House battery not charging from alt.

[Bobby I]

Hi tugnuts,
this is my first post so be gentle 😉 Just purchased 2008 21-EC from Marc at Wefings. First off, top rate service from Marc and his crew great people to deal with and very helpful. Trailered from Eastpoint FL to Occoquan VA with no problems what so ever, in fact, cruising at 75 mph, I sometimes forgot I was even towing it at all. I put her in the Occoquan Bay and ran it all week trying to get familiar with her and had the chance to test her out on water like glass and 2 ft. bay chop . . . no regrets!

Now my questions: I noticed the house battery drains down while running all day being charged from the engine alternator, if I plug in to shore power the battery become fully charged, is there an A/B/Both switch somewhere I'm missing? I know about only two battery switches one under the helm for house power and one under starboard berth for the bow thrusters, but they are both on/off not A/B/Both switches.

My second question, does the bilge pump switch need to be turned on at the accessory panel in order fo the bilge pump to work in automatic mode, I noticed that when I flip the on/off switch at the accessory panel the bilge runs constantly?

As you can see most of my questions deal with electrical is there any wiring diagrams available for an '08 on this site?

Oh BTW I read the post on cleaning the fresh water faucet aerator screen and that worked like a charm!


Thanks ahead of time,

Bobby I

 

[captain's cat]

Bobby I, there are wiring schematics HERE in the technical section.

C'mon down the river and visit us!

Charlie

 

[rustednail]

Hi Bobby I,

Congrats on your new tug!

Not sure about the battery charging issue you are having, I haven't experianced that on my '09. I have had to reset a breaker in the engine compartment a few times; its located on the front side of the board that devides the engine from the batteries. Not sure if that could cause your charging issue.

As for the bilge pump, if your '08 is setup like mine, there is an automatic switch mounted in the bildge just forward of the bilge pump, its not a float switch, but reather a water sensing type switch. To test if it functions automatically, there are two circles on one side(cannot be seen from deck, but can be felt as raised plastic rings). Place two fingers, one in each circle and hold for a few seconds; bilge pump should come on and run until you remove your fingers. The automatic switch on my boat is connected directly to one of the batteries and has an inline fuse on the positive terminal. The switch on the switch panel is fed power from the bus and will run the pump regardless of water sensor. I think it even bypasses the float switch altogether. Here's a link to johnson pumps ultimata switch http://www.johnson-pump.com/jpmarine/products/bilge/ultimaswitch.html

If you are ever in the Southern portion of the bay, look for me, as I will for you if I ever venture North.

--Bri

 

[mlull]

I had the same experience and it took me a long time to catch on to the problem on my '08 21. If yours has the automatic charging relay made by Blue Sea it may be that it was installed improperly. Go to the Blue Sea website and pull up a schematic on the charging relay and note the connections to the two batteries. These connections will likely be correct. Note also though the connection on the bottom of the relay that should be marked "ground" which should be connected to the negative side of the batteries. Mine was connected to the positive side by "someone" and the relay would not work. If that's your case, move the ground connection from the relay to the negative side of the batteries and your relay should then display a (dim) greenish light (you'll have to look hard) showing that the batteries are combined. This will show if you're hooked either to the charger or the alternator. Note also that there may be some delay before the batteries are combined on a charge, and that also if one of your batteries is discharged to a 10+ voltage level it will not combine them at all until the low battery is independently (seperately) charged. Again, it took me a long time to notice the problem and then to notice that the relay was improperly installed. In fact I thought the relay was probably defective, bought a new one and when starting the install noticed that the ground was routed to the positive side. Now I have a spare relay...
Hope this is your problem because it was an easy fix after studying the schematic and visiting on the phone with Andrew about the issue. You can also confirm the fix by using a voltmeter wherein the charges should be identical, in most cases, on each battery in charge mode (either charger or alternator). Also, there is a starting isolator connection and an LED connection on the bottom of the relay next to the ground. Ignore both, as Ranger apparently doesn't use the starting isolator feature and the LED connection is for a remote (dash mounted) LED.
Good luck!

 

[Bobby I]

Outstanding you guys,
This is a lot of great troublshooting info :idea: , I have it all printed out and ready for testing this Friday, with any luck I'll geterdone!

Again,
Thanks for the help.
Bobby I

 

[Bobby I]

Will keep you updated on progress.
Bobby I

 

[Andrew Custis]

Hello Bobby,

You are welcome to call me at anytime. I would be happy to go over some things it might be. There are alot of variables to this. Very straight forward to check and I can do it all over the phone with you. I am a fast talking schematic when it comes to these relays! 253-839-5213.

 

[mlull]

You're welcome Bobby I. I hope your fix is as simple as moving a wire. If that's the resolution, I'd be interested in comparing hull numbers just for fun. The 21's are really cool boats and you probably already have received a lot of attention from others wanting to know all about yours. Many think they're old boats that have been restored and are really surprised to find they're new. All the Rangers have great looks to them, but the 21 is just special. I'm confident you'll enjoy yours as much as we are ours.

 

[Bobby I]

Charging update, mlull and andrew, good call on my charging problem the charging relay had LED incorrectly connected positive to ground. I changed them around and all is charging well!!! Now I have bow thruster juice at the end of the day for docking ;-) life is good.

Thanks for all the input
Bobby I

 

[mlull]

Thanks for the update. It's a good feeling to know the house battery is charging while you're boating. Glad the fix worked. Wonder if any others were installed like ours...
Best wishes!