Battery recharging

[psteele235]

On the premise that there is no dumb question - unless you ask it a second time!

What are the correct procedures for battery recharging?

1) Which end of the cable should be connected first? Boat or shore?

2) Once plugged in which switch goes on first? The Main Breaker?

3) Should the battery selector switch be on #1? #2? Both? Or off?

4) What are the reverse procedures for disconnecting?

Many thanks for all help given.

[AnchorageGuy]

Patrick, Turn off the caps. It gives the impression you are yelling. Get Nigel Calders book and start from there. Do a search here and you will find enough info to keep you busy for months. Having said that always turn off all circuit breaker when plugging and unplugging shore power. Turn off the shore power breakers also. Plug the cord in. turn on the dock breaker then go to the boat, start with the main breaker then turn on, one at a time the additional breakers you need. Do the opposite to disconnect.

[delmarrey]

From what I have learned over the years is;

1 & 4) With the charger off connect the positive first. and remove the negative first when disconnecting w/ power off, of course.
If you have a possible ground connection away from the battery, it's best to use that for the negative connection.
Any movement of connectors should be done with the power off. Sulfuric acid and it's fumes are flamable!!

2/3) Most chargers use the timer or amperage setting for the main breaker. I usually start out on the lowest setting for a few moments then kick it up for a few more seconds to burn in the connectors (clamps-assuming this is with clamps). Then turn it back down for a full charge. You'll get a better charge out of low amps then high.

Others may have their opinion!

[psteele235]

Chuck, I'm confused since the only caps I can see in my message above are where they should be.

Anyway thank you and Delmarrey for your comments.

[AnchorageGuy]

Patrick, Sorry, your text size made me think it was all caps. The old eyes are going fast. When we are doing service on chargers or batteries the negative wire is the first off last on. This seems to be the way most techs do it. IMHO it really does not matter what position the battery switch is positioned unless the charger feeds through the switch, which is not the preferred method. Just be sure the circuit breaker is off for the charger. This should be the last thing you turn back on. Now I guess my confusion is what you are trying to do. When charging with a charger you should not need to disconnect anything. Servicing or changing batteries, etc. would be different.

[psteele235]

Sorry if I wasn't clear - I was referring to connecting the boat to shore power and recharging - it's not something I do often but Andante is on a slip this winter.

[Alan Wheeler]

When we are doing service on chargers or batteries the negative wire is the first off last on. This seems to be the way most techs do it.

This is actually a cross over from Automotive. The Neg OFF and ON first is because should you slip with the spanner on the positive terminal and short to the chassis, the isolated earth will of course mean no sparks will fly or worse, such as welding the spanner to the chassis.
Patrick, I will assume you have a portable charger and want to keep the batteries trickle charged. Is that correct?? Trickle is not the best way to go, but seeing it is just the winter, you will get by. If the charger does not have trickle charge ability, DO NOT leave the charger permanently switched on. It will boil the batteries.
I also assume you are using the battery selector switch so as you can charge both the house and start bank. Also not the best practice, but once again, it wil get you buy over winter.
So how did you do this when in the water??? I would have thought the same scenario would have sufficed.
And finaly, connect all your cables, then as chuck described,with everything firstly off, turn on the main breaker and follow with the required breakers through to the circuit controlling the charger.
Oh and ALWAYS make sure you connect and disconnect charger leads with charger turned off.

[Joli]

We generally connect the yellow snake to the boat in a random order, turn on the pedestal, then begin bringing the A/C on line after checking polarity.