The Little Black Box Revisited

Ken · Post by **Ken** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:16 pm

Hello All,
I am not going to take the recommendation of my boat surveyor. My port side motor would not turn over due to a dead battery.( My wife had left everything on for several days when she had been on the boat hiding, pretending to be at work using her lap top and enjoying the day.) I used the stock 1979 emergency start switch on my lower helm and fired up my port side.
Worked like a charm. It is staying !

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:43 pm

Every once in a while we give good advice !

RWS · Post by **RWS** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:19 am

I'm not sure I understand how mine is set up. (1983 10 Meter International)

There are 3 batteries, port, stbd and one for the genset.

When you crank either engine, the crossover solenoid engages.

If that is the case in normal conditions, then what does the emergency start toggle do that is different?

RWS

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:06 am

RWS the cross over box jumps your 2 main (engine batteries) when needed ( by using the togle switch). I have not seen a system that automatically jumps all the batteries when cranking, nor would I what a system like that. you could have 2 bad batteries and never know it . I think you maybe wrong about the system crossing over by it self . Please correct me if I am wrong . any one else have or seen a system like that ?

Danny Bailey · Post by **Danny Bailey** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:29 pm

Mine did before I repowered. Paralleled both engine batteries every time you started either one, and yes I had a bad battery long before I knew it. There also was a switch for 'Emergency Start'. I guess it was for when the auto parallel feature failed. It now has no auto feature and will only engage the solenoid if I hold the switch.

Danny Bailey · Post by **Danny Bailey** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:30 pm

Mine did before I repowered. Paralleled both engine batteries every time you started either one, and yes I had a bad battery long before I knew it. There also was a switch for 'Emergency Start'. I guess it was for when the auto parallel feature failed. It now has no auto feature and will only engage the solenoid if I hold the switch.

Danny Bailey · Post by **Danny Bailey** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:31 pm

Mine did before I repowered. Paralleled both engine batteries every time you started either one, and yes I had a bad battery long before I knew it. There also was a switch for 'Emergency Start'. I guess it was for when the auto parallel feature failed. It now has no auto feature and will only engage the solenoid if I hold the switch.

Danny Bailey · Post by **Danny Bailey** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:34 pm

Whoa!!! 3 in 1 What's going on here.

Don Lumber · Post by **Don Lumber** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:21 am

It's either a communication error or you're beginning to stutter.

Don Lumber · Post by **Don Lumber** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:28 am

Scratch that. The forum is having some issues.

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 11:26 pm

Add a solar panel to keep those batteries topped up!

RWS · Post by **RWS** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 7:12 am

Or a Xantrex 3 battery charger with an external LED monitor.

Just lave it on, it WON'T BOIL YOUR BATTERIES, it will however cycle them properly for long life.

I also added an analog 3 battery voltmeter to the helm several years ago.

The built in toggle switch allows me to take a quick peek at the battery voltage on each battery quickly and easily.

One of the most importrant 12 volt tools on the boat!

RWS

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The Little Black Box Revisited

The Little Black Box Revisited

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