DC wiring question

[Hat43c1981]

Today I pulled the panel on the old Sentry battery charger that’s in our 43’ SF. I noticed two small red wires connected to terminals on the charger that were marked “ING”. I’m assuming ING means ignition. If that is the case, I don’t know what these wires are for. Any information is greatly appreciated.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

It shuts the charger off when the ignition is turned on.

 

[Captain Ralph]

It shuts the charger/converter off when the ignition was turned on.

Sentry and Raritan had these options to turn the charger off when the engines were running. It helped the involved chargers (Vac charger & alternator) from fighting each other trying to deliver a steady current profile to the batteries and loads.
If your not in the habit of turning your chargers off when running, I do recommend utilizing this option.

 

[osprey]

Correct, ignition source, when engine is running and the alternator is charging battery, it will turn charger output off. my charger get signal from fuel solenoid. P

 

[oscarvan]

OK, males sense. Not sure I have this, and I have a new charger on order which probably won't have it. Will add this item to check list.

And this brings up an interesting point. My 12V charger takes care of the avionics and the generator battery. They are on separate leads from the two bank charger. I HAVE to have the generator running when underway as I have no other way to charge the avionics battery than through the charger. But that means it is also trying to charge the generator battery, at the same time it is being charged by the generator. (At least I am assuming the generator charger it's own battery..... hmmmm.)

I may need a disconnect there somewhere.

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

You have the charger shutoff if you have Hobbs switches on your fuel secondaries. The voltage regulator on your generator takes care of that issue.

 

[Captain Ralph]

OK, males sense. Not sure I have this, and I have a new charger on order which probably won't have it. Will add this item to check list.

And this brings up an interesting point. My 12V charger takes care of the avionics and the generator battery. They are on separate leads from the two bank charger. I HAVE to have the generator running when underway as I have no other way to charge the avionics battery than through the charger. But that means it is also trying to charge the generator battery, at the same time it is being charged by the generator. (At least I am assuming the generator charger it's own battery..... hmmmm.)

I may need a disconnect there somewhere.

I have two 12V battery banks, one set for the gen-sets, the other for the ships 12v options.
These banks are connected together with an auto charge relay (ACR).
With just either gen-set running, the gen-set's alternator charges its starting battery, when this battery charge is up the ACR connects the 12v banks together and charges both 12v banks.
While cruising with out the gen-sets running, a DC to DC converter-charger (32v to 12v), charges the option battery bank, the ACR closes and keeps the gen-set batteries up.
On the dock, a 120Vac charger keeps all up and toasty.
There is a manual battery parallel switch that is between these banks also, never used it, but just in-case the gen-sets ever needed some help, it is there.

I have a toggle switch at the lower helm 12v breaker panel that selects the shore power charger or dc-dc converter-charger. I have dreams of installing a Nason or Hobb switch/relay to the stb engine that would switch this automatically, but have not gone there yet.

I'm just heading to the bilge today to replace these 4 & 5 year old batteries today. Been pretty happy with this set up.

 

[piripucha]

On our 58YF there is a pressure sending switch ( I do not know if it is a NO or NC type switch) on the fuel filter that is connected to the charger. This sender shuts down the charger when the engine is running.

 

[jmooney]

This is interesting, I don’t have any ignition wires leading to my charger. I have a new Sentry, the original LeMarche didn’t either. I assumed that when the engine alternators were running , the line voltage was well above the cut-in voltage of the charger , thus preventing it from operating. I do have fuel pressure switches on the secondaries. Maybe I should study my DC schematics.

 

[oscarvan]

Maybe I should study my DC schematics.

If no one has changed things around......

 

[1969MY53]

Great information here.