Battery isloators

[Andy49]

Hi,
On our Sealine S28, I'm a bit confused about the electrics...
It looks from my quick (inexperienced as well) checks that the two isolator switches in the cockpit do nothing at all!
Everything seems to work quite happily with them both on or off which doesn't seem right to me as I guess this means the batteries cannot be isolated without physically removing the terminals on the batteries.
The wires all look to go up to the isolators and then return down to the starter / other circuits etc. but the switches can be on or off and all the lights etc. still work quite happily.

Any advice very welcome whether this is me not understanding the wiring or if someone has rewired things incorrectly etc.

Cheers,
Andy

 

[sarabande]

when you operate the isolators, do you notice any red lights on the charging circuits ? That is with the engine running of course.

If so, then this might be a problem as alternators much prefer to have work to do, than allowing all their output to go round and round inside the coils.

I'd verify by very close inspection where the leads go to before trying the switches again.

 

[VicS]

Hi,
On our Sealine S28, I'm a bit confused about the electrics...
It looks from my quick (inexperienced as well) checks that the two isolator switches in the cockpit do nothing at all!
Everything seems to work quite happily with them both on or off which doesn't seem right to me as I guess this means the batteries cannot be isolated without physically removing the terminals on the batteries.
The wires all look to go up to the isolators and then return down to the starter / other circuits etc. but the switches can be on or off and all the lights etc. still work quite happily.

Any advice very welcome whether this is me not understanding the wiring or if someone has rewired things incorrectly etc.

Cheers,
Andy

Its unlikely that both isolators would be faulty.
You need to check their wiring .

 

[halcyon]

Hi,
On our Sealine S28, I'm a bit confused about the electrics...
It looks from my quick (inexperienced as well) checks that the two isolator switches in the cockpit do nothing at all!
Everything seems to work quite happily with them both on or off which doesn't seem right to me as I guess this means the batteries cannot be isolated without physically removing the terminals on the batteries.
The wires all look to go up to the isolators and then return down to the starter / other circuits etc. but the switches can be on or off and all the lights etc. still work quite happily.

Any advice very welcome whether this is me not understanding the wiring or if someone has rewired things incorrectly etc.

Cheers,
Andy

Only solution is to remove panel with isolator switches in, or get in the engine bay and check the wiring.

I have come across a few boats with both power cables on the same terminal and battery charger on the other, instead of battery charger common.

Do you have mains charger on ?

Brian

 

[nigelmercier]

I had this problem on my boat. The isolators are in the negative, and someone had bypassed them with a ground wire and a 0V wire to the same device.

 

[NorthUp]

Have you another battery in the bows, perhaps running a bow thruster or anchor windlass but charged from the main batteries?