PERKO Battery Switches
 

BillR, VYP340, Macklin.........

How did the factory wire your battery switches. I've ran both of mine in ALL for 2 seasons. I was changing my outdrive gear oil today and re-read some of the manual and it clearly states "Do Not Use All".

I tested, each switch in#1 no power, each switch in#2 had power, is #2 and ALL the same? Are these cross-linked at all?

Thanks

ps. are you guy's seeing lots of metal shavings in your XR's? Mine is an 01 and Merc. shipped with straight Bravo's and look great. Some friends are seeing LOTS of shavings on the drain plug.

Kentz, you are NOT supposed to run the switches in the all position....or with both on the same number. We run ours with the port in the #1 and the starboard in the #2 position. I have a write up Mark Winia sent up that describes how the wiring is routed to each switch and to each motor. Applicable for the 340 and 380's only. If you would like a copy post your email address up here and I will email it to you.

BTW, check both of your switches for power even when turned off. I had one bad from the factory. The starboard battery terminals kept corroding and I could not figure out why. One day I happened to turn the key after forgetting I had already turned off the battery. The motor went VROOM! Replaced the switch and all problems are solved. :D

We did not see any problems with the outdrives when we changed the oil last season. Very clean after more than 100 hours. We have 'X' drives though.

I re-wired mine because I thought they were mis wired. I wired them the way Perko says. Respective battery feeds coming in the 1 and 2 sides with the common going to the engine. This way I can leave them on 1 and 2 then if one goes dead I can start the engine on the other battery. There were other wires for trim and tabs coming into the switches as well. I think I wired them up to the hot side of the associated engine side.

Kentz from what you said mine was hooked up the way you describe. I think 2 and all were the same.

Macklin, I would like to see the write up too:

[email protected]

All 3 of us checked our wiring. I (we) made sure that the port battery was #1 and the stbd was #2. I can start either engine off of either battery.
I run my switches the same way Macklin does. That way each motor charges one battery.

If you have been running "all", you may have done damage to either or both battery switches (Macklins bad switch had us stumped for a few minutes) and/or you may have damaged one of your alternators. From your description, it sounds like bad switches or or dead ass battery.




Try this:
Port switch = #1, stbd switch off. See what (motor) has power. Turn on port ignition, should have power. While ignition is on go disconnect port battery. If power dies, that is battery #1.

Then do the same thing with stbd side (port off)


THEN:
Port switch = #2, stbd switch off. See what (motor) has power. Turn on port ignition, should have power. While ignition is on go disconnect stbd battery. If power dies, that is battery #2.

stbd switch = #1, port switch off. See what (motor) has power. Turn on stbd ignition, should have power. While ignition is on go disconnect port battery. If power dies, that is battery #1.

If all this checks out, your wiring is fine. Hopefully your alternators are fine and still able to charge the battery.

Thanks guy's I will check. I'm sure there is no alternator damage. I pulled the boat from storage and they fired right up and indicators were right at 13-14 V @ 1500 rpm. . The primary reason the manual calls for each battery dedicated to a motor is the ECM.

PS. Even though I forgot to ask on my delivery in-water test, I'm sure that's were they were at (I just copied).

Bill I'll try that method this weekend and post results. Macklin, you have e-mail.

O.K. Now if I have a single engine should that apply as well??
I've been running them on all?

Ditto to what BillR and Macklin said...

It was a little screwy since it's not too logical but it does make sense once you figure it out.

hmmm....I have a 95 340 with perko switches. T454 mags. I have been running on ALL since new. If I recall I questioned the dealer and he said ALL. I have 2 switches. Batteries lasted for 6 years. No problem with alternator. My 29 had one switch and I would altnerate between 1 and 2 to eveningly charge.

What am I missing? Or is this a newer boat issue?

Thanks...not an electrical quru (or any guru) so keep it simple for me.

Jeff

Your 95 is probably pre-efi? This isssue is for late model ECM's. Update - have all my accessories (have not splashed yet) with starboard #2 port #1. Assuming each drive trim is fed from one battery (except in ALL mode) every thing appears fine.

It REALLY did not have to be this complicated:eek:

That's for sure!! But that's good news. And yes, both drive trims and tabs work off of one battery. On mine, I believe it is the starboard key.

Macklin - I need a break, I'm an ME not an EE:eek:

what I meant was..... I would think that the biggest amp draw (next to starting) is using the drive trim pumps. I would hope that it is wired so that one battery is assigned to each pump (drive), except in the all positon. If both pumps are slaved on one battery, WTH??? I may just take my chances on all:p

Kentz,

My 95 is a 454 efi motor....I will try the routine suggested to pinpoint how its wired...but its been on all, all for ALL these years.

thanks.

Jeff

Kentz - WTF does that mean? :confused:

Maybe Bill or Vyper will weigh in here.....but I am almost positive that both trim and tab pumps run off the starboard battery. When either are activated only the starboard amp meter goes down. I sometimes bring both the tabs and drives up at the same time (after tabs have reached about 5), but I find that to activate all four pumps at the same time draws my amp meter down so low I tend not to do it. It got really bad when my terminals were corroded from the problem mentioned above.

In the Trade, we are ME-Mechanical Engineer / EE - Electrical Engineer:D ::D
Hey, I don't doubt any of your guys words. As soon as I can get out and run, I'll try all the tests. It appeared to be fine, as I mentioned above. I know that all the loads can't be as clean as 50-50 sharing, but, each drive trim pump/K-plane pump should be slaved to its own respective battery and not all of them wired to one, unless the switches are in ALL:confused:

Hey, I'm in the trade too. I'm an architect which means I know even less than you about this stuff. But I agree with what you're saying. Let us know what your volt meters tell you when you play with the trim and tab switches. (At least I got the name of the gauge right this time!) :rolleyes:

I have never paid attention to that. They work fine, so NO WORRIES, right. :)

I was tracking down a Alternator problem this weekend and remembered this thread about the switches. I found my switches were wired up O.K. but what was driving me crazy is that I still had 12vdc on position #2 with the battery disconected. I figured it must of been a acc. I had wired up causing the back feed soooo after a half hour of head scratching and searching all over for this source it hit me:eureka: :eureka: The battery charger was turned on:mad:
Now what I don't understand is how could running them in all effect the Alternator:confused: 12vdc is 12vdc no matter where the source I would think that one may shutdown (thinking the batt was charged) and let the other do the work but I can't see how it could hurt it. I would think that you would have to have a high current overcharge situation to smoke the alternator.
But Hey I'm just a ET not a EE :p :rolleyes: :D

If you have the time I would also like to see a copy of the schematic to confirm what I have found.
Thanks, Scott

[email protected]

Gee,
Here I thought I was the only one who was having battery switch problems!!!! I never heard about not having 'em in the ALL position, that's the way mine came when I got the boat, and I was running them that way until this year when my batteries died. I ended up putting stbd on # 1, port on #2 to eliminate the .5 amp draw and ordering a couple of AGM batteries from MK battery, they are SWEEEET, no more electrolyte to spill! I'd still like to know where the draw is coming from, I know the stereo doesn't take that much to maintain the memory.

Macklin, can you e-mail me that wiring write up ,too?

[email protected]

Mine are the same as boatheads and seem to be working OK. Starboard battery may need to be replaced, I'll see if it holds a charge for next time out. So, since I ran in all, which battery was getting charged, does it split into percentages? I now notice my ampmeters are slightly different readings, they were always pegged at 14V:rolleyes:

were ya been boathead?, welcome back:D

Long Time No See
 

Just been too darn busy, kinda got into a lot of "honeydo" projects and stuff, built a new computer for "Flight Sims" and just lost track of all my "Favorites" like OSO, but now you're stuck with me again.

Macklin, thanks for the wiring info, I'll have to dive into that next. With the switches in the correct postions, i'm not getting any current draw, but I still want to figure out why it pulls amps in the "all" position. Kentz, sound like you and me have similar reading on the volt meter, have you checked for amperage leaks from your batteries in the various switch postions? This is how I determined which setting to leave 'em in without a schematic, I don't want to ruin these new AGM batteries at $155 a pop!!!!! I'll post after I figure out what's going on.

Good to be back,
Paul