bavaria 34 2002 battery charging

[johnsail]

Hi
Serious enquiry - I still have a keel so please spare the usual skits.
does anyone know what type of battery charger will be on the above boat as standard equipment. Should it charge both domestic and starting battery when on shore power?
Both opinions and facts accepted in good faith and good humour.
John

 

[Tranona]

It would not have been fitted with a battery charger as standard. So if it has one it will have been fitted by the dealer or a subsequent owner.

Usual would be a 25 to 30 amp charger wired to charge both engine start and service battery from the shorepower circuit. On my 37 of similar vintage I have fitted a Synergex 25 amp

Hope this helps

 

[johnsail]

thanks Tranona

Would such a charger normally have two separate circuits - one for start and one for domestic. Reason I ask is that I confirmed that there was no charge going to the start battery but did not check the domestic. But I think that the domestic is getting charged from shore power.

If there is only one charge circuit then that blows that theory out of the water!

John

 

[Chris_Robb]

Would such a charger normally have two separate circuits - one for start and one for domestic. Reason I ask is that I confirmed that there was no charge going to the start battery but did not check the domestic. But I think that the domestic is getting charged from shore power.

If there is only one charge circuit then that blows that theory out of the water!

John

John, I think you are getting slightly muddled here.

There are 2 charging systems on a boat usually.

1. The Alternator

2. Shore power - which runs a battery charger.

You have 2 battery systems, the engine and the Domestic. When you run the engine, the alternator will charge the batteries. Boats have different ways of enabling both batteries to charge, and someone will be back shortly to tell you what Bavaria used. In short they are:
a) a big switch marked 1 2 or both - where 1 is one battery and 2 is the other. This switch will allow you to connect your batteries in parallel and charge both at the same time.
b) a splitting diode - which enable one charge lead from the engine alternator to be split into 2 charging circuits - a diode only passes current one way.

c) A solid state switch which is essentially an automated version of a) above. This operates by paralleling the batteries once the engine battery has reach a certain voltage - around 13.8???.

It is worth understanding how your system works, and to do that you need to have a "digital Multimeter" which will tell you the voltages at any time on each battery. It is such a usefull tool on a boat for checking things when they are not working - so just get one!

Shorepower: Your charger will be connected to the shorepower, and may well charge both batteries. You can check that by tracing any leads from the charger.

So what do you look for?
The Voltage of a battery will tell you a lot.

STATIC VOLTAGE: a battery that has been standing for many hours after charging will show 12.7V or so. A half charged battery 12.2, and a flat battery will be around 11V.

CHARGING VOLTAGE: When either the Alternator or battery charger is running, the voltages will rise from 12.7 to about 14.2 and in some system to 14.8. If the votages are only rising to 13.8 or so, after quite a time, then you are getting charge, but inadequate to charge the battery.

Hence - getting a digital multimeter, as analogue ones are usually not accurate enough to measure the very small differnces clearly enough.

If you get these valtages - smile - your OK, If not come back to the forum and ask more questions - you will get plenty opf answers.

You may want to do a search on "Battery Charging" as these issues as you may imaging have all been discussed before.

Bon Chance!

 

[dk]

John

The shore power battery charger will be connected so as to charge both engine start & domestic batteries, but usually only has a single charging circuit connected in parallel. The engine alternator charge will most likely go through a 'diode splitter', which allows both to be charged simultaneously, but disconnects them when the engine is not running to prevent the start battery from being discharged along with the service batteries.

Hope this helps.

Edit: Sorry - must've been writing at the same time as above!

 

[Tranona]

Although all the above is correct, it is much too complicated for your simple question. Most shorepower battery chargers have outputs for up to three batteries and a means of setting the charging regime to suit the battery type.

The Bavaria has a split charging diode for the alternator circuit - clearly visible as a "black box" on the bulkhead above the engine. There is only one isolator switch which is in the locker alongside the chart table. It isolates through the negative of both battery banks.

The shorepower charger will be mounted somewhere near the batteries. It should have a switched supply from the 240V circuit. Coming from the charger will be a common negative and a positive for each battery. On my charger there is a warning light for each output to confirm it is charging. The simple way of checking that it is working (assuming your battery is fully charged) is to put a high load on it such as turning on the fridge. The charger should cut in pretty quickly.

You rarely need to charge the start battery from shorepower as in normal use it is immediately recharged from the engine alternator as soon as you start the engine.

 

[Chris_Robb]

The Bavaria has a split charging diode for the alternator circuit - clearly visible as a "black box" on the bulkhead above the engine. There is only one isolator switch which is in the locker alongside the chart table. It isolates through the negative of both battery banks.

.

Just a word of warning - from experiance when I borrowed a friends Bavaria.

The Isolator switch refered to above in the locker along side the chart table ( actually I think it was in a locker underneath the chart table) is easy to knock with a book or something heavy. I did this and turned the switch off inadvertantly for a second - result was a buggered alternator and ruined holiday.....(mind you it had been raining for the entire week so we were happy to leave! ) So be a little careful!!!

 

[halcyon]

Just a word of warning - from experiance when I borrowed a friends Bavaria.

The Isolator switch refered to above in the locker along side the chart table ( actually I think it was in a locker underneath the chart table) is easy to knock with a book or something heavy. I did this and turned the switch off inadvertantly for a second - result was a buggered alternator and ruined holiday.....(mind you it had been raining for the entire week so we were happy to leave! ) So be a little careful!!!

Further to the above, had the same with Westerly's, and isolators switches being knocked off. This one ran for over 3 hours with both isolators off, and no damage to the alternator. The alternator supplied the yacht's service loads via the split charge relay, this was adequate to maintan the alternators regulator in operation. So the voltage remained low, and no damage, until the owner turned the engine off, and all the electrics went dead. So may be a reason for not having the isolator in the negative, you kill all the circuits, though equally it could be a good reason to put it there.

Back to the OP's original question, if it has two outputs, it may well be one controller feeding two diodes to split the output. So you could have a diode gone, or a fuse blown, and only have one of the two battery banks getting a charge.

Brian

 

[Tranona]

Just a word of warning - from experiance when I borrowed a friends Bavaria.

The Isolator switch refered to above in the locker along side the chart table ( actually I think it was in a locker underneath the chart table) is easy to knock with a book or something heavy. I did this and turned the switch off inadvertantly for a second - result was a buggered alternator and ruined holiday.....(mind you it had been raining for the entire week so we were happy to leave! ) So be a little careful!!!

On mine it is alongside the chart table - and switch is vertical when on so needs a positive upward movement to turn off. However, I am replacing with a proper switching system using a BEP Marine cluster which isolates banks independently and has a parallel switch.

 

[Playtime]

Hi
Serious enquiry - I still have a keel so please spare the usual skits.
does anyone know what type of battery charger will be on the above boat as standard equipment. Should it charge both domestic and starting battery when on shore power?
Both opinions and facts accepted in good faith and good humour.
John

If the shore power charger was a dealer fitted extra then it might only have one output (cheaper!).

It should be easy to check whether shore power is charging both batteries using the Bavaria standard fitted voltmeter. Just read both battery voltages after shore power has been connected for half an hour. If the battery is on charge it should read 13.8V or higher. If not on charge it should read less than 13V.

I was agree, though, that a digital multimeter is a worthwhile investment. Something like this would be OK.