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Carver 3607 1987 Shore power

Discussion in 'Carver Yacht' started by JeffG, Jul 18, 2013.

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  1. JeffG

    JeffG New Member

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    Chattanooga, TN
    When I am at the dock and plug into shore power it does not seem to be switching over from the batteries 100%. The 115 circuit for the receptacles, hot water and range seems to be working.

    The last two times I ran the A/C while at the dock it drained the batteries from about 11.2V down to around 7.5V in 30 minutes. The volt meter on the A/C panel is registering like there is current coming in the boat. I put a meter on the main batteries before I turned on the A/C last night since I had an issue on Monday PM. Then checked it after the engines wouldn't turn over.

    When the engine is running and / or the generator are running it looks like the batteries are charging. At least when I look at the volt meter at the helm station they seem to register 12+ volts etc.

    In the aft cabin I looked at the 12V / 35 AMP battery charger which seemed to be running (felt very slight vibration like a normal charger) but there was nothing registering on the meter.

    My question is does anyone know if the battery charger and the shore power have any relation between them that could cause this? If yes, would fixing or replacing the charger fix it? If not, is there something I can check in the shore power system? My understanding is when I hook up it should switch automatically. A capt in a 3607 4 slips down from me says his switches and in the last 6 months since I bought it I thought it was working that way.

    I may have two issues correct? Bad battery charger and an issue with my shore power.


    Thanks for any ideas.
  2. SeaDragon

    SeaDragon New Member

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    If you are draining your batteries when running the a/c then it must be powered by an inverter. If that is true then the inverter may have an issue since it allowed the batteries to be drained so low.
  3. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Air conditioners draw a lot of juice to be run off an inverter. That should be run off the a/c. The battery charger also runs off a/c. Does your generator have a dedicated battery or is it off the house battery. If it's off the house battery you may be draining it with lights, radios, etc. if the charger isn't doing its job. Your mentioning things happening "automatically" makes me ask a couple of stupid questions:
    1) Did you turn your battery charger on?
    2) Did you plug in both 30amp cords and throw both main breakers?
    3) Did you make a good connection on both ends of both cords (plug in and twist right)?
    If you did this my suspicion would be on the charger.
  4. JeffG

    JeffG New Member

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    Well everyones suspicion of the charger seems to be correct. Got everything looked at by a very good mechanic and he saw the problem right off. The battery charger as dead after 25 years so he is rebuilding it this week.

    Thanks for the feedback.
  5. JeffG

    JeffG New Member

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    Well everyones suspicion of the charger seems to be correct. Got everything looked at by a very good mechanic and he saw the problem right off. The battery charger as dead after 25 years so he is rebuilding it this week.

    Thanks for the feedback.
  6. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Why not just buy a new one? From 1987 I'm not even sure that's a smart charger, which means you have to monitor it or it could cook your batteries. It'd be a good investment.
    http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|328|2289962|2289966&id=537990
  7. JeffG

    JeffG New Member

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    Thats an option but the guy looking at it has 40 years in the biz and has been the one everyone goes to fix things when others screw things up. So, I should have his opinion in the next day or two. I'm just going to wait and see.
  8. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Please let us know what he says. This is the first time I've ever heard of somebody rebuilding a charger. Also please ask him if it's a smart charger.
  9. JeffG

    JeffG New Member

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    Well it looks like it can be done. The transformer section was ok and he just replaced some of the other parts. He is reinstalling it in the AM. I'll try to remember to ask about the smart charger. I think it is but I'll check. He is old school and can't stand the newer ones for a number of reasons.
  10. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    If you are just using lead acid batteries, I really have not seen where a smart charger has extended the life of them over the old chargers. The old chargers would last decades like yours did. Most of the new, expensive smart chargers last 5 or so years from what I've seen. I just replaced a Mastervolt a few months ago that went bad on a 2008 yacht and stopped charging. And I had to have a Newmar 24v 95amp $2,000 charger overnighted to Savannah last week because it went into full charge mode and stayed there, started drawing 36 amps when it was supposed to draw a maximum of 17amps and was completely steaming 11 month old AGM batteries to where they were about 150F + degrees when I woke up in the morning and figured out what the smell was coming from.
  11. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    I hope that as well as spending all that money on a new charger and freight you looked at the $5 breaker that feeds it.

    The breaker should have been sized to trip long before it nearly boiled the batteries which are probably well on the way to retirement by now too.
  12. JeffG

    JeffG New Member

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    I got it rebuild and it was installed this afternoon and is working great. It is not a smart charge by definition per the mechanic. It will drop down to a trickle charge but not completely off. I was told if I'm not using the boat for a long period turn it off and turn the batteries switch off as well. The frig will run off the shore power so all is good.

    He even bumped the amps up from 35 to 40. This guy hates the new charges because they don't last. This one lasted 25 years the last time and he thinks this will last another 25. We'll see!

    Thanks for all the info...... And the take away here is if you have an old battery charger and the transformer is still working, find an old timer to fix it.
  13. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    I'm a big fan of the old Raritan "B" chargers. For flooded batteries the old chargers/converters are great.
    I think I purchased the last 32vdc controller from Raritan almost 8 years ago. There are no more from the factory. I'm always searching for spares. Anybody have an old B charger collecting dust? any contacts of fixing old boards? There was a proprietary chip on the board and the person who designed and supported the product pasted years ago (rip).
    I have had good luck fixing old Charles and Mariner chargers. Diodes and regulators are still available on the web.
    It's good to fix the old stuff, All we can afford in S Georgia.
    ,rc
  14. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    I have worked on a few boats in the last couple of years. Yes, There are some nice inverter systems out there (Victron to start) that when stacked, make plenty of 230vac and runs the AC units, then when needed (shore power off, mains off) lights up the gen-set automatically for recharging the batteries. I would not call it Hybrid PTO, just some smart battery management done well thru an inverter.
    When I win the lotto, I'll look more into this fancy equipment for my self.