Carver 404 Battery switch question

If you shut your battery switches you will no longer be charging them. Over time they'll discharge. The only time to shut them is when the boat is not connected to shore power, the generator and the motors are off for an extended period as in winter storage or when you bring it in for service if they won't be hooking up to shore power. If you're staying on the hook for an extended period you could shut them also, but remember to turn them back on while you run the generator so they'll charge. However, if you do happen to drain them there's still no worry. Simply run your generator, and you'll charge them back up.

Your confusion may come from small boats on which it's very important to shut the switch since they won't be charging and anything left on (light, etc.) will drain them. Or from the old days before smart chargers when there was a risk of cooking your batteries.

Jimmy I have the same model boat. According to my manual the battery charger leads are directly wired to the batteries via breakers located next to the battery selector switch. Also hard wired are the bilge pumps, voltmeters, shower drain pumps and the CO detectors. Carver recommends setting the switch to 'OFF' if you will be away from the boat for a long time. I like to leave mine set to the #2 position so I will have lights available if I come back to the boat at night. But as NYCAP123 mentioned a lack of shore power can result in dead batteries over time if the switch isn't set to 'OFF'.

Jimmy,
Are you sure your refrig does not also run on AC power? Most Carvers came with a refrig that runs on AC or DC.
Another point, don't ever let your batteries run down to more than 50% charge or you will quickly shorten their life.

If your refrig runs off AC or DC the best way to leave your boat is with the shore power connected and the Battery switch off. In that configuration your batteries will charge and the refirg will receive power from shore power. If you leave the battery switch on and for some reason the shore power is disconnected or the power to the marina cuts off your batteries will soon discharge trying to keep the refrig running. As you mentioned Carver wisely wired the bilge pumps to run without the battery switching being on but if you leave the battery switch on and the refirg has discharged the batteries you have undone that safety factor Carver built into the boat.

Unless a previous owner rewired your boat you don't need the battery switch on for the battery charger to charge the batteries.

Another issue you need to address. It sounds like your house and engine start banks are switched or more correctly you are switching them yourself. Your house bank needs to be your largest bank, it's where all the power is used. The engines don't need much battery capacity to start but that refrig and all those lights the admiral leaves on does. When your anchored never ever leave your battery switch on BOTH, it's a sure way of waking up and not being able to start your engines. Your thinking is flawed if you think you can just start the generator and charge the batteries in that situation for two reasons. As mentioned before you will shorten the life of your batteries and second you are putting you and your boat at risk by not being able to start your engines quickly if the need arises.

If your house bank is low, say because you have been anchored out, then start your engines using the engine bank and after you get underway place the battery switch to the house bank position and let the batteries get the full charge from the engines.

My Carver 355 has 1 engine start battery and 4 house batteries in addition to the generator start battery. I monitor the house bank with a battery monitor and never let the house bank get below 65%. The engine start battery almost never needs charging but is of course charged when we run the engines or thru the genny.

It's possible that the charger could be direct wired to the batteries as are the bilge pumps, but it's not what I'd expect.

I believe your Carver 404 is exactly the same as my 355 except you have the added cockpit. Your wiring should be the same as mine with a few differences if yours is gas powered. For sure your battery charger is connected to the batteries through the 3 switches on the battery CB panel located on the flip up step where the Battery selector switch is. Those 3 switches also act as circuit breakers for connecting the factory installed Charles 30 amp 3 bank charger. The 3 banks of course are the house, engine start, and generator start. Unless those switches are off, any time shore side electrical power is connected to the boat and the main AC switch on the main panel located on the starboard side of the boat where the dinette table is behind the mirrors, in on, the charger will be charging the batteries. The battery selector switch has nothing to do with battery charging from shore power.

Note and this is very important. Even though the battery switch has nothing to do with charging the batts from shore power it has everything to do with charging the batteries from the engine alternators. The charging current from both engines is always directed to the batteries selected on the Battery Switch. That's why it's very important to never allow the battery switch to go to the Off position with the engines running. If so you will damage the engine alternators. That warning should be in your Carver owners manual.

One other note: The description above is how your boat came from the factory. A previous owner could have changed that and many do.

I have owned 3 Carvers a santigo, 396 and currently 466 all three boats had the battery chargers bypassing the main battery switch and wired as described by timjet.

It would make some sense in my view to rewire the batts so the 2 deep cycle batts are together in parallel on one bank and the two start batts are together on the other bank.

If you are going to anchor out a lot you will need to consider upgrading the battery charger to a more robust one, otherwise you will be running that genny a lot. Just keep in mind that allowing the batts to discharge below 50% of their capacity will shorten their life.

Enjoy your new boat, we sure have.

We bought our Carver 404 a year and 1/2 ago...... Killed the batteries on way home....Couldn't believe Carver designed this boat with a single House/Starter Battery for each engine and no separate battery banks.

Hence the first thing we did the next spring was redo the whole system. We dedicated a 1000 CCA Starter Battery for each engine with an ACR Relay to keep them charged via Shore power or Alternator or Genny...which ever kicks in 1st. Then we put in 4 - 6V series/Parallel 450 amp Crown Batteries dedicated to house also with its own ACR relay to do the same and then we replaced the Genny Battery, independent from the banks dedicated to Genny when when started will charge any battery through the 2 Pro Nautic 50 Amp chargers, which will charge any battery via the ACRs and any Alternator or Shore power combo. Bullet Proof now.

All Bilge, shower pumps and CO2 detectors are hot wired.

Hope these pics help?

OVERSIZE IMAGES REMOVED

Hi Jimmy:


I didn't do anything with the props yet....Still too cold to plop into the water....


I may be in L.A. in April.....if you need a hand?

Aimhii,

Please read our rules regarding image size, which is not to exceed 640 pixels. Your pics were over 3200 pixels. They have been removed.

Well, the images were visible...until they were removed...not sure why?

I had a Carver 355, and my system was to set the battery switch to "1" or "2" while under way. If that bank went dead, I could switch to the other to start the engines (gas). At the dock, I set it to off. I believe it controls only draw off the battery. Batteries will still charge with the switch set to off. The reefer will run on 120v if plugged in to shore power.