MacGregorSailors.com

As a follow up, some 12v chargers will not charge a totally flat/dead battery. I think this is part of some safety protection for the charger.
I couldn't find any information on their website about this for your model.

Therefore, you MAY have to jump those batteries with another to get them to a voltage the charger will tolerate before it will kick in. Again, I don't know if your charger behaves this way, however I have a portable charger that acts like that.

I appreciate all of these helpful ideas. Just made it to the ramp so hopefully I’ll be able to jump it, get it to the new slip, and begin investigating.

Speaking of jump starting. I keep one of these on the boat just in case.

https://www.amazon.com/BIUBLE-Battery-S ... B08GYFP5JK

Our little outboards will jump start with much less. I used this thing to jump start my truck when it was 5 degrees outside. I was amazed.

Please come back and update us on what you learn.

Russ wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 11:11 am Speaking of jump starting. I keep one of these on the boat just in case.

I'll second that. I keep one of these in every car, the RV, and now the boat and I've used them for starting all of those as well as the lawnmower

https://amzn.to/3LhLlNW

I used it to start the boat this weekend in fact. My starter battery has been a bit weak, which usually I get to ignore because the solar panel fills it back up by the time I get out there, but I was out there earlier than usual one day. I need to replace that battery.

They make great gifts for your kids too!

In answer to your questions:

Yes, you should be able to charge your batteries when you are on shore power.

How the battery charge is affected by the position of your Perko switch will depend on how the batteries, the switch, and the battery charger are connected. There is more than one "correct" way to hook them together. Which method you use will depend on your goals. Without knowing how they are hooked together, no one can tell you the correct position.

In the mean time, do whatever you have to do to get the lights on your charger to come on and verify that there is some positive current shown on the gauge. No lights or no current = no charge happening.

You are "allowed" to have up to four connections on one lug but you should have the highest current cables on the bottom and the lower current cables on top. That usually means the biggest go on the bottom and the smallest on top. It looks like one of your negative lugs needs to be rearranged.

Now, the bad news: your shore power panel does not appear to be correct. From your pictures, it appears that you have a domestic electrical panel with single pole breakers. You should be using double pole breakers that will simultaneously disconnect the load and the neutral if there is a problem on either side. Alternatively you can use a single pole breaker if you also have a reverse-polarity indicator AND you fix the reverse polarity problem when it is indicated.

In a perfect world this would not matter, but in the real world this can cause problems ranging from "serious" to "deadly" and the scary part is that the cause can be outside of your control, on the dock or somewhere else in the marina and you won't know it until something really bad happens.

After reading Be Free’s eloquent post, this one is almost worthless.

I’ll post it anyway.

I keep this on the boat because along with being a jumper, it is an emergency LED light, and I can charge my phone with it while at the dock topping off the charge in the jump starter.

Be Free wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 1:07 pm You are "allowed" to have up to four connections on one lug but you should have the highest current cables on the bottom and the lower current cables on top. That usually means the biggest go on the bottom and the smallest on top.

Interesting and it makes perfect sense. I need to check mine..

Be Free wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 1:07 pm
In a perfect world this would not matter, but in the real world this can cause problems ranging from "serious" to "deadly" and the scary part is that the cause can be outside of your control, on the dock or somewhere else in the marina and you won't know it until something really bad happens.

^^^ This

An improperly wired AC shore power connection could introduce current to the water and kill someone. That's why swimming off a marina dock is so dangerous. If ONE boat is leaking current into the water from a poorly installed shore power inlet, a swimmer could be electrocuted.

The whole residential circuit breaker troubles me. What else has the PO done that might be wrong.

I hope you sort it out and post what you find so others can benefit from your experience.

Thanks Bill and others.

Is this the type of breaker I need? x4
https://a.co/d/0eLrlfXD

15a? 20a?

I’m going to have someone do an engine tune up, so I can add this replacement project to the list.

Maybe this?

https://a.co/d/05Bb8xgY

Ditto

Russ wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 11:11 am Speaking of jump starting. I keep one of these on the boat just in case.

https://www.amazon.com/BIUBLE-Battery-S ... B08GYFP5JK

Our little outboards will jump start with much less. I used this thing to jump start my truck when it was 5 degrees outside. I was amazed.

Please come back and update us on what you learn.

I charge mine in the "All" position, then select "A" or "B" when saiiling.

green wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 4:30 am Interesting. I landed on turning it off based on comments online that said it should charge the batteries in any position. Maybe I misunderstood that.

If so, maybe there’s a chance that my batteries are ok and just need a proper charging in the all position?

NiceAft wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:31 pm Maybe this?

https://a.co/d/05Bb8xgY

Ouch, that's expensive. I feel like I'm going to go down a rabbit hole here, but if I need to make an expensive fix, should I give thought to a system that can accommodate solar one day if I want to add? Or is this fix independent from any solar plans I might have in the future?

green wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:23 pm Thanks Bill and others.

Is this the type of breaker I need? x4
https://a.co/d/0eLrlfXD

15a? 20a?

I’m going to have someone do an engine tune up, so I can add this replacement project to the list.

Well, that's the breaker. However, you will probably need something to mount it in.

This might be similar to what you have in a a marine version.

https://www.amazon.com/Haoguo-Circuit-P ... B0BL2FRX2T

green wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:23 pm Thanks Bill and others.

Is this the type of breaker I need? x4
https://a.co/d/0eLrlfXD

15a? 20a?

I’m going to have someone do an engine tune up, so I can add this replacement project to the list.

That is the correct type of breaker. It is unlikely to fit in your breaker panel. Your panel probably takes a breaker that clips under a plastic rail at one end and then slides down over a protruding metal piece at the other. One wire will be screwed from the side. The correct breaker (above) is held on with four screws through the face plate of the enclosure and four wires are bolted to the back side.

The amperage is determined by the wires that it protects. Ideally you would choose a breaker that would allow the maximum safe current for your wires.