House Accessories will not work without parallel switch

[Gratitude]

I put the boat in the water today and none of the house accessories would run. I had both Red Switches on which usually provides power to the whole system. The tug started just fine. It wasn't until I turned the parallel switch on was I able to power up my accessories. Berth lights, GPS, Marine Radio etc.

Any insights on this?

I thought the Parallel Switch was used to combine the thruster and engine batteries. Does it also back up the house?

 

[NorthernFocus]

Based on comments in previous thread about electrical issues it seems not all of the early model boats were wired the same. However, if yours is wired like my 2008 vintage and per the drawings, the parallel switch in the cave combines the engine and house batteries. Either way it sounds like your house battery was dead.

 

[Gratitude]

Found the problem. There is a thermo switch that is just ahead of the last fuse block if you were looking from stern to bow. (Under the port side removal step) I had to hit the reset. Unsure if it was tripped or whether I might have set something on the test button. At any rate back in business and good to know that there is a temporary work around if it does trip. Pleased it wasn't my house batteries.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Something must be wired wrong on your boat. If that breaker was open then the parallel switch should not have mad any difference. The breaker is supposed to be wired between the parallel switch and load terminal. If the breaker actually tripped due to a fault you probably wouldn't want to simply bypass it by closing the parallel switch. Might want to check that out.

 

[Gratitude]

Thanks Dan!

I agree it shouldn't work the way it does.

I will ask Andrew. I have one of the earliest boats and it was a steep learning curve but Ranger has never let me down.

 

[Ralf H]

Hi Gratitude, can you post a pic of the breaker that tripped? Dan makes a great point, but this may not necessarily be the case if the breaker is not in line with the crossover. The crossover is exactly that, it will bridge power between engine and house, so if you have any issues in one circuit, they can potentially be bypassed with this method. That's why it is important to check any faults on one side before switching in the other. My apologies if I don't have a clearer answer at this time, but the older systems require a bit more research for a newb like me 🙂

Thank you.

 

[Gratitude]

Ralf,

I have been waiting for three days to get a photo album so that I can post a picture of the thermal breaker.

It is a 100 Amphere Thermal Circuit Breaker
Identified as 1851000F


42 Volts DC Maximum
Ignition Protected
Waterproof.

The following is a link to the web page which pictures it

https://www.waytekwire.com/item/46985/B ... t-Breaker/

 

[Bruce Moore]

Ralf,

I have been waiting for three days to get a photo album so that I can post a picture of the thermal breaker.

Hi Gratitude - sorry for the delay, I missed the request. Your album has been approved and I've sent a PM with steps to set it up.

Cheers,

Bruce

 

[Gratitude]

Bruce - Thanks for the Photo Album and instructions!

For those who are interesting in seeing a picture of the thermal switch which opened on my 2008 Tug I now have a picture posted in my album. It has a simple reset and comes with a test button.

 

[Gratitude]

I was out all day today and the Thermal Switch did not trip which leads me to believe that I inadvertently hit the test button while placing my tiny folding chairs into the storage unit under the removal step.

The Blue Angels are flying in Seattle and it is an amazing site. I will be out tomorrow to see them again.

All house accessories were in fine working order.