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87 E-35-3 Battery switch diagram

delwarne

Member II
:confused:Does anyone have a wiring diagram for the Perko Battery switch? Despite having my manual, I'm not clear of the "OFF" selection function of the switch. I still have lights and function on my Breaker panel.
Thanks, Del Warne

s/v Obligatto
 

treilley

Sustaining Partner
Most 1-all-2-off switches have 3 terminals. 1 post for bat 1 input, 1 post for bat 2 input and 1 post for output to your breaker panel.
 

treilley

Sustaining Partner
If wired properly, Yes. That is the whole point of having that switch. This is assuming that you are not connected to shore power.
 

delwarne

Member II
Thank you! As observed this weekend, off the shore power I still had a live breaker panel on "OFF".
Sooooo, I have to sort out what has been rerouted or malfunctioning.
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
If wired properly, Yes. That is the whole point of having that switch. This is assuming that you are not connected to shore power.


The power should be off even if you are connected to shore power - mine was at any rate. The batter charger cables ran directly to the batteries, which connected to the panel through the Perko switches.
 

treilley

Sustaining Partner
I agree Steve, but I have seen inverters improperly wired back to the panel to provide input power.
 

delwarne

Member II
Mr. Reilley,
By "inverter" are you referrring to the Battery Charger? My batt config is 2 house batts and a sep start batt. Where is the batt charger likely to be wired?
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
The wiring would depend on how many banks your battery charger has.

Typically there is one common ground, and frequently two positive leads for two separate banks. Since you have three batteries, that leaves you with the decision of how to rig them. In my case I also had a starter battery, and two group 31s for a house bank - but I kept the house bank connected in parallel with a jumper cable. That way I could lead one positive lead from the charger to the positive lead of the starter battery, and the other to a positive lead of one of the two house banks.

If you don't want to connect your two batteries in parallel all the time (something that Nigel Calder recommends, but many folks do not support) then you would have to choose what to do. At that point you probably would want to hook the second positive lead up to one or the other batteries, or the 1-2 switch itself, and resort to always putting the switch on "Both" to charge them. But I wanted to avoid that, so that's why I rigged things as I did.

If you have a three bank charger, then run one positive lead to each battery. If you have a single bank, then you need to get creative, and have to remember to put the battery switches in the right positions to hook up all batteries to that single lead when charging. Or you could put the two house batteries in parallel, and charge the engine battery with a battery combiner (read about those at West Marine). Endless options.

For sure you don't want the power to run directly to the panel, as you want to be sure to be able to isolate sensitive electronics on those times when you equalize the batteries.

By the way, it is a well understood law of boating that if you ask "n" skippers how to hook up their electrical systems that you will get back at least "n+1" different ways to do it. This same law applies to picking the best anchor.
 
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delwarne

Member II
All these I have pondered as solutions or rather possible conditions I might run in to. My immediate concern was a bad battery switch. Perhaps it is a situation redux by the previous owner ... perhaps not.
Thank you all for the support!
My new life's phrase is ... by my wife's account ... "I'll have to sort that out "...
 

treilley

Sustaining Partner
An inverter is a device that converts 12vdc to 120vac. It allows you to power devices that run on 120vac.
 
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