Needed shore power breaker ON to start engine

[chapman7132]

Hi,
I tried to start the D3-150 today and nothing but a click. Shore power cable attached but breaker off. Turned shore power breaker ON and it fired up nicely. I just installed new batteries at end of summer. They are always on shore power and on charger. Obviously I need the engine to start without shore power. Any idea what might be wrong?
Randy

 

[Chimo]

So you left the boat running on the house batteries. No problem for a while if there is little or no draining. Was the house switch on or off? Were the engine and thruster switches off? If all were off then the only things draining the batteries are the bilge pumps, CO detector and a couple of other low load items. If the house switch was on, what breakers were on? Something like the fridge, even when it’s cold, has a pretty high draw. Did you leave lights on? Just asking.

When the engine wouldn’t start did you check what voltage you had on engine and house? The solar display will give you a good idea if you don’t have a battery monitor. Did you try the parallel switch? How have you left the boat now? If the shore power is off, go down to the boat and check the voltages before you turn anything on. Not a complete answer, I’m sorry, but some ideas as to where to start.

 

[CruisingElvinRay]

You did the right thing by disconnecting shore power BEFORE starting the engine. This, at least, clued you in to a battery/power issue. Imagine if you had started the engines on shore power, unplugged and set off to an anchorage! Could have been a VERY disappointing trip without a generator.

Obviously, there is an issue with your starter battery. Hard to diagnose without knowing how the charger is currently connected. Is it possible the batteries were not connected properly when they were replaced?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[chapman7132]

Thanks folks...my next step is going to be to clean the ground connections to the engine block (and starter?) and use electrical grease or vaseline on those connections as well as all the battery terminal connections. Now I notice that sometimes the engine start fails even with shore power on. But then on the next try the engine starts easily...really seems like a bad connection. Will try to update when i get this resolved.

 

[chapman7132]

I removed the battery connections to the engine battery and the ground connection to the engine block and applied vaseline and retightened and I am getting solid starts fully disconnected from shore power again.