Mikebat
Member III
I can't find my battery charger. It isn't in the engine compartment and it isn't behind the electrical panel. The batteries are located under the foot of the bunk in the aft cabin. Outboard to port of the battery compartment is a void with no access opening. Inside the battery compartment is a round access panel which gives access to the backside of the battery switch, but only if the batteries are removed. Looking through this access panel I can see the thick red and black cables from the switch going into the void. I think my charger is in this void, though I can't figure out if this is the factory location or not. It would have had to be installed before the bunk was installed.
The problem I have which makes me want to get at the battery charger is this: when on shore power, I have DC in the cabin for lights, instruments, etc. When disconnected from shore power, I have no DC in the cabin, but I have DC for starting the engine. While connected to shore power, however, I can run DC devices in the cabin, and if I draw a lot of current (stereo cranked loud) eventually the DC in the cabin will shut down. I can watch the battery voltage meters slowly dropping over a few hours until something (the charger I presume) shuts down the power to prevent undervoltage on the batteries. A few hours later, the batteries have recharged from shore, and I can power things from cabin DC again, and the batteries show a full charge, at least while shore power is connected and the charger is turned on. I get nothing if shore power is disconnected, or the charger is turned off. No DC, no voltage reading on the panel meters. I also get nothing when the engine is running and shore power is disconnected, although I have plenty of juice for starting the engine.
So it seems I can only draw power from my batteries when I am connected to shore power and the charger is turned on. If I draw more than the charger can replenish, I can deplete my batteries until I get a low-voltage shutoff. These symptoms all seem to point to the charger as the source or solution to the problem.
Now if only I could find it! The manuals given me by the P.O. say nothing about the charging system, except for a dangling wire diagrammed on the AC electrical drawing, which is labelled "To optional battery charger."
The problem I have which makes me want to get at the battery charger is this: when on shore power, I have DC in the cabin for lights, instruments, etc. When disconnected from shore power, I have no DC in the cabin, but I have DC for starting the engine. While connected to shore power, however, I can run DC devices in the cabin, and if I draw a lot of current (stereo cranked loud) eventually the DC in the cabin will shut down. I can watch the battery voltage meters slowly dropping over a few hours until something (the charger I presume) shuts down the power to prevent undervoltage on the batteries. A few hours later, the batteries have recharged from shore, and I can power things from cabin DC again, and the batteries show a full charge, at least while shore power is connected and the charger is turned on. I get nothing if shore power is disconnected, or the charger is turned off. No DC, no voltage reading on the panel meters. I also get nothing when the engine is running and shore power is disconnected, although I have plenty of juice for starting the engine.
So it seems I can only draw power from my batteries when I am connected to shore power and the charger is turned on. If I draw more than the charger can replenish, I can deplete my batteries until I get a low-voltage shutoff. These symptoms all seem to point to the charger as the source or solution to the problem.
Now if only I could find it! The manuals given me by the P.O. say nothing about the charging system, except for a dangling wire diagrammed on the AC electrical drawing, which is labelled "To optional battery charger."