Electrical bugs

[boatymcboatface]

Hi,
I have 2010 Ranger tug R29 with some electrical issues. But they are getting better the more time and money I throw at them.Recently replaced rotary switch to change between shore, investor and generator power. But I still have an issue with my battery charger breaker tripping while on shore power works fine while using generator. One other issue is the thruster generator battery don’t charge and the ACR is blinking slowly with a green light. How do I fix the battery charger from tripping and how do I charge the thruster/generator battery.

 

[Red Raven]

This may help regarding your ACR.

https://www.bluesea.com/products/7610/SI-ACR_Automatic_Charging_Relay_-_12_24V_DC_120A/FAQ

If your thruster battery is below 9.5 volts you will need to get charged above 10 volts before the ACR will close. If your battery charger is working under generator power then that would be the easiest way to do it.

Regarding the other issues I’d start by getting my multimeter out and measure the Shore and Battery current draw when you switch to shore power. Then check all the wiring to the rotary switch. The symptoms still point to the wiring around that rotary switch since I assume from your post that is when the charger breaker trips.

Curt

 

[boatymcboatface]

The breaker was tripping before the rotary switch was changed. I

 

[Red Raven]

Understood. I’ll try again. Does the charger breaker trip when the rotary switch is moved from the Generator position to the Shore position? If so, some sort of wiring issue related to the shore position that could cause the battery charger to overload is the culprit. Pretty unlikely, I’ll agree.

Based on your initial post I am assuming your battery charger “runs fine” and the battery charger is charging the batteries while the rotary switch is in the generator position and the generator is running?

Curt

 

[boatymcboatface]

Hi,
No it does not trip switching from generator to shore power. When in shore power the battery charge can work from 1 minute to 30 minuets but the charger ramps up and fans come on and it seems its asking for more power than the boat can supply.

 

[Red Raven]

Sorry, if the battery charger does not show the same limitation in the generator position, I have nothing else to offer. Perhaps someone with the same combination of boat, battery charger, and generator can respond.

Curt

 

[C Folly]

I had similar symptoms with my Promariner charger. It would ramp voltage up over 16 volts and go into a fault-charge-fault iteration which would eventually trip the GFCI on the shore power. When ACRs see 16 volts they disconnect and the LEDs flash. Solution was to replace the charger in the boat. I disassembled the faulty charger but didn't find anything wrong. Interestingly it has been working fine on the bench in the shop.