Engine Battery Fuse Block Dead

[mlanger]

It seems that every time I leave the boat in the hands of someone else, something gets screwed up. This time it’s the engine battery fuse block.

I left the boat to go home and fetch my trailer for the long haul home. I was gone a little over a week. The yard I’m using to haul the boat out was told to perform a number of engine maintenance tasks. When I got back, I found the engine lid open about 4 inches, the hatch switch dead, and the engine battery voltmeter reading zero. I later traced this in the wiring diagram (page 30 in the R-29 manual) and realized that all three items on the engine battery fuse block – voltmeter, engine hatch switch, and stove switch – were dead.

The engine battery is turned on. The fuses are good. Turning on parallel power does not resolve the problem. Plugging the boat into shore power does not resolve the problem.

The mechanic claims he didn’t disconnect anything. He also claims that the engine lid switch was dead when he arrived. (No, I was not informed then, which was several days ago.) I find this extremely unlikely since I open the engine lid every cruising morning to check the situation in the bilge, the oil level, and the condition of the sea strainer. I had opened it the morning before I left. I have never had a problem with power to the engine lid cover.

I have to think that this is a simple problem with a simple solution. Has anyone experienced this and can shed some light on it for me?

I want to add here that I keep my boat in near pristine condition, fixing every problem I find as I find it. The boat is at a maintenance yard. If I had a problem, I would’ve added it to the list of items to be addressed while I was gone. I’m seriously pissed off that I was not told about this problem when it was discovered. But that’s something to gripe about to them, not you folks.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[Rode Trip]

Based on what I'm reading it sounds like a dead engine start battery. Did you put a voltmeter directly to the battery? Check voltage on the battery without shorepower/battery charger and then check voltage again a few minutes after starting charging. Could be the ACR was not allowing it to charge recently, or could just be a battery that shorted itself out. 2019 boat, is it an original lead acid or AGM battery? If so that's about the life expectancy.

 

[Brian John]

In addition a possible loose connection. Measuring voltage, start at the battery and work your way towards the fuse block. Check both sides of the battery disconnect switch.

 

[mlanger]

Based on what I'm reading it sounds like a dead engine start battery. Did you put a voltmeter directly to the battery? Check voltage on the battery without shorepower/battery charger and then check voltage again a few minutes after starting charging. Could be the ACR was not allowing it to charge recently, or could just be a battery that shorted itself out. 2019 boat, is it an original lead acid or AGM battery? If so that's about the life expectancy.

I suspect the mechanic is full of sh*t and he didn’t see the button to open the engine lid and he shorted something out while he was in there. He claims he knows what it might be, which gives me the idea he did something and doesn’t want to admit it. Of course he won’t troubleshoot with me over the phone, so I have to wait for him to come.

in answer to your questions, the battery is less than two years old and is a lead acid battery, as recommended. It has been working fine. I cruised nearly daily for several months, including about 4 to 5 days before he started work on the boat. I cannot imagine it simply going bad all of a sudden by itself, but then again, I don’t know much about batteries.

 

[mlanger]

In addition a possible loose connection. Measuring voltage, start at the battery and work your way towards the fuse block. Check both sides of the battery disconnect switch.

I’m going to leave the mechanic to do this. I don’t know enough about this to start messing around with a multimeter. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[mlanger]

Based on what I'm reading it sounds like a dead engine start battery. Did you put a voltmeter directly to the battery? Check voltage on the battery without shorepower/battery charger and then check voltage again a few minutes after starting charging. …

I also have to add here that checking the power on just the engine battery is going to be a real pain because of its location under the deck in a place that is not accessible. I really wish that Ranger had come up with a better design for the locations of the batteries. Not only are they very difficult to reach for maintenance and replacement, but having five batteries on the same side of the boat as two refrigerators, a stove, my water tank, and a few other heavy items causes the boat to list to port no matter how much I load on the starboard side.