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I am looking for some help....purchased a 328 Vista and have questions regarding the operations of the battery charger and when to use it to restore the levels to the optimum battery performance...owner I purchased said he left the switch on all the time but I have had problems with batteries...this didn't make sense and I found out why.....also...when would I use the generator when out on the water to charge batteries....is there a norm that anyone uses.....Also....the fridge up top seems to be the main culprit of draining batteries...could anyone tell me how they run this fridge without killing batteries....any suggestions and tips would be greatly appreciated......

I am a little confused! On your point: "this didn't make sense and I found out why" was it the fridge or something else??

The fridge should be running off shore power when connected. You might want to confirm that it is.

I think, and thats me, that you need to start from square one. How old are your batteries and are they holding a charge? Cables good, connections clean? Are the on-board chargers giving you any errors. Check and see when the engines are running, that you are getting charge voltage. About 13.4 to 13.6 off the top of my head. Take a reading with the engings running & off, you should see a higher voltage when running.

Off the slip, I can run my fridge for at least 5hrs off a group24 battery and still start my engine. So I think it could go at least 10 t0 12 hrs if not more.

Your engines with the battery isolator, should be charging all 3 batteries (you could have more) at the same time.
You could resart your engines or genset as needed, depending on the load you are pulling when off the slip.

Welcome Payner to the iFour Winns forum and congrats on the purchase of your 328 Vista.

I think you will find it common practice for most Vista owners to leave their battery chargers on full time while they are at a dock and plugged into shorepower.

Both our fridges on our 328 are AC/DC. While at the dock on shorepower we have the fridges run on AC. When I leave the dock I turn the fridges off AC power and turn the fridges onto DC power. The AC switches for the fridges are found in the top portion of your electrical panel while the DC switches are found in the same electrical panel in the bottom portion.

Our 328 has two starting batteries and one house battery. If your house battery is good, I don't see why the one house battery would not supply both fridges with enough power to last out on the water for at least a minmum of 6 hours or so.

Remember though, if you too only have the one house battery, that when away from your dock that house battery would also power your fridges, your stereo, VHF radio, any lights you have one etc., so its not just the fridges that are drawing down your house battery.

You can use the generator for AC power anytime your have a need for AC power. Like charging your house battery after being away from the dock, running your air conditioning, making popcorn , etc.

Mike.

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Current Boat
- 2001 Four Winns 328 Vista "Hour Decision"
- 2010 310 Mercury Inflatable

Previous Boats
- 30' Doral Prestancia
- 25' Doral Citation

Mike...thanks for ur reply....bought boat from wallace burg....it was driven on Lake st clair...small world....just need clarification....u said that ur refrigerators have a switch at top of control panel...mine just has fridge down in the cuddy toggle on top of panel....toggle for upstairs fridge is located on bottom part of panel.....when Im plugged into shore panel I have to turn on systems switch to operate top fridge....would like top hear your suggestions about many of the electrical systems...have owned many boats but not one as overwhelming as I am finding this boat to be.....just to clarify some of my concerns...when i am on shorepower I have to have system switch on which runs the dc to systems like stereo, lights etc...I took out all three batteries and charged them up but the voltage stays at 12 and then drops after an hour or so of listening to music or watching dvd....should I have my battery charger on while at shore?? Mechanic says that I shouldn't do this.....do you leave ur charger on when u are not on the boat???...sorry have lots of questions....

Always leave battery charger on while on shore power.......you can turn fridge(s) off when on battery power to conserve battery power..... that is if..... you do not want to start the gen-set.... or leave..... them on..... and start up the genny before.... you are ready to go back.... to your marina..... Happy.... Boating.... and.... welcome.......

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

No problem with lots of questions. I always appreciated the help for when I had questions about my 328 Vista or for that matter my previous boats.

From your last post, there are a number of questions to answer.If you would like you may PM me and I will give you my home phone number and you are welcome to call. I can help answer your 328 Vista questions quicker and easier this way, especially the way I type.

P.S. - I purchased my last boat (30' Doral Prestancia) from Wallaceburg and took it across Lake St.Clair to our home port. Small world indeed.

Mike.

_________________

Current Boat
- 2001 Four Winns 328 Vista "Hour Decision"
- 2010 310 Mercury Inflatable

Previous Boats
- 30' Doral Prestancia
- 25' Doral Citation

Got your PM and have responded with phone number......

Mike.

_________________

Current Boat
- 2001 Four Winns 328 Vista "Hour Decision"
- 2010 310 Mercury Inflatable

Previous Boats
- 30' Doral Prestancia
- 25' Doral Citation

Welcome.
I have just had the pleasure of helping a friend troubleshoot a host of electrical problem on their 328. There cockpit fridge. Is only 12v and their salon fridge is dual voltage. He has 6 batteries in total. 4 house and 2 starting batteries. We ran a test with his and he could go more than 48 hours on the hook before charging his batteries. He also leaves his charger on at the dock and the battery switches in the ship systems position

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2001 328 Vista "Nauta Dream 2"
AB Inflatable 10AL "Little Dreamer"
2000 248 Vista
1997 225 Sundowner


Mike

Yep!