2001 30' Marlin Auxiliary Battery Problems

[CapeMay Grady Marlin]

I purchased a mint condition 2001 30' Marlin. The boat did not come with the Generator or AC option. I am having problems with my two auxiliary batteries dieing after 4-6 hours with nothing but the Fridge and my Furmo GPS/Plotter running. When I leave port I have checked and I had 13.2 volts. Shouldn't the engines charge these batteries while underway as it looks like they arent connected in this manner. Is this a common issue and what is the best way to fix this? :?:

 

[mskulick]

Sounds to me like you need to have the batteries load-tested. At 13.2V, they are fully-charged (by the on-board charger) when hooked to shore power. Are you saying they are dying while underway, or dying at anchorage with the engines off?
Regards,
-Mike

 

[CapeMay Grady Marlin]

Post subject: 2001 30' Marlin Auxiliary Battery Problems

After disconnecting from shore power my Furmo plotter that runs off the two aux batteries indicates the voltage is 13.2 volts. While underway I have FURMO Radar, FURMO Sounder-Plotter and an installed fridge and a ICOM VHF. Now I have been hitting the Cape May Reef which is about 8NM offshore. Once there I shut everything down but the fridge and sounder/plotter. I spent abput 6 hours drifting andmoving back and forth across the reef during this time. At the end of 6 hours I fired all the gear back up that I noted above and half way back to port I end up with two dead wired in parallel aux batteries. This has happened to me the last two trips.

I spoke to the guy I bought the boat from and he owned it for 5 years and always had this problem he ended up taking a small generator with him or a small set of jumpers and would jump the aux batteires to one of his main engine batteries. Just doesnt seem this would be right expecially for a Grady? But then this is all knew to me as I only had a small 18 footer I trailed around prior to moving up to this.

 

[sickday]

Try shutting down the fridge bvefore u leave port. I dont use my fridge at all for fear that I might drain my batteries. Seems like a lot to ask of for those two battereries. Even under way, when using all those electronics (especially radar) the on board charger prob. cant keep up with the drain loss. I've noticed significant drain loss when running with my radar on coupled with everything else. But generally, they charge right back when running fast, with non essential electronics off.

Built in generator might be on the long distance horizon for me.

Hope this helps

Matt

 

[CapeMay Grady Marlin]

I'll try that, the issue is it doesnt look like the Engines provide any charge to the Aux Batteries is that possible? I would think that at least something would feed teh Aux batteries but the original owner did not think so and looking at the wiring diagram in the Marlin Owners manual it's to high level to determin anything other than you have 4 batteries.

 

[sickday]

I doubt Grady wired the boat in manner that doesnt allow for the house batteries to get recharged by the engines. The Marlin has 3 independent electronic systems (in a sense) One for each engine and one for the house electronics. I've drained my house batterries down several times and recharged them while running. I cant comment on how yours is set up, but mine is a factory set up and it works great. I have 3 batterry switches; one fore each engine and one for the house batts. Per the dealer where I bought my boat, I run each engine battery off of its own batterry (port engine to batt. 1 and sb engine to batt 2. The house batts have a simple on/off switch. I ALWAYS turn them off when not in use. The charger should do its job if its working the way its supposed to.

Another thing to consider; if the batteries are dry or dead, they might not be taking a charge from your engines or not holding a charge etc. I ran into this prob. with dry house batteries. The shore power charger will work overtime to charge a dry batt. and can poss. kill or weaken your other batteries, while never even charging the battery that needs it most because it can't if it doesnt have water.

try charging your batts with the engines only, not the shore power and see what happens. Or have your batts checked. Not a small or cheap task

hope this helps

good luck

 

[BobP]

Fridge is only about 5 amps or so (and that's during compressor run time). Can't be so.

Need to install an ammeter and see what's happening, voltage is only half of it.

May have some bad (loose/corroded)connections.

 

[CapeMay Grady Marlin]

Thanks I will give that a try. I actually thought about that but the connectors all look really clean and kind of disregarded this. Still is a good idea. Steve

 

[reelserious]

How old are the batteries? If they have been on the boat 4 or 5 seasons and not well maintained then it is definately time to replace them.

I would agree with the above posts also that factory rigged, the motors should be recharging them when running. The other consideration is that if your starting batteries are old then your engines might be spending all their charging efforts trying to charge them and not getting to your house batteries as much as is necessary.

 

[CapeMay Grady Marlin]

When I bought the boat in November I was told that the bateries were only a year or two old. I had the boat inspected and had this confirmed although physically I have not verified this myself. The Batteries, compartment and bilge area is spotless. I think you have hit a spot and I think that for some reason the batteries are not wired as they should be from the factory and the engines Yamaha Saltwater Series II, OX66 250 HP are not charging the aux at all. Each engine battery also is almost new and I have had no problem in cranking the engines when the batteries are selected to "both" or #1 for the Starboard Engine and #2 position for the Port Engine.

I guess my biggest question to everyone that owns a Grady is from the factory are the engines meant to charge the Aux Batteries while underway? I can tell you the installed battery charger is charging all 4 batteries so it would seem that all 4 are connected in some manner. Its just the owners manual for the boat does not get down into this level of detail. Steve

 

[BobP]

You can have a "load test" conducted on the batteries. Voltage doesn't mean battery is capable. Same voltage can be found on a tiny 12V electric start lawn mover/snow blower.

Just take it in and let the pros take care of it. Doesn't seem like you are so inclined as a DIYer, neither was previous owner or just couldn't be bothered with it and used bagged ice.

Refrigerator can run a few days without any charging whatsoever, either from motor or dock charger.

Last time I saw photos of a Marlin Battery setup, there was 4 batteries, palleled in pairs right at the terminals, don't see how you call either an aux (no-motor start) battery. But that's another story.

 

[saltypup]

Have you looked to see if the charging wires from the engines are actually connected to the battery? In addition to charging your start batteries there are leads from the engines that should be connected to house batteries and yes they should charge while underway. Sounds like they are not connected. It's a small space back there but crawl in and chase your leads down or hook a meter up to battery with engines running and make sure your getting proper voltage. Just put the meter on a start battery, check voltage, then move it to the house battery and it should be the same (somewhere around 14 volts). If your house(aux) battery is reading at its previous voltage it's not getting charged so then chase the leads down. You'll probably find them laying back there not connected to anything.

Chris

 

[gerrys]

If they're dying while you are running you obviously have a charging issue. Time to check the wiring out to insure you're set up to charge both banks. In many marlin setups, there are two banks of two batteries each. Then running one batt switch on #1 and the other on #2 would leave one motor to charge one bank and the second motor the other.
I think it's time to trace out your wiring and draw out your circuits so you know what you have.

 

[CapeMay Grady Marlin]

I totally agree with tracing out the wiring it has to be done. I put a 100 miles on the boat fishing 12 hours yesterday and for this trip I did not use my fridge. The voltage on the Aux bank never dropped below 12.2 volts and stayed between 12.4 to 12.2. I ran my Furmo Plotter/Sounder the entire time and cycled my Furmo Radar on and off most of the day, I also discharged my holding taking and the toliet was used. As such it seem slike the system cant handle the fridge?

I guess the main question I still have is does anyone if the Aux Batteries are "suppose" to be wired such that they are charged from the engines during operation?

 

[saltypup]

YES the aux battery is supposed to be charged. Read previous post. There are two charging leads off each engine. On each engine, one lead should be to the start battery and one to the aux battery. if you only had one aux battery then both extra leads to the aux battery. Look at your aux battery"s positive terminal and see if there is a wire coming from the same bundle(from engine) that is hooked to your positive on your start battery. Or start the engines and hook a meter to the aux battery and check the voltage. Those alternators put out somewhere near 14 volts. You should read that with the engine running. If your not there, either the charge lead is not hooked up or your charging wire is does not have continuity. If your reading around 14 volts then your batteries are not taking a charge but i doubt thats the case because they charge at the dock. There's many ways to chase this cat down but it sounds to me your charging leads from engines aren't hooked up to the aux batteries. Again,YES you should be charging aux batteries with engines running. There are two leads from each engine. One from each engine goes to a start battery the other to an aux battery. Your aux battery should be charging with the engines running.

 

[CapeMay Grady Marlin]

Thank you so much, I was going to climb down there today and look at the wiring because this is what I would of thought also. I really appreciate everyones input as this really helps narrow the troubleshooting before trying to squeeze myself into the bilge. Also it's funny because this looks like an error carried forward as the previous owner tha tI have talked to a number of times and keeps his new boat at the same dock was really confident the engines were not connected in any way to the aux batteries which made no sense to me.

 

[soundman]

One More Thing

House battery's should be deep cycle house/trolling motor battery's not start or dual purpose. A house battery will have a lot more amp hours to run many electronics.