Carver Owners Forum

cpoint wrote:QR_BBPOST..... Since we got it back in 2016, it spends most time on dock..... never used gen, so battery on that is always off.....

This is off topic but if you don't run your engines and genny periodically, you'll continue having runability issues. Not running a generator under load periodically is the best way to kill it. Run the engines and generator once in a while, it's good for them and uses up fuel that might otherwise go bad after a while and cause other issues.

cpoint wrote:QR_BBPOST....Because this week i have no charger want to make sure batteries are full. So i get nervous.....

Run the engines to charge them up!

Viper, yes I am aware of that, it just that GEN had an issue, and been meaning to service it but never got around to it. I agree with you though. I do run the engines though even if I do not take it out to make sure all is well. I am going to work on the GEN before winterizing. Last I checked it was a fuel issue with it because the fuel line was dry, and tank was at 1/4 full so I though maybe because of minimal limit GEN uses in port tank was the issue. but just to be safe I did purchase fuel pump for it as well, now that tank is clean, next time I will fill 1/2 tank and try to work on the GEN. I also got the kit that has spark, etc in it for the GEN. I did change it's oil and antifreeze as well already. 1 hour fun = 10 hour work on issues

Update, went back to boat today, first wanted to double check C-CHARGER 5000 SERIES that it was out of commission. When I moved it around without doing anything else, it came alive, fans kicked in, DC Ampers display moved. I shut down power turned on again, not a tick. tried couple other things did not work. At that point I already had the ProNautic 1250P at hand anyway. So installed it. Fairly straight forward install. Fallowed the instructions. Basically it came online, and first showed "Conditioning" I believe it did this for about 3 hours. Not sure it was doing all 3 batteries with this. My understanding is it's slow charge to condition batteries. During and after this there was no power still on bank 2 (House battery). After that it switched to "Auto Maintain". Again not sure the AMPS were for all 3 batteries or specific battery, or which battery. attached image, shows 17.4. At no time at least when I was watching showed "Charging". At one point charger output 0% to 100% meter showed couple green bars, when I switch banks to Bank 1, BOTH , Bank 2 or OFF display and AMPS values changed. So Manual that came with unit did not address these in details, more so how to install and setup. So I will search internet this weekend to see how to properly use this unit. But I believe I read it's fully automated to work out of the box. I did change to AGM battery type. But not sure if I was suppose to select bank 1, bank 2, Bank 3 or how to select and set each to AGM. Again I need to figure these out. Meantime after 4-5 hours though I was able to turn on the light, etc in the boat while switched to BANK 2. So it is charging, because when I got there this morning BANK 2 was dead and nothing was turning on. Anyway I thought I would update here today. Next week hopefully I will be back there with more knowledge on the unit.

Your setup and install seems fine, not much to do on these except apply line power, connect the leads to the batteries and select battery type. Battery selector switch should not affect which battery gets a charge as the 3 leads going to each battery should have a direct connection to the battery or unswitched side of the selector. My gut feeling is your battery #2 is simply completely gone and needs to be replaced. The battery type setting applies to all 3 outputs and cannot be set to charge different battery chemistries to different outputs.

If you used the wiring that was there from factory, each charge wire is probably going through a breaker. Look for those breakers and ensure they're ON. If you have a battery selector switch under one of the steps, that's usually where these breakers are.

Don't leave the battery selector switch on BOTH, if you do, you're defeating the charger's 3 bank isolation feature. "BOTH" combines the 2 banks, so as far as the charger is concerned, there's only one bank when the switch is at "BOTH".

Ya.....the factory set up is thru the breaker panel to the 1/2/all switch.
Open up the panel and check the wiring behind attaching to the breakers and the switch....by the sounds of what you said earlier there may be a broken wire/cable end or bad connection.

They really pack that stuff in there, lots of tension....it is not uncommon for a break there.

Yeah they were super short and packed in for sure. The area where the batteries and charger are tough for me to fit conformable in. I ended up learning some yoga moves yesterday to be able to get the old one out and put the new one in
After an hour of work in there, I couldn't straighten out for an hour
Yeah I think they are all OK now, My safety this morning was to check cameras on the boat, since I can view them that's a good sign Maybe I should add a camera in there as well... I will make sure I leave the switch on #2 from now on.

Bud, in regards to battery, it is brand new, just got it at beginning of the season. But I think it did drain completely. Looks like it did finally charge some before I left. So next time I am out there I'll see if the indicator shows full hopefully.

Has anyone installed the ProNautic 50amp or 60amp on a carver 356? Trying to figure out how to permanently mount it. I like to mount it vertical, so can be viewed easily. but existing wiring was a bit short, so I need to keep it on left of the original shelf over battery well. But also need to add 3x60amp fuse to 3xbatteries. they are about 6 inches x 6 inches. I will work something out, but was wondering if some one else already did, if I could see a picture of it so I did not have to redesign new shelving.

Sorry can't help with that specific location.....but would like to comment on it. Ideally the charger should not be installed above a battery bank to avoid the off gassing corroding the charger. I believe that warning is in the install instructions. Perhaps you could just lengthen the existing cable remembering to size the cable appropriately.

Bud thanks. Again not sure about this but I am assuming the original was made by factory (I could be wrong). I think it's original shelving with original charger, that's where it was. And there is really not much room there to be honest to be picky with spot selection Also keep in mind there is a plywood cover over the batteries location, which is used as flooring when you enter that section of the engine room.