Bad battery switch?

[RickLentz]

Hi everyone,

I originally posted this question in the Century forum, but since its not century specific I think i will get more feedback here.

I searched for this first and found nothing close to what my problem was.

When I turn my battery switch and/or charger switch off I still get full power to my boat. I can start the motor, play some music, whatever. My switch seems to have no effect on the power system for the boat.

It is a 2008 Century 2301, and I just picked it up last week. When I went through it prior to buying I had no reason to check that the power was not still on with the battery switch off. Could it be a bad switch? Improper wiring? I hate to have to replace something on such a new boat, but will do so in a heartbeat.

Any ideas?

 

[Greg Mrozinski]

Re: Bad battery switch?

Ricki,

Are you sure you only have one battery switch? Do you have two batteries? Does the switch have multiple settings (i.e Off, 1, Both/All, 2)? The charger should be wired directly to the battery terminals so having it on or off has no bearing on the battery switch.

 

[RickLentz]

Re: Bad battery switch?

Greg, thanks for the quick reply. The top switch is labeled battery and it only has on and off positions. The bottom switch is labeled charger and has the same on and off positions. On my other boat it had the 1, 2, both, and off positions which I was familiar with. This one has me stumped. I will try and post a picture when I get home tonight and see if that helps.

 

[Greg Mrozinski]

Re: Bad battery switch?

Sounds good. Do you have only one battery? I have never seen the charger wired through a battery switch. Did it come like that from the factory? If so what does the owners manual say about the battery and charging?

 

[RickLentz]

Re: Bad battery switch?

Sorry about that, i kind of glanced over a pretty impoirtant question. There are two batteries, and I will scour the manual when I get home from work. I am guessing it came from the factory this way since everything else on the boat is stock. Hopefully when I go through the owners manual CD it will answer any questions I have (but doubt it) .

 

[Robbabob]

Re: Bad battery switch?

I would guess the previous owner "tried" to rig it properly, but didn't actually do so. Pull them off the mounting surface and check the wiring.

I'd go with an ACR if you are going to replace the battery switch.

 

[cr2k]

Re: Bad battery switch?

Are there any wires connected to the Battery other then the cable to the Batt Sw or from the charger? If so they should be moved to the other side of the Batt Sw. It may just kill the cable to the starter.

Anything other then the Charger and cable to the switch should be hooked to the FAR side of the Batt Sw. If things are hooked to the same terminal that the battery cable is it is the same as hooked to the batt.

With the Sw off check for voltage on the far side of the switch, if you have 12v there it is either from a bad switch or back feeding from another source. Pull All off the far side of the sw and then check. This will determine if it is the sw or not.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Bad battery switch?

2 on/off switches and 2 batteries, right?

Goofy as it would seem, it would appear to me that the PO probably wired each battery to the starter through a separate on/off switch. One labeled "charger" so when that switch is flipped it will charge the second battery. The other switch labeled battery so when it's flipped the start battery is connected to the starter. Both switches would do essentially the same thing, though the "charger" switch would be used for the house battery, to charge it back up again. It would have been easier to do it with an 1, 1+2, 2, OFF switch, but maybe he added the second switch later.

I could be wrong as there isn't a pic yet.

If I'm correct about the switch wiring, what gauge of wire did they run to the "charge" switch, thick battery cable or thin wire? Thin wire for the "charge" circuit could be very bad, need to see some pics of how it's wired though.

 

[RickLentz]

Re: Bad battery switch?

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Sorry for the delay. And for some reason I thought backup said charger. Hope this will help with the ideas.

The batteries (2) are in the head and only have the thick pos and neg cables on each battery, they run from there to the switch in the transom area and its all hidden in the gunwales of the boat. Tomorrow when I have daylight again I will pull the switches off and see if I notice anything that doesnt look right.