2018 242x house battery while anchored question.

[Scoop]

I don't want to drain the start while using my sound system. That way it starts when i want to go home.

You can not drain the start battery with the parallel off. That is the whole purpose of a start battery, it is isolated to the starter.

 

[Ryan Esparza]

I have a 2018 242x......same issue. The manual states (page 40) to turn off start battery when moored. The house battery powers the anchor light and auto bilge pump. This is the important part. The bilge sensor activates every few minutes and if it detects water in activates the pump and pumps out the water, kinda important when moored. The problem is I cannot turn off the start battery without the alarm going off saying the start battery is low. So you either cut all power when moored, no lights or bilge or leave both batteries on and run risk of running both dead. Mine is at the dealer now to get an answer.

 

[Jaylex]

@Ryan Esparza how often have you been charging your batteries after an outting?

You shouldn't be getting a low battery on your starter...house maybe...

You should.be able to cut the start and not get the low battery...interested to see what the dealer has to say.

 

[Scoop]

Ryan,

I have a 2018 and just reviewed the manual (page 40) and do not see it saying to turn off the start battery when moored. It specifically says to not turn off the house battery but the only time I see the start battery referenced it says to leave it on during normal operation.

Unless we have different 2018 manuals I think you are reading too much into it.

Scoop

 

[Scoop]

Here is what I read about the batteries, page 40.

 

[Mohamed Z Sherif]

so you can power the music with the connext off.
after i powered down i turned the key off and got off the boat the connext went out and the music went off. i hit the fusion head unit on the swim platform and was able to play music for hours with the connext off. i was already in the water and didn't jump back up to turn start battery off but i bet the low battery warning won't come on. will try again tomorrow and confirm.

 

[Gary Tait]

Fascinating, will try the Fusion head unit next time I'm out. My '18 E-Series screams like a stuck pig when I off the start switch either while the Connext is running or if I boot it up with the start switch off. I just assumed it was normal behavior, and to leave the start switch on while moored (attended). When you key-off, the Connext shuts down, so if you're mooring overnight or for several hours away from the boat, you can off the start switch without an alarm after keying-off the system, leaving the house battery to man the bilge.

 

[Mohamed Z Sherif]

Fascinating, will try the Fusion head unit next time I'm out. My '18 E-Series screams like a stuck pig when I off the start switch either while the Connext is running or if I boot it up with the start switch off. I just assumed it was normal behavior, and to leave the start switch on while moored (attended). When you key-off, the Connext shuts down, so if you're mooring overnight or for several hours away from the boat, you can off the start switch without an alarm after keying-off the system, leaving the house battery to man the bilge.

Lmk. I won’t be able to test It again till the weekend

 

[Mohamed Z Sherif]

You can run music from the rear deck with only the house battery on. Connext will be completely off. Tested and It worked.

 

[Expedition_Recreation]

Wow, so glad to see this post. We have a 2018 242X and have been having the exact same issue.

The dealership told us to ALWAYS run the parallel switch. After reading the opposite in the manual, we do not do that any longer. On the other hand, they did tell us to turn off the starter battery when using the radio and floating and this was in line with the manual. Unfortunately any time we try this we get a low battery alarm every 3 minutes... We resorted to just leaving both batteries on with and we have no issues. As long as the key position is off the starter battery has not been draining. I am very anxious to try your remedy of just running the radio from the rear though. This may solve all of our problems.

The issue I am having now is that I do not have a battery tender on the house battery and each day that I use it, it continues to fall and never charge itself back up. it is down to 11.6 now and even after driving at 35mph for 45 minutes we saw no change in charge. The starter battery however, stays at around 13.6v which leads me to believe that the trickle charger only charger the starter battery and not the house battery. Im guessing the only solution to this is putting a battery tender on it whenever were not using it?

 

[Gary Tait]

The issue I am having now is that I do not have a battery tender on the house battery and each day that I use it, it continues to fall and never charge itself back up. it is down to 11.6 now and even after driving at 35mph for 45 minutes we saw no change in charge. The starter battery however, stays at around 13.6v which leads me to believe that the trickle charger only charger the starter battery and not the house battery. Im guessing the only solution to this is putting a battery tender on it whenever were not using it?

Funny how the dealers have differing opinions on what is best, they told me to never use the parallel switch unless the start battery isn't strong enough to do its job. I went with the Noco Genius GENM2, which is relatively inexpensive and gives me a little piece of mind before I put-in. I paired it with the GCP1 port plug in the transom by the port speaker, making installation simple. Just plug it in a day or so before I go out to top off the batts.

I've yet to try Mohamed's radio hack, which is brilliant, but I've not had an issue just leaving both start and house switches on, with Connext up, while I'm out for the day.

 

[Mohamed Z Sherif]

Funny how the dealers have differing opinions on what is best, they told me to never use the parallel switch unless the start battery isn't strong enough to do its job. I went with the Noco Genius GENM2, which is relatively inexpensive and gives me a little piece of mind before I put-in. I paired it with the GCP1 port plug in the transom by the port speaker, making installation simple. Just plug it in a day or so before I go out to top off the batts.

I've yet to try Mohamed's radio hack, which is brilliant, but I've not had an issue just leaving both start and house switches on, with Connext up, while I'm out for the day.

I was out yesterday. Tried it again and it worked perfect. I did not see an issue with my house battery voltage. Both are 13.6 when I’m riding it back to dock. I’m going out later today. I’ll record a video and try to post It. I was out yesterday for 4 hours music house battery only. Didn’t even think twice about starting issue since i know the start battery was off. I will one day take a volt meter with me to check charging condition from the solar panel while floating and report back.

 

[Mohamed Z Sherif]

Wow, so glad to see this post. We have a 2018 242X and have been having the exact same issue.

The dealership told us to ALWAYS run the parallel switch. After reading the opposite in the manual, we do not do that any longer. On the other hand, they did tell us to turn off the starter battery when using the radio and floating and this was in line with the manual. Unfortunately any time we try this we get a low battery alarm every 3 minutes... We resorted to just leaving both batteries on with and we have no issues. As long as the key position is off the starter battery has not been draining. I am very anxious to try your remedy of just running the radio from the rear though. This may solve all of our problems.

The issue I am having now is that I do not have a battery tender on the house battery and each day that I use it, it continues to fall and never charge itself back up. it is down to 11.6 now and even after driving at 35mph for 45 minutes we saw no change in charge. The starter battery however, stays at around 13.6v which leads me to believe that the trickle charger only charger the starter battery and not the house battery. Im guessing the only solution to this is putting a battery tender on it whenever were not using it?

Check the wiring for the solar. If i read It right, apparently some dealership have been leaving the small black wire off and the system doesn’t charge properly. I think the diagram is futher up in this post.

 

[Expedition_Recreation]

Ok guys I’m in the boat now and noticed that there was indeed a wire disconnected and just laying next to the batteries. I don’t have the tools to hook it up at the moment but I’m thinking that may be why it’s not charging. Does anyone know which battery it needs to be connected to? (Pics below).

Additionally, I noticed after only a week of sitting, there is a significant amount of corrosion on the terminals. You guys experiencing the same?

 

[Expedition_Recreation]

Also, after power down the boat using the ignition switch walking to the back of the boat and turning on the rear head unit does indeed allow the music to play with only the house battery switched on and no alarms.

 

[Mohamed Z Sherif]

Ok guys I’m in the boat now and noticed that there was indeed a wire disconnected and just laying next to the batteries. I don’t have the tools to hook it up at the moment but I’m thinking that may be why it’s not charging. Does anyone know which battery it needs to be connected to? (Pics below).

Additionally, I noticed after only a week of sitting, there is a significant amount of corrosion on the terminals. You guys experiencing the same?

I think It was negative on house battery

 

[Weeb]

Ok guys I’m in the boat now and noticed that there was indeed a wire disconnected and just laying next to the batteries. I don’t have the tools to hook it up at the moment but I’m thinking that may be why it’s not charging. Does anyone know which battery it needs to be connected to? (Pics below).

Additionally, I noticed after only a week of sitting, there is a significant amount of corrosion on the terminals. You guys experiencing the same?

The small ground from the DVSR goes to the start battery. This is how it knows it’s charge and switches to the house battery I believe. That’s how mine is wired. I put a toggle switch inline on it it to turn

Ok guys I’m in the boat now and noticed that there was indeed a wire disconnected and just laying next to the batteries. I don’t have the tools to hook it up at the moment but I’m thinking that may be why it’s not charging. Does anyone know which battery it needs to be connected to? (Pics below).

Additionally, I noticed after only a week of sitting, there is a significant amount of corrosion on the terminals. You guys experiencing the same?

The small black ground from the DVSR goes to the start battery. That is how it knows to switch the charge to the house battery I believe. That’s how mine is wired. I put a toggle switch inline on it to turn it off when I plug in my battery charger at the dock which you must do unless you cut a red wire and run it to the key power on wire.

Sorry for the duplicate I didn’t think it posted.

 

[Expedition_Recreation]

Got it. Took out the batteries, cleaned the terminals, re-installed, and hooked up the DVSR wire. Hopefully I will see a change on the next outing.

 

[Gary Tait]

Weeb is right, that's the ground for the DVSR and since both batteries share a common ground it shouldn't matter which one you connect it to. When you do install a charger/tender, remember to disconnect this wire while charging otherwise the dual-bank charger may not properly handle charging both banks. I replaced the terminal with an alligator clip which only gets attached while I'm out on the water, at home on the charger, it's removed. A toggle switch as Weeb suggested is a more elegant solution.

 

[Weeb]

Weeb is right, that's the ground for the DVSR and since both batteries share a common ground it shouldn't matter which one you connect it to. When you do install a charger/tender, remember to disconnect this wire while charging otherwise the dual-bank charger may not properly handle charging both banks. I replaced the terminal with an alligator clip which only gets attached while I'm out on the water, at home on the charger, it's removed. A toggle switch as Weeb suggested is a more elegant solution.

Your right on the ground I didn’t think about the battery negatives being jumped so It doesn’t matter which it is on.