Learning the hardway - Maxum Boat Owners Club

SRPATTON · 07-09-2013, 06:41 PM

Many of us have bought boats without the original manuals and even with the manuals, many are generic, not specific to your boat. Case in point: My batteries kept going dead. They both checked great with a load tester but as they were 2 years old, I changed the cranking battery. Next time I went to start the boat, both were dead. I kept blaming the CO monitor. A year later after I installed a 8D commercial truck battery as a house battery. A week later i went into the cabin and heard something running. Yep, what I thought was a 120 V refrigerator was actually a dual voltage system with the DC wired direct to battery switch. The refrigerator had been running my batteries down for a year. All I had to do was turn the thermostat off in the fridge. I had only heard it run before when on shore power. I wished I would of found the Maxum Owners Forum when I bought the boat.

Life's too short to drink warm beer!

pascavone · 07-09-2013, 10:22 PM

yes, the kids are good for leaving lights on in odd places, and the duel frig, I leave mind off, and only run in it a few times a year to keep it working.

ezcurra · 07-09-2013, 11:29 PM

The frig on our 3200SCR has a switch on the front panel, under the door, to turn it off and on. But I am surprised that your frig is wired straight to the battery. The DC on ours is wired into the fuse panel (the AC is wired through a breaker on the AC panel). Should be able to just pull that fuse and leave it on, so it kicks on whenever you are connected to shore power.

SRPATTON · 07-10-2013, 12:45 AM

There is a fuse in the main fuse panel. I just didn't know it was there. That's a good idea to pull it as i never use the DC.

ezcurra · 07-10-2013, 01:59 AM

I had to do that for my shower sump, which is always on now (when the fuse is in). One of these days I have to get in there and fix that. The joys of boat ownership! Actually makes for good therapy - when it has been a tough week I go rewire something!

pascavone · 07-10-2013, 02:33 AM

well, the mercaftor is always on to, carbamoxide detector, so, who knows what else is energized...

piermontmaxum · 07-10-2013, 10:02 PM

I'm a new maxum owner and the same thing happen to me with the fridge draining the battery when we were underway. I didn't realize it till i searched the Maxum Forum and found out this was a common problem. This site is the best. Now if you can help me figure out where the toilet "blue flush liquid" is? I can't figure it out and keep a gallon full of water in the head to help with the flush....there has to be a better way!

mmwjr · 07-10-2013, 10:59 PM

piermontmaxum, start a new thread for the toilet question. Also define what you mean by "blue flush liquid"

shrew · 07-15-2013, 03:22 PM

This means that you are either not plugged into shore power or not leaving your battery charger circuit running. How do you restore amperage to the 8D house battery without a battery charger?