Roughy 0 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 Had a Tracker for about a year now and have just discovered that the battery set up is not as normal. No matter where the battery selector switch is set both batteries are in use, so switching the selector to Battery ! or Battery 2 or Both makes no difference. At least Off is Off! Is this necessarily a bad thing? Are there likely to be any problems associated with the set up? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nzgrant 19 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 Well i reckon its a bad thing. Reason being that keeping them seperate means the house load wont ever drag your start battery down so far that you cant start your engine. Unless you can and enjoy hand cranking your engine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,239 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 Yep, bad. Fix it... See above. The start battery should be reserved for starting only. It will eventually bite you otherwise. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 +1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
too_tall 15 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 Check it does not have a VSR which has failed. The VSR will charge the house and start batteries, but disconnect them when not charging. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 Good advice TT. I though about it last night and I came back to this post to state that and you beat me to it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
too_tall 15 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 More to the point for the OP and Wheels, a VSR ( or a DVSR - the modern equivalent ) can be used to manage a dual battery bank installation, be it a house/start pair, or a main/backup setup, whatever. Generally they are wired that the start battery is the main battery the alternators see, and whist voltage is over a certain level the house bank will get charged, I generally believe that in a cruising yacht they get installed with the alternators seeing the house bank and the start battery getting charged only when the engine is running as the house bank in a cruiser will have a FAR greater amount of coulombs to replace than a start battery which may have had a 500amp load on it for 3 seconds. On this note, I have been advised that the 1/2/both battery switches are actually quite a liability for alternators too - sometimes breaking the connection to the batteries totally between the switching points. Good way to kill regulators and alternators. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chloe 7 Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 Had a Tracker for about a year now and have just discovered that the battery set up is not as normal. No matter where the battery selector switch is set both batteries are in use, so switching the selector to Battery ! or Battery 2 or Both makes no difference. At least Off is Off! Is this necessarily a bad thing? Are there likely to be any problems associated with the set up? Over the years I have been on three boats where the battery switching thingy's have failed, the one on the boat I had in Tauranga caught fire. Since then I have instilled a single switch for each bank of batteries. Plus a third one that joins them together for charging etc. This way I control what happens and so far have not had any problems. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Roughy 0 Posted October 4, 2016 Author Share Posted October 4, 2016 Thanks for all the input. Had a look at the set up today and now I know about VSR's had a good look for one and could not find anything that looked like one. I guess I had better get a lecky to have a look at how to set the battery's up correctly. Ho hum more money!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
too_tall 15 Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 Most chandlers have BEP DVSR's - a good unit capable of switching up to 125 amp I believe. More than enough for most applications. Connect it via the ignition circuit so it disconnects as soon as the motor is turned off. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Abel Seaman 19 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 Thanks for all the input. Had a look at the set up today and now I know about VSR's had a good look for one and could not find anything that looked like one. I guess I had better get a lecky to have a look at how to set the battery's up correctly. Ho hum more money!! Please don't assume that all electricians know what they are doing! I work in industrial automation and control and employ industrial electricians. Our bane is (fully certified ) electricians who only have experience of wiring houses and cowsheds, but don't know the depth of their own ignorance in industrial situations. Similarly my main industrial electrical contractor who is hugely competent to wire an entire industrial site knows little about boats and marine wiring - and admits it. My own boat was rewired by an auto electrician for a previous owner. He had clearly never heard of tinned wire or corrosion.. Either learn what is required yourself or ask around for recommendations for competence before shelling out is my advice. Good luck. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 Please don't assume that all electricians know what they are doing! Amen to that. When we had our system inspected for the first time, way back when the new regs came in, the inspector had no idea how a Boat system worked re earthing in a Marine environment. I had to teach him all about it, then of course, I had to pay his bill for inspection, which really annoyed me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gisywaterboy 4 Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Hi there, can anyone tell me how to test if my VSR is working properly? I suspect that my house and start are intermittently connecting even when batteries are not in use. How should these units be wired up? I kind of like the idea of not having one at all and switching it manually to charge both but does the unit perform any other function other than just linking the batteries together for charging? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Can you describe a little more about your installation. House size and why exactly you think they may be intermittently connected? Of which they will be during charging of course.Oh and with the batteries disconnected, what are the measured voltages after a 24hr rest period. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gisywaterboy 4 Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Hi Wheels, I had a big chat with the very helpful guy at the battery centre at gulf harbour today and he schooled me on VSRs and how they work. Turns out mine is working fine, when testing them initially I had just charged them, voltage was 13.5 so batteries were connected as they would be in charging state. When later tested voltage had dropped to resting state, 12.9v so they were no longer linked. Its always good to learn how and why these things work. Thanks heaps for your time John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
too_tall 15 Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Depending on the VSR you can set them up to only ever link while the ignition circuit is powered - instant disconnection when the engine is turned off. A good way, IMO, to set them up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mattm 98 Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Too_tall - although I understand why that seems good, there isn't really any benefit, but there area few down sides. Firstly, there's no harm in the VSR staying on for a bit after turning the engine off. It won't allow your start bank discharged much by house loads at all, and typically it will turn off quickly, or once a load is switched on for very healthy batteries. Secondly, if you have other types of charging, shore, solar etc, the VSR won't turn on to charge the other bank while these things are charging, but the ign is off. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jon 360 Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 VSR's are a good simple way of connecting batteries for charging but you are pushing ergs through a diode and this reduces the flow to your house batteries. On my last yacht I setup a solenoid that connected the batteries, it was powered off a spare terminal on the alternator that only livened up once the alternator was up to speed so therefore didn't overload the engine on startup I also feed the freezer compressor and a small bilge fan off the same feed That way you didn't need to remember to turn it on or more importantly to turn it off if you go for a manual system Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beccara 25 Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 I dont think VSR's have diodes in them, I've measured no voltage drop across my bluesea one. Pretty sure it's just a sense line and a relay Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mattm 98 Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Jon - Vsr's don't use diodes. It's just a battery switch that is turned on and off by voltage level, not your hand. There is nothing more to it than your solenoid, other than that is it smarter about when it turns on and off. It also won't turn on when cranking the engine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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