Mahalo made it through Irene but batteries.....

[zinbaad]

With Irene coming up fast it was recomened to either haul Mahalo or move out to a mooring with a 400lb mushroom & 7/8 samson tie, I chose the mooring. Was quite nervouse in regards to tieing up only to one forward cleat fearing the single just might not hold but all turned out well. Outriggers, antenae an anything loose stored up in cabin worked fine.... Ewww the damn seagulls left some surprises around but all went well
Since have Mahalo these last three season, with shore power, I have had zero battery issues.
After boarding at the morring I tried hosing bird poo wit washdown & only gat a drip. Realized house battery was down some so tried cranking Genny,,, tic tic tic, so moved on to reve up both diesels which powered up immediatly. after running in neutral for some time tried genny again, tic tic. so I decided to run to the fuel dock an run engines for about an hour. Same deal, genny tic tic.
All along I had assumed all batteries were charged up by alternators but I am not sure. It seems the Genny installer hooked power only to house batteries without swithover which would leave me without the ability to charge house batteries with a dead genny.
Wondering, shouldn't the alternators be charging all batteries?
Should the genny have the multi switch to utilize other batteries aboard?
or are house batteries usually only charged by shore power?
I believe I have 3 large AGC dry cell type batteries

[jleonard]

My Genny has it's own battery. A group 24. It is only charged when the genny is running by the genny alternator. My ex boat was set up that way also. I never had an issue.
The backup plan calls for me digging out my 25 ft jumper cables if necessary.

[DougSea]

The battery for Sonny IV's new generator only powers the generator, and is charged when the generator is running or when on shore power.

How your alternators are wired up s anyone's guess. I'd blame Albin for not following a standard, but I don't think there IS a standard when it comes to how House batteries are charged. I do think you should investigate adding a dedicated generator battery.

Glad to hear you came through the storm ok! Were going to try and get on the water this weekend, will stay close to home and watch for debris on the way. Probably head down to Ziglers Cove off of Darien and have a picnic lunch. I need some underway time!

[RobS]

Ed, Sounds like time to do some investigating with a voltmeter and figure out what charges what (eingines on/off, battery charger on/off, etc.) and check, clean, tighten all connections while you're at it. You should carry either jumper cables or a jump pack aboard. I left a msg on your cell right after Irene to see how things went.

The seagulls sure loved the moored boats with the bright which hardtops. When I was looking at TOY-RIFIC she was a moored boat. I thought the hardtop was made of bird poop, I was pleasantly suprised to find fiberglass under there!

[zinbaad]

Thanks Rob for the call. Sorry I didnt get back to you, bit of confusion in the shop & yes I will have to get someone down to understand a bit more about the charging system.