Accessories power dead - ‘18 RZX2

[BrentB]

Launched the boat on Sunday (first time this year). Everything was working fine until the stereo suddenly stopped working then about 10 minutes later the screen died and the ballast pumps stop working (was in the process of draining the ballast, engine running). I used the manual switches to continue draining the ballast, but then that stopped working as well.

I then moved the battery selector switch to “combine” and everything worked fine. Finished draining the ballast and headed back to the dock.

My initial assumption was that my Deep Cycle battery was dead. I pulled it out tonight and tested it — 12.45 V. So it’s not dead.

Not exactly sure where to go from here to continue troubleshooting this. Any help would be appreciated. I have to figure this out myself as my local Tige dealer is 2 hours away and they’ve never been interested in servicing my boat since I didn’t buy it there.

Thanks.

[lee]

What was the voltage of the other battery?

[chpthril]

Lets set aside the terms deep cycle and cranking. The battery you pulled and tested at 12.45, are you sure it was the house bank? You can measure the voltage of each battery without pulling them.

Id want to know the static level of each battery and then the voltage of each with the engine running,

[BrentB]

Oh haha I just assumed the deep cycle battery was the “house bank.” I thought that’s how it always is. I’ll check the other battery tomorrow (dark out there now).

Thanks!

[Surf406]

Click your switch to 2 and run it all the time that way . Saves you problems down the road . This question comes up quite a bit and that usually works every time unless of course your batteries are bad but yeah my suggestion is run it in 2 all the time

[freeheel4life]

Battery likely tested good because after you switched to combine it started charging the house(deep) battery. Im guessing you have an isolator issue, or loose connection somewhere. Run it in position one and check battery voltage at screen.

[chpthril]

A couple things to clarify on a 2018 regarding the switch, its use and avoiding problems.

The Blue Sea Dual Circuit Switch does not have a "2" position, but rather an ON and COMBINE, along with OFF. I make this point because a traditional OFF/1/1+2/2 does have numbers. One will not find numbers on the DCP switch, which could cause some confusion. Running the switch in the combine position mechanically links the house bank to the main cranking bank, through the switch. This circumvents the isolator/combiner voltage relay. Doing so, runs the risk of draining both banks while at anchor.

I do not suggest running in the combine position for normal boat operation. Reserve it for an issue with the cranking bank or if you suspect an issue with the house bank charging. Of course, this is only temporary till you get off the water and address the issue.

Oh haha I just assumed the deep cycle battery was the “house bank.” I thought that’s how it always is. I’ll check the other battery tomorrow (dark out there now).

Thats how it should be, but would not be the first time that the cranking and deep-cycle got reversed. Could be a dead cranking, thats hooked up on the house bank.

[BrentB]

I don’t think I mixed up any of the wire/cable connections to the batteries, but I’ll confirm. I always wire tie the connections and label them when I remove the batteries mainly bc I have no idea how everything is supposed to be connected. I guess now is the time to learn. The one good thing about having a “problem” is you learn a ton during the troubleshooting process.

[BrentB]

Now that winter 2.0 has finally come to an end here in the northeast, I was finally able to get back out on the boat the past few days to do a little more toubleshooting.

I reconnected everything to the battery terminals. Made sure everything was tight and secure and also checked for any other loose connections in the battery compartment (nothing obvious). I looked at photos I took of the battery connections two summers ago — everything is still hooked up in exactly the same way.

I then ran the stereo for a while (engine off). Same thing happened. It eventually went out.

A couple of days later (without charging anything) I turned the boat on and everything worked normally. I then filled the ballast with the engine running and part way through filling the touch screen started to go out. It tried to come back on, then went out again.

I switched the battery switch to COMBINE, screen came back on and I emptied the ballast.

Here’s what I get when I test the voltage at the battery terminals...

Battery switch off:
-Starting Battery: 12.86
-Deep Cycle: 11.4
Blower on, engine off:
-Starting Battery: 12.86
-Deep Cycle: 9.45
Engine on, blower running:
-Starting Battery 14.55
-Deep Cycle 9.40

Not sure if this rules anything in or it. I’m a bit lost about what to do next.

[chpthril]

Engine on, blower running:
-Starting Battery 14.55
-Deep Cycle 9.40

This tells me the house bank is not getting a charge from the alternator. Could be an issue with the VSR or a rogue battery cables that fallen out of sight and not connected to a battery.

[BrentB]

Update: now the boat won’t start at all. I put the boat on my lift (Jet Dock). Turned it off. Decided I wanted to scoot it forward a bit more on the lift. Engine won’t crank at all. Turn the ignition and it just beeps (switch in combine). Voltage on both batteries over 12V.

[chpthril]

So, could be a case that the deep and cranking have swapped positions, so the low deep is actually in the cranking spot. I would ignore the labels on the battery for now, and diagnose the low voltage issue first.

[BrentB]

Thanks chp. Appreciate the help as always. I’ll start by removing the batteries and doing a more thorough search through the battery compartment for loose or disconnected cables.

[freeheel4life]

BrentB also, while you have the batteries out there are some plastic covers over the bus bars behind the batteries. Id remove then and look for any loose connections. Have had that be an issue before.

[BrentB]

I removed the batteries yesterday and checked for loose connections and disconnected cables. Everything seems to be connected properly. I checked the connections to the bus bars - those looked good too.

The screen turned on yesterday and I was able to run the blower and bilge for a short time (went out after a few minutes. Engine still won’t turn over at all (even with battery switch in combine mode). When I turn the key there is a beeping noise, but nothing happens.