Factory wired it wrong?

[jbassion]

I am rebuilding a "hurricane boat". I was able to Flush and put new acid in the 4 batteries. I obtained an older model 60 amp 4 bank battery charger and found the installation diagram on the web. The 3 large batteries were wired in series (all the pos. and all the neg together). The charger diagram showed a pos. and neg. wire running to each battery. Which I did. The charger worked. The batteries charged, but I was told that the Factory (Beneteu) should have used an isolator, and I ran too many wires. I have a pos coming from each of 4 studs and all the grounds to one stud. If the batteries are wired in series why do I need a set of wires to each? Again everything works, but did I do it right? and is there a better way?
Thanks,
Jerry

[longliner45]

better one ,,buy one big battery ,,,,8 D ;;the reason of series is amps

[Lancerbye]

Sorry guys I think you may have errored in terminology or electrical facts. If all the positives are common and all the negatives are common your battery system is wired in parallel which will allow a higher amp/hour rating and higher available cranking amps. If you connected the batteries in series (pos. to neg of the next baterry and so on) you increase the voltage of the system. For example two 6 volt batteries are often used in series for a 12 volt system.

[jbassion]

No one has answered my question yet. Except to correct my 9th grade physics mistake of calling a series, parallel. So I'm to assume that other than the fact you guys know the difference between series and parallel you really don't know the answerers either.

[longliner45]

parellel - is the same voltage tied in together ,ie pos to pos neg to neg,,you can do this indefinantly with batterys and gain amp storing capacity.....series is also when a circuit is feed from the last electrical device to the next,,christmas lights are on a series,when one fails ,the feed stops from there ,,cross wire is pos to neg,,this changes voltage,,example,,,two twelve volt batteries cross wired will give you 24 volts,,,,,,and I told you what to do in post #2,that would make it simpler an maybe less wieght ,,,,longliner

[gonzo]

I think you should be more polite. If you call it series and mean parallel, the question makes no sense. Some chargers can work on series connected batteries because they have floating grounds, others use a common ground and can't. You should clarify the issue, are they parallel or series?

[longliner45]

sorry I did not mean to appear rude,longliner

[Ike]

If the batteries are in parallel it is better to charge each battery independently, but it won't hurt them to be charged all at once. The problem here is balance. Is each battery charged exactly the same amount? An isolator is used to isolate each battery and charge each one separately so they all get fully charged. There are devices called equalizers you can buy that do all of this for you, monitor each battery, make sure they are all equally charged, and you only have to hook up the charger and turn it on. All of this increases battey life, and keeps your batteries healthy and fully charged.

On the other hand, I have two deep cycle batteries in parallel and I do not use an isolator or an equalizer. I have been running it this way for 3 years and the batteries are just fine. I have a converter/charger that keeps them up to snuff and except for a loose connection at the charger, have never had a problem.

I hope that answered your question.

[jbassion]

Nor did I. I described the way the batteries were wired in the initial question and also the way the Charger was wired. (4 pos. studs, one ground stud). The initial question was should the boat have had an isolator, was running a pos. and ground to each battery really necessary if the batteries were tied in parallel. If not why was it diagrammed that way. Again It all works, but is it right or should I have done it another way? Maybe you could suggest a web site that shows correct ways.

[jbassion]

Thank you Ike, I guess the answer is I did it O.K., but if I want to spend money I can make it better. That will be after the sails are up. Thanks again
Jerry

[jbassion]

One other quickee I'm dealing with French wiring. Am I correct --Black is positive, Brown is netural, and blue is ground. ?

[Ike]

You need only one connection from the charger to the positive side and one connection from the charger to the negative side. I looked for a diagram but didn't find one that depicted this setup. I have a lot of electrical links on my web site at http://newboatbuilders.com/pages/links.html. Scroll down to the electrical section on the right side.

Black is supposed to be Negative, Red Positive and neutral is usually green. See color codes at http://newboatbuilders.com/pages/elect5.html.

[Lancerbye]

If you are talking about an AC european system the colors are
L1 = brown
L2 = Black
Neutral = Blue
protective conductor = green

If this is a DC system your talking about
Positive = Brown
negative = Blue
protective conductor(usually a sheild) = green
There shouldn't be a black unless it is a control wire.
I know that this screws up most north American wiring Knowledge. I am from Canada but I have to deal with this everyday and sometimes the standards are thrown out the window just to confuse us.

[jbassion]

Thanks,
But the AC is wired with Brown, Black, And Blue, No green. Actually, I can use the wires anyway I want, because I am rewiring the boat, and the wires are heavy gage and still good, but I also want to pass a survey, or Coast Guard inspection. The boat is a '90 French built Beneteau.
Jerry

[Lancerbye]

Hi Jerry
THE GREEN wire in European systemsis only ever used in ac as a functional grounding conductor. From your discription I have to assume that the boat was wired for the European 240vac in which case L1 = Brown, L2 = Black and Neutral = blue. If you are rewiring it for a 120vac north american stystem, you should use Black as HOT or L1, Blue as neutral and Brown as ground, but tape the ground wire with green pvc tape where it is exposed in the JB. This is approved by the NEC and CEC.

[Lancerbye]

Hi again Jerry
Back to your charger wiring. The way you did it is right. A multibank charger already has battery isolation, that is why you have 4 outputs rather than one. You could have saved the wiring on the negative side if all the batteries are close together and are usually tied together at the negative side.However then your negative return lead would have to have been large enough to carry the total charging current of all three banks. So the cost saving is probably not much.

[jbassion]

Thanks,
That is the information I needed.