Do Perko battery selector switches go bad?
 

All my electronics, accessories, engine etc, work no matter if the battery selector switch is on 1, both, 2 or off. So it doesn’t seem like the switch is functioning at all. Below is a diagram of how it is connected. The boat does have a onboard marine charger with two positive wires coming off it, presumably for two different “banks“. I’m not sure if the charger is contributing to the switch not functioning, or if the switch went bad, or if the switch is wired incorrectly. FWIW, the onboard charger shows the exact same voltage for both banks. Any input would be appreciated.


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A switch can most certainly fail, just like any other mechanical device. It should be pretty easy to troubleshoot if you have a multi meter and a little electrical knowledge.

Your wiring diagram really makes no sense to me but all of the Perko wiring diagrams are on their web site so you should be able to determine if it is wired correctly. Here is a link to what appears to be the most common switch:

https://www.perko.com/images/catalog...(8500INS1).pdf

A picture of the back of the switch showing your connections would help. It looks like your sound system is connected directly to the batteries without going through the switch.

Hope this helps,

The wiring at the back of the switch is as shown in my diagram. There are positive cables from two of the batteries on the left-hand side of the diagram, including two positive leads from the onboard battery charger that go to terminal number 1 of the switch. And then there is one single positive wire from the sound system batteries that is attached to terminal number 2 on the switch. Hopefully that helps clarify. What I’m wondering is if the connections are correctly made at the battery selector switch.

FYI, I did look at Perko’s website but they do not have a wiring diagram for my specific situation (single engine boat, three “banks“ of batteries, and an onboard marine battery charger).

Thanks in advance to all the electrical gurus out there!

You only show two banks of batteries in your diagram.

If you turn the switch off, what voltage are you reading at the "Common" terminal on the switch ? It should be "Zero"

Your diagram is isolating the onboard charger to the two banks of batteries only - left two batteries or right two by back feeding the voltage trough the switch (battery charger depending on model should have a lead to each battery as its probably designed for servicing 2 batteries utilizing a common ground wire). It would be much more specific to have the batteries charged/monitored through a battery isolator and having two battery switches to provide power to the loads - one for cranking the engines and one for shutting down the power from the house batteries to the stereo amplifiers.

If you onboard charger is a "smart" charger, the output could be less amp than what is expected as you have both leads providing power to the same contact point on the battery switch.

http://www.emarineinc.com/categories/Battery-Isolators

Has the issue just started?
Photo of switch back would help...

Just unhook everything, pull the switch out, and test it with an oh meter. If it checks good you missed something on the wiring.

Op’s Amps are connected to their batteries directly at a post of switch. How does the switch disconnect this currently? It doesn’t.

t’s not clear but i think op may be confused with how the switches work and thus how should be wired.

OP Is definitely seeking clarification. this is how it was wired by the previous owner. I’m not sure it’s correct. And I am looking for the correct way to wire this in order to utilize the switch, and the onboard battery charger to charge all the batteries.

I have a 3 bank onboard charger, the charger is connected directly to the batteries not through the switch

OP, By your diagram the switch is between the banks of batteries and not between the load you would be intending to eliminate power to. The only selection that your wiring diagram is controlling is if the batteries on bank #2 would be getting a charge from your charger when the switch was set to both... everything connected to the batteries is "live" constant power

Are you running 3 batteries or more as the drawing is showing 2 groups of 2 batteries and yet mentions 3 banks, so it may help to now exactly what you are trying to have for circuits banks ( starter/ stereo etc), # of batteries dedicated to each circuit and if batteries are left in series or if he wants each isolated.... it could be you need to add switches for full battery supply control and maintain charging from the alternator.

The boat has four batteries total. The two batteries on the right hand side of the diagram are connected in parallel, and they power only two amplifiers—through a common positive lead, just like is shown in the diagram.

then the two batteries on the left-hand side of the diagram are not connected to each other besides when they connect to the switch. Hence I considered this three different “banks“, so sorry if that was confusing.

Ok, Just so you know it does not matter if you connect the two batteries together at the switch like on the left bank or at the batteries like on the right bank. Electrically it is exactly the same.

It is going to be very hard to diagnose this without being present. If I was there at the boat I would probably figure it out in about ten minutes as would anybody else with good electrical skills. Did you wire the switch or somebody else ? I would think the two wires from the charger should go to the two battery banks, one to post 1 and one to post 2 otherwise the only time the right hand bank will be charged is if the switch is in the "both" position. Like has been mentioned a few times, a picture of the back of the switch would be worth a thousand words.

Where are you located ? Maybe there is someone close that could look at it for you.

I looked at the battery switch again tonight, but forgot to take a picture, my bad. The back of the battery switch has the wires connected just like in the original diagram, with the addition of one “mystery“ red wire connected to the #1 terminal. This mystery wire runs back to the transom of the boat, then dives behind the engine and is obscured from view by a bunch of other loomed wires around the engine and transom.

Also the switch obviously has a positive wire coming off the “common“ terminal, which I believe probably goes to the alternator??? Does that sound correct?

if the mystery wire is connected directly to the alternator, whoever wired the boat is possibly having the alternator charge the batteries through that wire to the battery switch connection vs. through the starter lead... best to find out where the wire run to...

What boat is it?


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Boat is a powerquest 280. It has a large aftermarket stereo that was installed by one of the previous owners, hence the additional batteries. I’m assuming this boat came with two batteries from the factory, and the other two were added after the fact.

Is the alternator wire and the starter lead both supposed to connect to the “common“ terminal on the back of the battery switch?

In a factory engine harness, the "alternator wire" feeds power back to the batteries via the starter lead to the battery switch common completing the loop
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