charge but then discharged on its own. Which is really pathetic since those batteries are only a year old.

He has new batteries in, but I don't think they are charging (waiting for his report). I am guessing he will then go through some of the items you guys suggested checking output downstream from the charger to see if it is putting anything out, etc.

The batteries initially had the fridge, etc drawing on them when they went dead the first night.

Thanks again
Rich

[tomschauer]

Just an idea, but if your batteries were charged enough to start your boat after winter storage, maybe your charger is over charging? This would "cook" your batteries.

[bakeefe4]

I am having a similar problem. Except my '91 aft cabin was broken on to and the vandals had lights on and radio which killed my batteries. With this not known to me at the time we had a little storm. So short and unsweet the billage pumps was not able to pump out any water and she took on a good amount of water. But it was over the batteries. I pumped the water down with 2 pumps and a spare car battery I had till I could get to the installed batteries. I lifted them out and used the battery I brought I was able to hook up all the pumps that are installed. The aft pump operated for about and hour then cut out. Since then I have not been able to get any power dc power. I am only able to get the recepticles to work on the shore power using a 5200 watt portable generator. The fridge did come on, on the shore power but started to smoke. Not breaker tripped . Please help.

[tomschauer]

First, how the heck did you get that much water in the bilge? It shouldn't fill up from rain. Something else is going on you need to find soon. For the DC I assume you now have charged batteries installed and have at least 12v at the batteries?
Make sure you didnt miss a ground. Next check at your battery switches and at the main 12v breakers. Did any of this get wet? If you have no 12v in the cabin or at the bridge it is most likley one of the three things i mentioned.
As far as the fridge, it may be a coincidence, or did the control board get wet?