Battery switch issue

SkunkBoat

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It appears your stbd switch is bad. It is connecting to Both banks all the time. Remove the connections and test with an ohm meter.


I am wondering if the fuse panel is being "fed" by one of the connections. Fed by the Port battery. What does the lit fuse feed? Remove the wire going to that.

That would possibly make it look like the stdb switch is always connected to both.

 
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Diad

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This description isn't correct fort Port switch... I see the Batt2 and #2 jumper on 2 and motor on Feed..... unless the switches are different with lugs in different positions...that would explain
This description isn't correct fort Port switch... I see the Batt2 and #2 jumper on 2 and motor on Feed..... unless the switches are different with lugs in different positions...that would explain shit.....
I see what you are saying here. You are probably correct assuming that the switches are the same. I took the middle lug as the feed as interpreted from the drawing. However, you are probably right that it’s the same switch as the other side. This one is not labeled batt2 like you can see in the picture. That’s probably how I got confused.
 

Diad

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It appears your stbd switch is bad. It is connecting to Both banks all the time. Remove the connections and test with an ohm meter.


I am wondering if the fuse panel is being "fed" by one of the connections. Fed by the Port battery. What does the lit fuse feed? Remove the wire going to that.

That would possibly make it look like the stdb switch is always connected to both.
Stay tuned….have family stuff today but will try to get to the boat early this week. Thank you!
 

seasick

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No I don’t. I don’t actually start the motors because the lowers are off and no hose hook up. When I test for start I just hit it to hear if the starter turns.
That's good enough
 

DennisG01

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Thanks for that info - it is very helpful to clarify things for us.

Look closely at the switches (back side) - they should be labelled. Verify everything is connected to the correct lug. You can temporarily eliminate the swtich by removing cables from the switch and simply connecting cables together with a bolt/nut. You can put them all together to simulate "both" or you can select which ones to combine to simulate "#1" or "#2".

You said there's a wire running from the breaker to what appears to be a ground stud on a battery? THAT shouldn't be. The breaker doesn't use a ground wire. IT SHOULD BE... a wire from the "both" stud on the switch to the breaker and then the breaker to the fuse panel.
 

SkunkBoat

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I have stared at your pix and the switch & battery connections look correct for a 265. I don't see any "extra" connections to the batteries in your pix.
Oh...Is your charger plugged in?

You have some kind of power when the Stbd switch is off. Enough to light things and make the Stbd key beep but not turn the starter.
This also happened even when you had no battery connected on the stbd side.
You must be getting power from Bank 2 but it doesn't appear to be the full power of Bank 2 or you could start the STbd motor.
The state of charge is not known.
The Port Bank 2 connects to pin #2 of the Port switch and then over to the stbd side thru a jumper from #2 to #2.

Disconnect the Bank 2 at the battery and verify that Stbd motor and House only work when the stbd switch is on #1.

I would test the stbd switch with an ohmeter to rule it out. Shake it. Does it rattle?

I am confused by your statement that the LIT fuse is not blown. Thats not supposed to be possible. How do you KNOW that it is not blown?
The fuse part is 0 ohms and across the LED. So it should not light because there is no voltage drop across the LED. Possibly there is some voltage from another source on the wire connected to the fuse.
 

Diad

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I made it to the boat this evening for a couple of hours. Not much progress. I had to make templates for New Wire marine since that will take about 6 weeks to come back. Also, ordered all of the electronics today, full Garmin suite. Man, that was expensive!!!
Anyway, I tried the meter on the switch and everything looked fine. I took some notes on various configurations but I want to double check because they don’t make sense. The fuse wire still is important in this problem. I don’t know exactly where it goes yet. Only that it Is 16awg, red in color and goes along with a black wire in flexi conduit thru the hole to the right of the fuse panel. In looking at the wire diagram in the owners manual the only red\black wires should be the windlass but those are 10 Awg. When it is fused annd both battery switches are off, you can still turn on the switches at the helm. Remove the wire from The connector annd no more power to the switch panel. also, while studying the wire diagram I learned that the three green wires that are on a single terminal ring on the battery are the fuel grounds. I just got a 285 40A breaker to replace the red button so I’ll get back to it soon.
 

SkunkBoat

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Yep the three green wires are OEM Grady. If your gauges and bilge pumps act up its because you dropped that bundle out of site.

Sounds like my suspicion is right about getting power from that wire on the fuse.
Somehow that wire is already being fed from the Pos terminal block. Disconnect it. See if everything else works correctly

You have a windlass? Where is the switch and where is the breaker?
Is the windlass fed only by 10awg red and black in the anchor locker?
Is it all coming from the dash switch panel?
Or did someone add a heavier feed and a solenoid?

IMO you shouldn't run a windlass off the house feed..with 10awg...from a panel switch...thats a f'ing disaster waiting to happen

Mine did not have a windlass. I added a capstan but I fed it with 6awg all the way back to the port battery thru its own switchable breaker.
I use a footswitch to a solenoid to control it. I'll be adding a momentary switch at the dash this spring.
 
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Diad

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Im pretty sure it’s a factory installed windlass. breaker and switch are to the right of the helm. Power comes from the bus bar It looks like.
 

SkunkBoat

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I think that wire on the fuse is misplaced. It has 12V on it. The other end is probably connected to a hot pin(middle two) on a switch.
Somehow it is getting power not feeding power.

Normally, Things fed by the fuse panel are not switched on the dash switch panel. They are a stand alone switch or have an On/Off switch, like electronics or a cabin light.

Normally the dash panel switches are fed by their own breaker on the switch panel. The breakers are all fed by the same 10awg orange or red wire that jumpers from one to the other.


Are you sure there is no feed for the windlass from the port side batteries? I don't see an extra set of wires but you said you had some type of power even when the stbd batteries were disconnected. Maybe you had the stbd switch in both or 2 at the time?
If you turn OFF stbd and disconnect the Port batteries entirely, does the fuse still light? Thats a way to rule out the port side as the source of the power.
 

seasick

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On MyOtherBoat, the windlass is fed from the fuse block but directly to the 12v accessory feed From there is goes to the dash mounted Lewmar breaker. The older windlasses in many cases did not draw nearly as much current as some of the newer models and therefore direct feeds off of the batteries were not needed.
 

Diad

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Guys,
My problems seem to have gone away by removing that wire on the fuse panel. I cannot find where it leads to and I have zero idea of what I am missing by not having it plugged in. I have since replaced the fuse panel from OEM to the BlueSeas 12 slot panel. This is so that i can accommodate all of the electronics (which are here) when the New Wire panels get here. I changed out the 40A red button breaker. Not sure how that thing still worked it was so rusty. I do need to get back to the battery switch but for now, i'm going with it because i can turn everything off and i can turn everything on including the motors. Speaking of the motors, they are being put back together because we can't get the parts for the exhaust corrosion. They may take until Winter to get so we'll deal with that then. It doesn't look that bad as of yet so hopefully another 100 hours doesn't break anything. I appreciate all of the help.
 
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SkunkBoat

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Have you measured the voltage on that disconnected wire. Is it full 12 volts?
Is it there when both battery switches are Off?
If so, could it be the Memory 12v (normally Red/Pink) or a Bilge pump Manual wire (normally Brown)?
What happens if you pull those fuses?