Hi Matt,

I'd suggest that a few minutes with a hand-held voltage meter could answer many of your questions. You could also experiment by removing one of the cables from each battery in turn and seeing what happens. Tracing down the wires that lead to the Blue Seas switch will help you conclusively determine how the batteries are connected. Along the same lines, see if you can identify the wires that lead from the solar panels. They would need to be connected to the battery/batteries to provide a charge.

While we all have the same model of boat, there have been many changes over the years to the boats leaving the factory. If you also consider changes made by individual owners you can probably see that it's impossible to say exactly how your particular boat is wired. A bit of troubleshooting will go a long way towards a better understanding of your boat.

FYI, I plan to install a dual voltage meter to keep track of the charge level of both of my batteries. In the meantime I make use of my volt meter on a regular basis.

Good luck,

Mark Whipple

Boston, MA

2000 R22 *Luna Mia*
1982 Com-Pac 16 *For Sale*

On Thu, Jul 22, 2021 at 7:37 PM Matt Wilson <mwhornblower at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey everyone,
>
> I have a 1990 Rhodes with deep cycle battery in the lazarette that is
> connected to a blue sea systems switch. I also have a deep cycle battery in
> the cabin. Are these batteries connected?  The lazarette battery switch has
> been off, yet my motor has started just fine.  Does that mean I have been
> running it off the cabin battery?  If so perhaps that’s why my running
> lights are dim.
> I also have a small solar panel that can be set on top of the cabin.  Does
> that work to keep the system topped off?  Do I still need to occasionally
> recharge both batteries?
>
> Thanks so much for your help,
> Matt Wilson
> Hornblower II
> White Bear Lake, MN
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone