Mad at donzi battery cable set-up!

[fasttrucker]

I have a three battery switches.Port,starboard,and both.Donzi wired my port battery to the starter.My starboard battery goes to the boat.The both switch will charge all,I tried to jump the wrong battery and had to tow it.I found out the hard way.3 hours 40 mins of towing behind my 16 baby outboard.Two new batterys at the marina(could have done that myself and saved money)

[zelatore]

Twin engine boat, right?

If so, that's a little weird but not unheard of.

On a singe engine boat that would be the norm. One battery dedicated to starting, one dedicated to house loads, and a parallel switch to cross connect as needed.

[Dr. David Fleming]

Not sure what boat you have, but Donzi operator instructions are a bit lacking. I decided to trace my wiring to understand their installation on duel bat 22ZX.

Battery switch has four positions - OFF, BAT 1, BAT 2, and ALL.

Off - means off except the bilge pump and fire system are set up to run anyway.

BAT 1 - The whole system operating except bat 2 is in reserve.

BAT 2 - is an extra battery for starting if you run down the system - you cut this in to start a system run down by anchoring with the lights on or running the sound system too long.

All - means both batteries are operating the system - no reserve - they are charging. I would run the system this way most of the time then switch to BAT 1 for anchoring or with the engine off. Starting after draining the system - anchoring over night - cut in BAT 2 to start the engine with a fresh battery.

Now there are a couple of unanswered questions here -

1. Perko who makes the battery switch has two systems one that bridges the alternator so that if you turn the system off or switch it the alternator doesn't self destruct.

2. Do you have to have the system on ALL to charge the second battery, or to recharge the BAT 1 if you have drained it.

I have not run down a battery to test this situation.

My examination of the wiring shows that the second battery is simply added as an option at the factory or dealer. All the boat wiring is the same they just add the extra battery wire run and the switch with two battery positions. Donzi looks like it has standard wiring systems with code tags on the wires - some wire runs are not used depending on what options are ordered on the boat. For example I added the rear speakers where the factory would put them and found the wiring already in place.

Perko in their catalogue does not explain the design of their switch sufficiently to explain what way they bridge the terminals to protect the alternator of the engine and if this has any way of effecting the charge of the batteries.

I am a doctor not an engineer

[zelatore]

Either way, instead of being mad at the wiring itself (as I can see a reason for it to be the way it is) I think your real gripe should be with the lack of documentation from Donzi to tell you how they wired it.

[VetteLT193]

Either way, instead of being mad at the wiring itself (as I can see a reason for it to be the way it is) I think your real gripe should be with the lack of documentation from Donzi to tell you how they wired it.

+1. the manual sucks. I am betting trucker has the exact same manual I got with my boat because it seems to cover the entire ZX and ZR lines put together.

[gcarter]

This is nothing new.
Donzi has always sucked at manual writing.
I have the 23 year old TR manual and besides a
dimensioned drawing of a 22 in the front, it has
nothing inside but brochures of the engine and outdrive.
Also a little safety info operating the boat.
No wiring diagram,
Nothing else.

[glashole]

why didn't you check all the positions when you were having problems?

[zelatore]

This is nothing new.
Donzi has always sucked at manual writing.
I have the 23 year old TR manual and besides a
dimensioned drawing of a 22 in the front, it has
nothing inside but brochures of the engine and outdrive.
Also a little safety info operating the boat.
No wiring diagram,
Nothing else.

Unfortunately, a lot of boat builders are this way. Sad really; how much would it cost to have somebody sit down and write a basic manual for a simple boat like a Donzi? A couple thousand bucks? Amortized over the cost of xxx boats sold, it wouldn't add much of anything to the selling price and would certainly help a lot of owners out.

But hey, manuals aren't sexy - they don't sell boats.

[Carl C]

Mine starts in any position. I rotate between batteries 1 & 2. I never run it on "both" so that I will always have a charged spare battery.

[onesubdrvr]

Unfortunately, a lot of boat builders are this way. Sad really; how much would it cost to have somebody sit down and write a basic manual for a simple boat like a Donzi? A couple thousand bucks? Amortized over the cost of xxx boats sold, it wouldn't add much of anything to the selling price and would certainly help a lot of owners out.

But hey, manuals aren't sexy - they don't sell boats.

AMEN,...

I work on all sorts of equipment, matters not to me, I can fix it, but, I will need a schematic, and some of them I get are just horrible,... looks like something my 3 year old makes at school during "project" time. I've had 20 year old compressors that I've had to make my own schematics for, because the old ones were worn away, or weren't worth a crap.

Reading how different manufactures try to explain how their equipment works makes me laugh,... but it keeps me employed I guess, cause most of my customers can't figure out how this stuff works.

Wayne

[Carbo]

Single engine......one battery to the motor....one battery to the ships 12v system and a switch to combine them. I would say there should be an isolator so the both charge from the motor's alternator but stay separate until an emergency causes you to combine them (if one got low). If there is no isolator or combiner you would need to shut off the both switch when you stopped so both batteries do not drain down. You need to learn exactly how they configured it.

[Pismo]

If you flip it to neither with the engine running does it still blow the alternator diodes? or has someone fixed that?

[Cuda]

AMEN,...

I work on all sorts of equipment, matters not to me, I can fix it, but, I will need a schematic, and some of them I get are just horrible,... looks like something my 3 year old makes at school during "project" time. I've had 20 year old compressors that I've had to make my own schematics for, because the old ones were worn away, or weren't worth a crap.

Reading how different manufactures try to explain how their equipment works makes me laugh,... but it keeps me employed I guess, cause most of my customers can't figure out how this stuff works.

Wayne

Sounds like the guy who wrote my Microcomputers book. I've read a lot of text books, but that one is sorriest excuse for a text I ever read. I went to Daytona and put in an official gripe about the text, and the teacher. They both sucked.

[Cuda]

My Minx had two batteries and a switch just as described. Some fooled wired it with welding lead. Even though they were number two wire, they were terrible for starter leads. I pulled one battery and put in a swith for off and on only. I never sit long enough to run a battery down. If I'm in a boat, I want to be running.

[LKSD]

It would not be the first time that I have seen or hear of something that was over complicating the simple or done improperly. On both brand new Donzi's I had in the past there were some small silly things done that I had to correct.. Also yes the manuals are very vague in my opinion, but most boat owners manuals are this way with fairly rare exception.. They usually seem to only reprint USCG's basic rules of the road & omit other useful boat info..