Battery drained

[green]

I appreciate all of the battery advice. I’ll apply these troubleshooting ideas once I resolve the water issue.

I emptied the standing water and then emptied the ballast this morning. So far no new water while at the dock.

I talked with Todd today about an order and asked about this issue. He also said a ballast leak would be very rare and seconded the idea of coloring the water when I refill the ballast tomorrow.

As others have mentioned, the drop in water level could be air pockets moving around.

More soon.

[green]

Turns out I do have a leak in the ballast, located in the battery compartment. After draining the ballast and waiting a day, I filled it at the dock and immediately noticed the leak.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sF5WidJTxWDgCvMu7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2zH3mszLMWUCWHdL8

Anyone have experience repairing something like this?

[Russ]

Wow!!

That appears to be a perfect hole. Perfect as if it was drilled.

Do I see the battery box is bolted down into the bottom of the hull? Perhaps the PO drilled a hole for battery boxes and abandoned the holes without realizing they went into the ballast tank.

You certainly found the issue. Now, I'm guessing you will need dry, clean and epoxy that hole.
Maybe even inspect the battery mounts if they are bolted in. I would want to undo any holes drilled into the ballast tank. A bolt could vibrate loose and begin leaking also.

I have to believe the PO knew there was a leak and perhaps didn't understand how it was created or where it was coming from. Wow, that is an obvious leak.

[green]

I was floored to find it. Yes, I think it comes from bolting the battery box. Good advice to inspect the other ones. Now I know why the battery on the left can move around while the battery on the right is fixed in place.

I read on this forum that Marine Tex is something I could use to fill the hole. Then maybe fiberglass over top? I'll need to watch some youtube if glass is needed.

[dlandersson]

Wait till you get the bill

I appreciate all of the battery advice. I’ll apply these troubleshooting ideas once I resolve the water issue.

[LordElsinore]

Good find! Good luck with the repair. With a hole that size I think you'd be fine with a scuffing up the area a bit, cleaning it up with some alcohol, and then filling it with some epoxy. Fiberglassing would work too, and would be a nice introduction to it if you've not done it before. If you go that route, be sure to use polyester-based resin since that's what our boats were made of

[Russ]

Good find! Good luck with the repair. With a hole that size I think you'd be fine with a scuffing up the area a bit, cleaning it up with some alcohol, and then filling it with some epoxy. Fiberglassing would work too, and would be a nice introduction to it if you've not done it before. If you go that route, be sure to use polyester-based resin since that's what our boats were made of

^^ This is what I would suggest.

Oh man, imagine if the hole had been outside the ballast tank THROUGH THE HULL?

As for mounting anything to the hull, I have found luck with silicone caulk. I "glued" a piece of wood to the hull with gobs of silicone caulk, then mounted a washdown pump to the wood. Also helps absorb some vibration.

That battery box is nice to have as long as it's not BOLTED to the hull. I'd take it out and fill all the holes with epoxy and then "glue" it back with silicone caulk.

Your instinct was correct about the ballast water. Again, factory leaks are rare. That's a deliberate hole.

[green]

Ok, hole patched

Scheduled marine electrician to see about replacing panel

Disconnected everything from problem battery and tried charging all day with noco genius

Charge status never got above <25% indicator (lowest) and battery only reads 8v and change. Battery tester says it’s too low to test but I did anyway and the result says it’s a bad battery.

I’m hesitant to charge agm in repair mode based on comments here and online so I pulled the battery and will head to the store.

Getting somewhere but wondering if I’m going to toss a battery that can be repaired.

[Russ]

Battery seems to be 3 years old. If it failed you found your issue. Warranty? Maybe west will replace it.

You also fixed the leak. You are making headway. Good work

[green]

I had good advice!

[NiceAft]

What did you do to repair the hole? Many suggestions. Many solutions?

[green]

Your PO must have implemented the A/B/Both/Off switch to the outboard. From your photo, it looks like your battery switch allows you to start the motor and charge batteries from either battery but the house battery is connected to the panel.

Back to your question:

I have the Terminal Post fuse on the House battery positive ONLY. It's redundant as everything that connects to the house battery also has an inline fuse or the inline breaker for the circuit going to the switch panel.

My starter battery is isolated from the house
It has the main (thick) power cable to the outboard
a wire to the battery charger (with an inline fuse)
a wire to my combiner (inline fused).

My house battery has
a wire to the battery charger (with an inline fuse),
a wire to my combiner (inline fused).
a wire to my switch panel (inline circuit breaker)

OK, new battery purchased and installed. I'd like to check my setup and understanding if anyone still has patience left for these questions.



1. Which one is house vs starter?

Right battery (I think this is the house battery):

* converter/charger output goes to the (+) terminal
* (+)/(-) thick white wire that runs to a 700w inverter under the galley with nothing connected to it (assuming the PO connected a small coffee maker when needed)
* (+)/(-) thin black wire that runs to the water pump
* (-) thick black wire connected to (-) of other battery
* red wire from All/1/2/Off switch connected to (+)

Left battery (I think this is the starter battery):
* red wire from All/1/2/Off switch connected to (+)
* everything else...no connection to converter/charger

2. Which battery is 1 vs 2 on the switch?

I think the left battery would be 1 if it's the starter, but not sure

3. I have terminal fuse blocks but not the actual fuses. Which size fuse should I purchase?

The block is from Blue Sea, and they make 30-300a.

4. Where does the terminal block go?

Any harm in putting a block on the (+) terminals of both batteries? Should I do just the RIGHT one with the connection to the converter/charger?

5. Repairs to connections

One of my red wires to the switch looks like this. Is this a job for electrical tape, or leave it alone?

[green]

What did you do to repair the hole? Many suggestions. Many solutions?

I used Marine Tex epoxy and seems to have cured nicely.

[Russ]

From what I can tell, you are correct about which is which.

I see the thinner wires connect have inline fuses. That's good. Now what do they go to?

Starter Battery (left)
Heavy black probably goes direct to the motor. It's running aft so that's a clue.
The other heavy black is connected negative of both batteries.
Heavy read goes to A/B/All switch
What are the thinner wires going to? They appear fused.

House Battery (right)
We see 2 heavy (10 gauge or so) looks like marine wire going someplace.
I assume one to the charger and maybe the other to your switch panel.
Thinner inline fuse wire on each terminal. ???? have no idea.
Do you have a bilge pump? Often they are wired direct.

Red thick connector in the second photo looks corroded. I don't like the looks of that at all.
I would redo that connector using a good crimp tool or just buy premade cables like this. How far is the distance to the A/B/both switch?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F3 ... UTF8&psc=1
What do the other connectors on the A/B/All switch look like?

You may want to purchase some testing tools. I have a multitester on the boat.
Recently I bought one of these to install a remote starter on my son's truck.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094PZMBXY

It's a great tool for locating circuits. A multimeter will work also.


All of this is hard to do here in forum posts.
You are getting further in identifying circuits.
Maybe a good starting point is to physically trace down wires and label them. My batteries look similar and I need to label them else I have no idea what's what.

I've often found some youtube videos helpful to understand things.
Here's one I found. Haven't watched it through to see if it applies to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycTi1SLmods

[green]

Thanks! I have an electrician coming in the next two weeks to replace the panel. I labeled the wires I know, and asked him to help with the others (and repair some bad connections). I know all of the connections on the RIGHT (house battery), so that's a start.

I want to order one or two terminal block fuses (I only ordered the holders ), but I'm unclear about how to determine the size. I see they come in 30a-300a. Blue Sea has a calculator, but I'm not sure how to determine what goes in the input fields. Has anyone tried this calculator before, or have any general advice for determining fuse size?