[Rhodes22-list] Batteries - Woe is me

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

Mike,
 
WRT your hooking up your batts.  First, were all the circuit breakers  turned 
off?  (Hopefully!)  Was your battery switch on batt #1, batt  #2, Both, or 
None.  I suspect it was on “both”.  Or do you have a  battery switch?
 
Clearly, you should not hook up your batts in series, as your post  states.  
Your equip is made to work at nominally 12 volts, hook the 2 batts  up in 
series and you’ve got 24 volts - obviously too much.  I expect your  boat is  
wired to let each batt drive your electrical load, or the  batts can be operated 
in parallel (not series) so that they both drive the  electrical load.  My 
assumption below is that you've got a battery switch  that lets you use batt #1, 
#2, Both, or None.  If you don't have a batt  switch, and it wasn't on Both, 
ignore the following.
 
I suspect you really hooked them up so that the + terminal of one batt  
connected to the - terminal of the other, and the - terminal of 1 to the +  
terminal of the other.  You can do that by connecting one of the 2  batteries 
backwards.  It’s called a disaster.  Your son is lucky he  didn't get  a face full of 
acid from those batts while he was disconnecting  them.  Something in your 
wiring limited the current, which is probably the  smoking wire(s).  
 
If I’m right (i.e. your circuit breakers were off, you have a batt switch,  
and one batt was installed backward), your principle damage, apart from the  
stress on your batts, might be to the wiring from the batts to the  main power 
switch ( #1, #2, both, none) and/or that switch.  Disconnect all  wires from 
your batts.  Put the main power switch on “both” and use a  multimeter to 
measure the resistance between the end of the positive leads  on each batts, it 
should be a short (zero Ohms, or some very small  number).  Do the same thing 
with the resistance between the ends of the neg  leads, again should be a short.  
If either measurement reads any  substantial resistance, you’ve got a 
problem.  You’ll have to change the  wiring to the batt switch and/or the batt 
switch.   Get back to us if  you find there is a problem.
 
You may, or may not, have disconnected in time.  The Ohm meter will  tell you 
if you still have wiring left.
 
But the above is all about the continuity of the basic wiring.  I  suggest 
you examine the insulation on those wires and the switch also, the  insulation 
may have melted or burned.  If you've got melted or fried  insulation, it's an 
accident waiting to happen so you should likely  change those wires regardless 
of their continuity.
 
Good luck.
 
Dave



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