Sailfish 282 battery switch position

[KenR]

Just took possession of a 2002 282 Sailfish and am trying to get the battery switch position straight in my mind. The owner's manual is rather vague. It doesn't address the "Both" position at all. The boat has three new batteries in it and the single, (port side), battery went flat for no apparent reason. The yard where the boat lives now re-charged and tested it and all was good. The book says to run the starboard side batteries in the number one position and the port in the number two position so all get charged. The maintenance dept. where I bought the boat says, "Just leave them on both." At this point I'm not sure what to do to make sure all three are charging. I'd appreciate any input.
Thanks, Ken

 

[drbatts]

If I assume (always dangerous) that your 282 is set up similar to my 265 of the same year. My starboard battery switch is always on 1 for the starboard engine(#1) my port battery is always on 2 for my port engine(#2). If at anytime I want to start my port engine(#2) with my starboard battery then I can switch the starboard battery switch to position 2. I have a separate house battery for the electronics, fridge etc. Basically think of the number designations on the switch as the engines. i.e. #1 is the starboard engine # 2 is the port engine. I never put either of the switches on both. I have always been able to start the engines off of 1 battery or the other. Also check if your boat is new to you to make sure the specs on the battery match those of the engines. Hope this helps.

 

[DennisG01]

Guaranteed way to know... Monitor the voltage directly at each battery with the switches in various positions. With the engine(s) running you should see around 14 volts. With them off, somewhere in the mid-12 range. Various combinations of this routine will tell you everything.

Never switch to "off" while the engine is running.

 

[Legend]

I always keep starboard to 1 and port 2. If you have them on the both setting you could drain all 3 batteries if something was left running. By keeping them separate you should always have a least enough power to start one engine if your battery died. Once 1 engine is running you could flip to the both setting to start the second engine. Per the previous post never go through off when switching to the both setting

 

[Finest Kind]

My $.02 cents...

My Trophy Pro originally had 4 batteries.
Switched to 2 larger group 29 batteries on the recommendation of the installer to meet Evinrude's minimum cranking amp specs when I re-powered her with Etecs back in 2007.
Replaced the Group 29's once during the years between 2007 and 2016. (in other words got an average of 5 years out of each set of batteries)
Last Spring I just replaced the Group 29's and upgraded to 2 Group 31's. (better specs in same case size)

Since I bought the boat I've ALWAYS run my battery switches on "BOTH" and never had a problem.
I do not have shore power and never needed to charge the batteries other than during off season.

 

[anothertoy]

Hi. I have the same boat. The switches confused me until late last year when I had an electrician on board who clarified things for me. Essentially there are 2 battery banks; the two on the starboard side act as one and is the house bank (mine are deep cycle) and the one on the port side is for starting. Each switch controls one engine and the 1 and 2 denote the battery bank. So in theory, should have both on 2 to start as you are using the starting battery and when running makes sense to have one engine on 1 and the other on 2. When I am trolling, I switch to 1 for that engine to keep the house battery topped up.