AARGH,,Huge,Major,Catastrophic Disaster!!!

[Moose]

Following on from my post below, We went down to the boat today. After looking at the weather for an hour while 'wolfing' down me lunch and seeing only rain and no wind, I decided that we should go up to the Bar and run the engines. So I called up the marina to lock out and tell No 1 Brat to start the engines as it is his turn to do all the manouvering.
And,,,,,,,,,,OH NO,,,,,,,,,,,DOH,,,,,,,,,,HELP,,,,,,,,,,,AARGH,,,,,,,,,, The starboard engine will not start, after looking around we discovered that the Engine start battery that is meant to just start the Starboard engine is Flat, so we try the changeover switch to start the Starboard engine cos' the Port one is happily chuntering away to its self,,,,,,, but NO,,,,,,,,still no luck, So I got the people from Volvo down to have a look and they manage to tell me that the battery is flat but they do not know why. But after they have gone No1 Brat holds down the changeover switch for a few minutes and turns the key,,,,,,,,,,Suspense,,,,,,,,,,Gasps,,,,,,,,,,,What will happen,,,,,,,,,IT STARTS!! Woohoh!!

So, why would the Starboard engine battery be flat in the first place,Should it not allways be charged? (The battery charger has been going all the time)
It is still under warranty so I want to get it sorted out quickly so it does'nt cost me anything.
I think that all made sense,,,,Did it?,,,,,,apart from all the commas!

Moose

I've got a boat at last!!!
WHOOPEE!!!!!!!!!!

BUT WHAT SHOULD I CALL IT?

 

[DepSol]

Dead Cell in the Battery or your engine has hydrauliced!!

Dom

I am boating again ;-)

 

[byron]

You should have one battery for starting both engines. The other solely for domestics plus and emergency switch over in case the starter bank is flat.
The flat battery, if it isn't faulty then there must be a drain on it somewhere. When leaving the craft both batteries should be isolated anyways.

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<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.freeware.mcmail.com/435.htm>http://www.freeware.mcmail.com/435.htm</A>[/b]

 

[hlb]

Its F**ked Knackered and in desperate need of a new one. Need I say more,

<font color=blue> Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.
Haydn

 

[halcyon]

First job is to take battery to agent and get it tested, batteries die at any time, thats why you have a warranty.
If you have a totally flat battery, linking them will only pull the good battery down, in this case holding in link allowed enough time for the alternator to but some charge in. This was probably surface charge, but allowed the voltage to rise and start the engine from the other bank. If the battery is faulty, check the charger on refitting new battery, charging a faulty battery may have damaged the charger output.
Back in 1990 Sealine started fitting 110 amp hour batteries to the 365, following on we started getting a spate charger complants ref boiled batteries. We would go down the boat and the charger was working perfectly, but we would have battery with no water, or black (was white) top. But what ever we did no batery charger faults could be found, so on the assumption that if it wasn't the charger it must be the battery. So batteries went back to manufacture, and after a bit they admitted that there was a manufacturing fault. This was a intermittent cell link shorting out, so effectively our 12 volt battery was a 10 volt battery, this intern ment that our 13.6 volt float boiled the remaining 5 cells, or it equated to 15.8 volt on a 12 volt battery. This fault would disappear as fast as it appeared, so never assume what is right at one instant, is right all the time.



Brian