Amps cutting out after adding 3rd battery?

[Ruleman]

Folks, I recently (Friday) added a third battery on our 2300V Limited, and now out AMPS cut out.

It was originally setup with two banks using a 3 position PERKO switch (OFF + BANK 1 + ALL + BANK2), and one deep cycle Type29 battery on each bank. I added a second battery on Bank 1 (starting battery) and kept all the routing of cables the same. Stereo draws from the House battery (Bank 2) same as it did before.

The only other change I did was installing a ProMariner onboard charger for the two banks. Since I wasn't able to get out on the lake on Friday, yesterday was our first test run.

The symptoms we see happening are that the sub cuts out first if I crank the volume more than 70%, then the second amp will cut out, and last the stereo will turn off.

The amps are:
Subs - Rockford 1200.1
Mids - 2x Alpine V12 (can't remember the specs).

They were working just fine before I did the change to the battery setup and I did the charger. I made no other changes.

Any idea what I could've screwed up?

I thought of inverting the set up, using the single battery bank for the starting, and using the twin batt bank for stereo. Would this change anything?


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[Bryan]

Others will prob chime in, but I would swap your 3rd battery over to the stereo side, as that's what gonna pull most of your juice, at least in my case. Then you've got your cranking battery to get you started up again if you spend a long time in a cove.. Did you wire your 3rd in at the switch or just straight to the battery positive to positive and neg to neg?

As for the stereo cutting out.. When the sub and speakers cut, do the amps turn off completely or do they go into protect mode?

[chpthril]

Lets first fix the amp issue, then we can address some things I see could be improved.

My guess is that the amps are dropping out do to voltage. If the amps are indeed wired battery direct, then you are forced to run the switch in either the both position or whatever position that battery is. If not, the amps will draw down the battery and it gets no contribution from the alternator. I would look close to make sure you didnt overlook the ground link cable between the two banks. Without it, the 2nd bank is essentially a stand-alone.

Now, once you have found and fix the issue. I would suggest rewiring the amps' B+ to the common output post of the switch.

[Ruleman]

First of all, thanks for the quick (almost immediate) feedback!

I will try responding to some of your questions with as much as I know of the setup (I did not install it myself - was on the boat when purchased).

The amps are all fed thru a single wire for both positive and negative. Positive is about a 4 or 2 gage and is connected to the PERKO switch on the Bank 2 position, along with the positive wire feeding Bank 2 battery (single T29).

As I type this, I realize where the issue may actually be... The negative to the amps is also a 4 or 2 gage wire, but it is hooked up to the negative post on the second, newly added battery on Bank 1... I'm sure that is where the screwup is.

I believe the amps are in fact going on protect mode, but can't be 100% sure.

Second issue that comes to mind is that although the batteries are new, we were running the boat on position 1 on the switch, not all. This is compounded with the neg and pos being on two different banks.

Regarding the new battery, I put it in next to the first one on Bank 1, and hooked up in parallel using one red 2 Ga. wire from positive screw in the old batt to the screw on the post of the new battery.

I used the same setup with the negative, but wired the neg to the post in one of the batteries. They did not have the 2 Ga. wire in black with two open terminals. I believe I tightened if pretty well.

@chpthril, I think this what you meant by ground wire between the two batteries?

In any case, I will move the amps positive wire to the common on the switch and will report back. I was actually about to instal a NOCO isolator, which should help me forget this issue, right?


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[ericinmich]

One thing to think about is when hooking 2 batteries in parallel, they really should be the exact same battery of the same "vintage/age"... or you will be having issues later on. Not related to problems you are having though....

[chpthril]

As I type this, I realize where the issue may actually be... The negative to the amps is also a 4 or 2 gage wire, but it is hooked up to the negative post on the second, newly added battery on Bank 1... I'm sure that is where the screwup is.

As long as there is a ground cable linking each battery NEG together, then that is not an issue.

Second issue that comes to mind is that although the batteries are new, we were running the boat on position 1 on the switch, not all.

This is an issue as you are drawing off both banks, but only one bank is receiving a charge from the alternator. Eventually, that bank will be dead. This is one reason the amps need to draw from the common post, not battery direct. If the amps are wired to the 1 or 2 post, they are technically battery direct.

Again, find and fix the issue before making any other changes. Leave the amps B+ as is for now.

I think your issue is a lack of a ground cable linking the batteries.

Confirm the issue is resolved by running engine with switch in the BOTH position and measure alternator on boat battery banks.

[Ruleman]

As long as there is a ground cable linking each battery NEG together, then that is not an issue.

I just remembered today that I never closed the loop on this issue...

It turned out to be something incredibly simple. When I connected the new battery into the circuit, I did not connect the negative cable on the new battery to the existing battery negative post. This is what was causing the battery to die as soon as some significant demand came its way... it was being charged by the maintainer only.

The problem was exactly what was described above.


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