What did I do wrong?

[EricE]

So I am not sure what happened...
I had just hooked the batteries up to my 2020 212s like I always do. Everything was connected correctly but when I turned the boat on, it indicated no voltage from the starter battery. I am 99% sure the battery was fully charged since its hooked up to a battery conditioner. I also double checked that the connections were made correctly...
I tried a few more times. the boat turned on, the blower turned on, everything worked except the starter battery warning showing no voltage.
I double checked with a voltmeter to make sure... Yup, 12.7 volts for both batteries like you would expect.
So then I thought, I will just turn on the emergency parallel switch and try starting the engines to see if they start.... (Knowing that I would shut them off as soon as they started since I did not have water hooked up)
As soon as I switched the yellow "emergency parallel" switch to "on" the BEP switches started smoking and both battery cables got hot enough to start melting the cable wrap! I immediately turned all 3 switches off, and disconnected the wires from the batteries...
Did I do something wrong? I had all 3 switches in the "on" position. That means the Red House, Red Start, and Yellow "Emergency Parallel". I have never used the yellow switch before , ever...
Looking at the manual, (LIT-18626-12-67 (yamaha-owners-manuals.com) ) It doesn't mention that you should NOT have them all in the "on" position.
I have checked my battery connections a million times. They are correct. I even have them labelled, so they are always connected exactly the same was.
I am going to remove the BEP later and see what "melted".... I'll follow-up with pictures when I do...

Any thoughts?

 

[Marvin willis]

Pics please

 

[AZMark]

Something has to be wired wrong on that start battery.
I’ve used the yellow parallel switch several times and never had an issue. They can (and probably need to) all be on at once for that jumper/combiner function to work.

 

[EricE]

Here is a pic of how the batteries were connected....
Notice I have a battery conditioner connected to both the HOUSE and STARTER battery...
Still need to take apart the BEP...

 

[EricE]

OMG, I had the battery in backwards! I just noticed when I uploaded the pic!
I wonder how bad that will be

 

[EricE]

Something has to be wired wrong on that start battery.
I’ve used the yellow parallel switch several times and never had an issue. They can (and probably need to) all be on at once for that jumper/combiner function to work.

I thought the same exact thing.... and then I looked at the pic I posted and realized my stupid mistake... I had the battery in backwards and connected the start battery POS wires to the NEG terminal and the NEG wires to the POS battery terminal...
I cant believe I messed that up.

 

[AZMark]

That sucks man, really sorry to hear that. Hopefully you didn’t damage anything major.

I’ve noticed how easy it would be to do that when changing batteries before. It’d be nice if the +/- studs were different sizes like the terminals for a car.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

OMG, I had the battery in backwards! I just noticed when I uploaded the pic!
I wonder how bad that will be

Your BEP battery switch is history for sure.

 

[EricE]

Ok, after checking the BEP switch, I could see no signs of damage... maybe some of the heat shrink on the battery wires melted... that's about it... The black cable cover had melted a little on both battery wires as well. Checked all the fuses and both engine 30 AMP battery fuses were blown. replaced those....

Reconnected both batteries, CORRECTLY this time... and both engines started right up. I can't find any issues with the electrical... Everything works... lights, blower, bilge, radio etc....

I need to sacrifice a beer to the Yamaha boat gods because I think I may have gotten extremely lucky! I'm probably going to go over everything again, and possible order a new BEP switch just to be safe...
I am definitely putting red on the POS battery terminals I am still kicking myself for such a boneheaded mistake.

 

[TimW451]

At least you discovered it a minute after posting the pic. It woulda sucked to come back to see a series of posts telling you.

A few suggestions to help it not happen again:

1. Take a pic of the setup to act as a reference for Spring reinstall.
2. Use a Sharpie to color the negative and positive symbols on the battery black and red. (I think that is the biggest cause.)
3. I’d spin one of the batteries around so that negatives and positives are on the same side.

 

[EricE]

At least you discovered it a minute after posting the pic. It woulda sucked to come back to see a series of posts telling you.

A few suggestions to help it not happen again:

1. Take a pic of the setup to act as a reference for Spring reinstall.
2. Use a Sharpie to color the negative and positive symbols on the battery black and red. (I think that is the biggest cause.)
3. I’d spin one of the batteries around so that negatives and positives are on the same side.

All great suggestions. I usually always align the batteries, but I happened to be in a hurry.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Glad to hear that all appears well.

Suggestion;
-Make sure the DVSR is working properly. When the start battery voltage reaches 13.4 volts the switch should close paralleling the batteries-there’s a small indicator light on the DVSR that comes on when the switch is closed. When the voltage drops to 12.7 the DVSR opens the switch and the light goes out. I think your idea of replacing the BEP switch is a good idea as well, this will avoid possible problems down the road.
-Check to make sure that each engines charging system is operating correctly by checking that the battery voltages come up when each engine is running.

There are diodes in both of those systems and you need to make sure they did not blow when that cross connected situation happened. The DVSR portion of the battery switch is rated for 145 amps continuous, when the cross connect happened there was roughly 1600 amps that flowed through the switch.

It’s also encouraging that main 30A fuses blew in the fuse boxes, as in they did their job.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve screwed up because I was in a hurry, so I can relate! Everyone gets a turn so don’t beat yourself up too bad, just enough to make sure you don’t make the same mistake!

I hope everything checks out fine!

 

[Thermobrett]

Here is a pic of how the batteries were connected....
Notice I have a battery conditioner connected to both the HOUSE and STARTER battery...
Still need to take apart the BEP...
View attachment 201203

I did the same thing to my OLD 1992 VW Jetta once and connected the negative to the positive in the dark. Thankfully my car was “pre analog” and didn’t damage anything. Hopefully everything works out.

 

[EricE]

Glad to hear that all appears well.

Suggestion;
-Make sure the DVSR is working properly. When the start battery voltage reaches 13.4 volts the switch should close paralleling the batteries-there’s a small indicator light on the DVSR that comes on when the switch is closed. When the voltage drops to 12.7 the DVSR opens the switch and the light goes out. I think your idea of replacing the BEP switch is a good idea as well, this will avoid possible problems down the road.
-Check to make sure that each engines charging system is operating correctly by checking that the battery voltages come up when each engine is running.

There are diodes in both of those systems and you need to make sure they did not blow when that cross connected situation happened. The DVSR portion of the battery switch is rated for 145 amps continuous, when the cross connect happened there was roughly 1600 amps that flowed through the switch.

It’s also encouraging that main 30A fuses blew in the fuse boxes, as in they did their job.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve screwed up because I was in a hurry, so I can relate! Everyone gets a turn so don’t beat yourself up too bad, just enough to make sure you don’t make the same mistake!

I hope everything checks out fine!

Thanks for the detailed suggestions. I really appreciate all the help/advice this forum offers.
I will check the DVSR. I had modified to work with my 2-bank battery maintainer so I wonder if that may have saved it. Either way, I ordered a new BEP switch. I'll just keep a close eye on it until I can replace it.
Lesson learned. I won't be making that mistake again!

 

[EricE]

So, I was about ready to click "buy" from partszilla (Yamaha F3F-U8314-00-00 - SWITCH,BATTERY | Partzilla.com )
but then I found what looks like the exact same thing on Amazon cheaper. ( Amazon.com: BEP 716-SQ-140A-DVSR Square Battery Distribution Cluster for Single Engine with Two Battery Banks : Automotive )
I really can't see a difference other than the Yamaha specific part number. I wonder if there is a way to cross reference the 2 part numbers. I'll probably order it and compare.
I like partszilla, but last time I ordered from them it took a year when they showed the item as shipping in 1-3 days.... (I think it's a direct ship from Yamaha)

 

[cwoav8r]

I can tell you from recent experience... search everywhere for pricing... then go to Amazon. I have been able to acquire parts from Amazon that I never thought they would have, and they have always been legit, quality parts. And if they aren't, soooo easy to return and start over. And the last few times (not bashing, but) I have ordered a part from partzilla I have received the dreaded email, your part might be available sometime in the distant future... YMMV

 

[TimW451]

When looking to validate a part I always go to the manufacture’s site, part of the journey for best price that @cwoav8r outlined. Yamaha and other boat manufacturers are designers and assemblers and will use MANY “off the shelf parts”. You’ll learn key vendors as you go (Attwood is one to know) and if you can find their generic product and part number you’ll be more likely to find it on Amazon, and for less.

In this particular case, the first part is Yamaha OEM and their part number, the second is the manufacturer’s own number. Go to BEP’s website and verify it is the same switch (or search this site, o someone here who knows will verify) as some of these look the same, but may be different. It is improbable that it is a one-off switch Yamaha had made just for them. (But not impossible. Do you have an OEM Wet Sounds amp? That’s another thread!)

 

[cwoav8r]

Just for reference:

https://jetboaters.net/threads/adding-a-second-battery-and-charging-relay-on-my-2021-ar190.36257/

 

[EricE]

When looking to validate a part I always go to the manufacture’s site, part of the journey for best price that @cwoav8r outlined. Yamaha and other boat manufacturers are designers and assemblers and will use MANY “off the shelf parts”. You’ll learn key vendors as you go (Attwood is one to know) and if you can find their generic product and part number you’ll be more likely to find it on Amazon, and for less.

In this particular case, the first part is Yamaha OEM and their part number, the second is the manufacturer’s own number. Go to BEP’s website and verify it is the same switch (or search this site, o someone here who knows will verify) as some of these look the same, but may be different. It is improbable that it is a one-off switch Yamaha had made just for them. (But not impossible. Do you have an OEM Wet Sounds amp? That’s another thread!)

Thanks for the comment.
Yeah, I am pretty sure they e the same since I have had it apart to setup the DVSR for a 2 bank charger/maintainer. Looking at the BEP site, that's the only one that is setup in the same configuration, and like you said I highly doubt Yamah had them make a specific change for their boats. Once its in, I check the actual model number on the units themselves and compare...

 

[EricE]

Just for reference:

https://jetboaters.net/threads/adding-a-second-battery-and-charging-relay-on-my-2021-ar190.36257/

That is pretty helpful, I remember reading that post back when I was modifying the DVSR for a dual bank charger/maintainer.