Help - broken down boat!

Power steering is hydraulic so has no electrical load,but if the autopilot itself uses a motor to effectively turn the steering wheel then that will have electrical load,but I'd be surprised if it was a significant load.

Easy way to rule out alternator problems:-
Put a multimeter on the alternator terminals while the engine is idling, see what volts it reads, ifnthe multimeter reads 13.6v but the volt meter on the boat shows 11v then the alt is fine,and you most likely have corroded connection somewhere, if the multimeter on the alt reads 11v then alternator is shot
 
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rafiki_ said:
Fair point, but does not really explain why touching a switch, A/P etc, when she is up to speed would have such a drastic effect. Voltage looks low at idle, OK when up to speed? If she conked at idle it would concur re low voltage impact. Sorry if I'm not clear, but I'm struggling with the logic. I'm much more in tune with Bart's dodgy connector or wiring, where something is breaking down when under load. Could also explain low voltage at idle.
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Understood. Don't worry I'm not going to start swopping or replacing bits but i's a shame I can't charge the starboard battery as a test. I'll let someone with a voltmeter do some proper analysis next week.
 
The A/P has an electric motor .
After a run of course at revs eventually if the alternator functions via decent contacts and bat gets enough charge to cope with ECU , and what ever is demanded like trim pump and A/P pump then it all works .
But as mentioned have it all checked through , but before engaging anybody check all conections if the prob reoccurs then ask a boat sparky to check .

Pete the steeerings like a PAS pump on a car belt driven with VP outdrives .
On bigger stuff they have a dedicated hydraulic unit which is electric motor driven ,to get the pressure in the system up .
This powers the steering ram on the rudder stocks , trim tabs and Passerelle .
There s no pump on the engine normally except if you have other hydraulics like bow thruster in which case there may be a PTO on one engine running a pump in the E room .
 
Are both engines dying with this intermittent fault? If so - I'd be looking at the neg bus bars for a loose connection. Not sure on the T34, but it does seem to be electrically similar to the T40, which has a heavy duty dc box in the mid cabin, a neg bus bar close to the back of the dc breaker panel, and a common earthing point on the transom between the engines.

If however the fault is just affecting one engine then as suggested by portofino I'd be looking at battery post connections.
 
Whitelighter said:
Just the starboard engine
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Aha thanks. Sorry if I'm making you repeat yourself. Sounds like all the suggestions from others have it covered. Odd that it's intermittent though. Does the bowthruster also provoke the fault? (This would be the easiest way to generate a massive transient load, much more than trim or ap pumps).
 
What battery is the AP connected to ? they usually connected to house battery and if that is the case then wouldn't be running from your stbd battery, I would expect the charger to be capable of charging the stbd battery via the solenoid ? is it just a switching relay or a VSR ? As that would make more sense, power trim is connected through the 55a fuse straight to starter pos terminal so if its this is causing the issue I would put money on the problem being between battery and starter, if alternator is not putting out correct voltage then the battery warning light will flash and the alarm will sound
 
Boat2016 said:
What battery is the AP connected to ? they usually connected to house battery and if that is the case then wouldn't be running from your stbd battery, I would expect the charger to be capable of charging the stbd battery via the solenoid ? is it just a switching relay or a VSR ? As that would make more sense, power trim is connected through the 55a fuse straight to starter pos terminal so if its this is causing the issue I would put money on the problem being between battery and starter, if alternator is not putting out correct voltage then the battery warning light will flash and the alarm will sound
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The A/P is an optional extra .
We have no wiring diagram .
It makes sence by the fitter just to conect it to re nearest bat .
I bet it's ( A/P pump ) is on the Stb side .
Anyhow easy to find out ,just turn the Stb off engine and /or breaker while the A/P is running and see what happens

That "bat solinoid " thing is a pararell or x -over switch on the dash .
It's spring loaded you can,t keep it on when you take hand off it springs off as designed .
It's for a tempory conection of the port mostly Dom depleted bank to the undepleted Stb bat .
That's assuming as mentioned @ anchor for what ever reason the port bank is depleted so low it can,t turn the starter motor on that engine .
 
Perhaps take a jump lead or similar and earth the two engines together - that would prove if a dodgy earth problem.

You could also take a temp +ve feed from battery to the stbd engine ECU, but urge extra caution here as feed needs to be fused and protected from heat/abrasion on earthed parts. Either need to be secured away from moving parts etc - if in any doubt, don't attempt!
 
Portofino said:
The A/P is an optional extra .
We have no wiring diagram .
It makes sence by the fitter just to conect it to re nearest bat .
I bet it's ( A/P pump ) is on the Stb side .
Anyhow easy to find out ,just turn the Stb off engine and /or breaker while the A/P is running and see what happens

That "bat solinoid " thing is a pararell or x -over switch on the dash .
It's spring loaded you can,t keep it on when you take hand off it springs off as designed .
It's for a tempory conection of the port mostly Dom depleted bank to the undepleted Stb bat .
That's assuming as mentioned @ anchor for what ever reason the port bank is depleted so low it can,t turn the starter motor on that engine .
Click to expand...

I would expect the AP wired to the correct battery and not just the nearest, but then some installers I know are purely cost driven, I wouldn't want to try and start the engines after running the house batteries down only to find the AP has run down the back ups as well

Not being able to charge all your battery's from the charger is crazy, it wouldn't take much to wire in a way it does
 
Have you got the red key type isolators ? they are known to make bad contact when they get old, also make sure the correct type keys are used
 
Portofino said:
The A/P is an optional extra .
We have no wiring diagram .
It makes sence by the fitter just to conect it to re nearest bat .
I bet it's ( A/P pump ) is on the Stb side .
Anyhow easy to find out ,just turn the Stb off engine and /or breaker while the A/P is running and see what happens

That "bat solinoid " thing is a pararell or x -over switch on the dash .
It's spring loaded you can,t keep it on when you take hand off it springs off as designed .
It's for a tempory conection of the port mostly Dom depleted bank to the undepleted Stb bat .
That's assuming as mentioned @ anchor for what ever reason the port bank is depleted so low it can,t turn the starter motor on that engine .
Click to expand...

The a/p is wired to the domestic supply (it's standard fit on T34 I think). Wiring is shown on a separate chart.
 
After Jez crewing and coaching my partner yesterday, today it was my turn to man the lines and fenders for my partner. Before we headed out we made a thorough check of the engines. Firstly, we drained off a little fuel from the filters. There's still a little bit of sediment as you'll see from the attached photo (sorry it's got rotated).

20170902_102003.jpg


I'd be interested to know if you guys think this look OK.

We then checked the belts and were a little surprised to see that the starboard alternator belt was so loose that we could rotate the pulley by hand. We (well, my partner actually - I watched :)) adjusted it to match the tension in the port side alternator then headed out for the day.

My partner hadn't been up the Beaulieu so that was our first stop. The weather was absolutely beautiful, a perfect power boating day I reckon. We went as far as Bucklers Hard then headed across to Osborne Bay for anchoring practice and a bit of lunch. A healthy lunch of pork pies, sausage rolls and crisps was enjoyed in a rather rolly anchorage but very pleasurable never the less. Probably 95% yachtists and a smattering of stinkers. After lunch we had a quick blast heading north and up Southampton Water back to Hythe.

The boat didn't miss a beat all day so I figure that the issue that Jez saw yesterday was due to the alternator belt that started slipping whenever any load was put on it (e.g. altering drive trims). We tried playing with the drive trims and the A/P today and encountered no problems.

Apart from the the alternator issue we fixed the companion way door and the lock has miraculously fixed itself to (hitherto not locking properly). We've also figured out how to work the anchor light which the surveyor had reported as broken. On the negative side side the water tank is showing 100% full when empty. Any ideas anyone (stuck sender perhaps)?

Credit to Mumford Marine for a great job of steam cleaning the covers (for £70) that have come up looking like new and a good job washing down the exterior.

And before I forget, here's the customary wake shot!

20170902_143618.jpg
 
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Draining fuel into wines glasses. Now that is proper posh :)

Glad you got the issues sorted!
 
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