Leisure battery charging problem

[Ian45]

So here we are, our first week long trip on the Thames in our boat bought last August and a few things are coming to light.

Just moored up for the night and found no power for lights or anything apart from the engine electronics which luckily fire the engine up. Managed to trace the complete loss of domestic power to a loose connection on the battery switch in the engine bay but the brand new leisure battery I bought only a couple of weeks ago is now flat! This is strange for two reasons: 1-new battery been charging from shore power all week 2-spent last couple of nights in marinas with shore power connected.

Since getting the boat the electrics seem to have had a mind on their own at times. Rev counter sometimes working sometimes not, cigarette lighter dual socket didn't work, did work then stopped. Engine temperature gauge been working fine, now in the last day it seems to have stopped!

But at this present moment, moored for the night with five of us on board a Sealine 218 I'm hoping someone may shed some light as to why the leisure battery has not charged? As luck would have it I kept the old leisure battery on board and it's that that has given us some power to run the water pump but my concern is that it will go flat if it's not charging when the engine is running or connected to show power.

I have a feeling our family adventure may be cut short and we will have to return to the Marina, such a shame as it's been a fantastic few days up to now.

 

[DavidGrieves]

Charging

I bought my boat last year and it had a few electrics/charging problems. Sometimes on start up the revcounter would not work and the alternator was not charging the batteries.

I eventually tracked the fault down to a bad connection on the field wire to the alternator. Most alternators do not have permenant magnets and need voltage from the battery to energise the field coils in the alternator to make it work. Once I sorted the connection everything worked OK.

Do you have any charging boosters such as "Sterling" or "Adverc"? The diodes in them stop the current flowing back to the alternator,the Sterling has the facility to run a wire back to the alternator for a couple of seconds on startup to allow the field coils to be energised.

If your battery is very flat, it will not be able to energise the alternator, but you would think the start battery would do this and get it working. Do you have any way of pairing up the batteries, such as a 1-2-both switch? You could try starting with your starter battery then pairing them up. This might be enough to get the liesure batery charging. But be careful not to flatten both.

Some good info here http://www.familycar.com/classroom/charging.htm


Hope you get it sorted

David

 

[Ian45]

Thank you for the advice David.

The boat does have a battery charger in the engine bay that supposedly keeps the batteries topped up which still seems strange as to why the battery went flat after being on charge in the Marina the night before?

We stopped at a boat yard today www.betterboating.co.uk and a very helpful guy checked that the batteries were getting charged. starter was but leisure one wasn't.

So as to not cut short our cruise he told us to get some jump leads to make a direct connection to get a charge to the leisure battery while the engine is running and make sure we disconnect it when we stop for the night or we would flatten the starter one.

So at least I know there is a problem regarding that area, not the only one I'm sure.

It's a steep learning curve for someone with little knowledge of boost electrics or engines but I can check out your suggestions on our return to base.

 

[Stu Jackson]

With the limited information you provided about your charging system, it is difficult to make any suggestions.

One of the important things to remember is "It All Depends on How It's Wired" when dealing with electrical systems. Your charger could be wired any number of different ways, as could your alternator output.

It would be wise to begin to draw a wiring diagram of your boat so that you can begin to understand how it all works. I know, I know, electrical isn't "your strong suit," but none of us were electrical engineers before we bought our boats, but over time we have learned.

If you are having intermittent electrical issues, it's usually connections.

If something isn't charging properly, it's usually connections, or could be a major component or could be the whole "system" design. Since you're the only one right on your boat, only you can tell us how it's wired.

Good luck, hope your cruise can continue with the jumper wires.

 

[DavidGrieves]

Sounds like a bad connection somewhere. You will just need to work your way through it systematically. Take a good look at the earth connections first.

What sort of charge controller/booster do you have?

Check the output from the booster on both outputs.

Are the wires from the booster/charger protected by fuses(midi fuse)?Fuses are normally close to the battery end of the wire.

Could the liesure battery have died? What is the voltage from it?

Do you have a multi meter? if not, get hold of one, they are a must have piece of kit if you want to fault find. About £20 ish. Learn how to test DC voltage and how to test for continuity.

This is a good site http://www.tb-training.co.uk/ Loads of info on electrical systems, and explained in plain English...! Well worth a look.


David

 

[Ian45]

The jumper leads have given us enough power to run lights in the evening and only one at a time backed up with portable camping lamps which have been a godsend.

Making a our way back during today/tomorrow with another 'shower stop' for the girls....and me

I so appreciate the information given from you both and fully intend to get to grips with the wiring to arm myself with some knowledge for any future issues not to mention the existing ones.

I'm typing this on my iPad while sat in the sun on the boat while the rest of the family are in the shower block. I can hear the birds singing and quacking, not from the same bird obviously! All things considered it has been a lovely initial cruise on the boat even with our wiring hiccups.

 

[nigelmercier]

checked that the batteries were getting charged. starter was but leisure one wasn't.

Is this with the shore-power charger, or the alternator? The latter should have a splitter (or a switch, or even better a VSR) to enable both banks to charge. The former should have more than one output.

 

[Ian45]

Is this with the shore-power charger, or the alternator? The latter should have a splitter (or a switch, or even better a VSR) to enable both banks to charge. The former should have more than one output.

Now I am back on dry land I will go through all the paperwork that came when I purchased the boat. I need to establish exactly what the setup is so I can then get a better understanding of how to check it all based on the kind advise given.

 

[sarabande]

have you a 12B switch or a VSR on board ?

 

[Ian45]

have you a 12B switch or a VSR on board ?

It must be a VSR as there are only two battery switches, one for starter and one for leisure and they are just 'on/off'.

 

[TQA]

It is not rocket science. Get a multi meter from Radio Shack or Maplins.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/ut30b-palm-sized-digital-multimeter-46498 £7.99

Set it to the 20 volt scale.

Apply the leads to the batteries and see what voltage you get when you think they should be charging. You should see something like 13 volts or more.

If you are in doubt switch the charger off then back on.

Disconnect the charger and start the engine again you should see 13 volts + with it running if you are charging.

It is also worth [ with the charger disconnected ] removing and cleaning all contacts/terminals on the batteries and battery switches.

Nigel Calder has written a good book called the !2 volt bible.