Have heard alot of guesses and specualtion to my question so hope I can put it to bed here. I have an 88 Bullet. First, with both switches on "off" does the shore power charger still work? Second, I normally run with both switches set to "all", can I run with both swithces set to a "1" or "2" and be running off just one battery....with one in reserve? And if so with the other battery continue to be charged while running?

I know this sounds pretty simple but just haven't heard the real answers yet.
Thanks in advance.

John

How many batteries do you have?

On my Cafe, according to the manual, "1" is the primary battery, and "2" is the other engine's primary battery. If that is the case on your boat, running on "both" would not be good.

On my Cafe, the shore power charges the batteries even if the batteries are switched off.

John,
Read the backing plate in the area of the battery control switches. It states that running the boat with the switches on "both" for an extended time will harm your alternators. Leave them both on 1. That's one battery and alternator per engine.

Not sure about the chargers. I can look in my owners manual when I get home.

Craig

My two Cig's have worked like everything mentioned above.
On trailer / Off/Off
Running / 1/1
To boost with the other engines battery use 2

and I have read a lot of stuff that says never to run "Both" it'll mess up your altenators. Just use "Both" to start one engine when the batteries are weak.

Hope this helps.
G.L.

Wow, interesting info. I had been told by others running Cigs with dual batts that they always run on "all". Guess that throws cold water on that thought. Thanks for the info guys.

Still like to hear whether the charger on shore power still works with the switches off.

Thanks again.
John
Sunrise Upholstery
www.sunriseuph.com

I was told run both switches on ALL also? Whats the final say?

I wouldnt run it on "all"....the voltage regulators in the alternators will be trying to fight each other....if you ever take a look at mega watt stereo systems in cars and trucks, when they have a dual alt setup, the second alt is for a sepperate battery.....with a relay switching the starting duties if need be but they stay isolated from each other.

GLH...i would double check to see how you switches are wired.....if its the typical wireing like the pic below then you are in basicly running in "all" position but only charging one battery with two alternators!!! the only way yours would work right if you are infact supposed to be running it in that position would be if each battery was hooked to the #1 post on the back of the switch.......then from that #1 post it would go to the #2 post of the opposite switch.....if thats the case then no worries

oh and lakeluvr.....yes your shore power charger should work no problems with the switches turned to the Off position.......just make sure the fuse in the charger is good!!!! I ran into 3 boats this past summer that were having charging problems and it tunred out to be a fuse. If you dont have one on the outside of the charger then its internal Easy way to check is to turn off all the switches...make sure your bilge pumps arent running.....and hook up the shore power and check voltage at the battery......if you havent just turned off the engine from running then the charger should bring the batts up to 13+ volts

John,
Per the Bullet owners manual:

For normal operation
Place each battery switch on position "1"

For emergency operation:
Place each battery switch on position "both".
To remove a battery from use, Switch it to
position "2" allowing for that engine to
operate using the remaining battery on position "1".
LONG TERM OPERATION IN POSITION "BOTH" OR "2"
MAY DAMAGE ALTERNATORS.

For storage:
Place each battery switch on position "off".
Power for auto bilge pumps is always available.

You have to get down on your knees to read this, but it's on the panel in between the battery switches.

Craig

Craig, thanks for the info. Still confused tho, guess its cuz I'm just a dumbass. And its too freakin cold to go down there and try to read what on the panel. It has warmed up tho, its about 10 degrees. Brrrrrr. Come on summer.
John

Wally, thanks for the info too. When I have had the shore power and the charger on before I could hear the humm if I put my ear down close to the vent right over the charger. Also don't guess its a good thing to leave the shore power and charger running all the time either huh? Is anybody using one of those "battery tenders" to keep their batteries peaked??
Thanks again.
John