Marine Electrics

[Hermit]

Hello, Can anyone recommend a good marine electrical engineer in the Gosport/Haslar area? My batteries are leaking power to somewhere and I can't find out to where for the life of me /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Cheers,
Rob

 

[oldsaltoz]

Did you try disconnecting the alternator to make sure it's not a blown diode?

Avagoodweekend......

 

[William_H]

I would always advocate DIY. it is not difficult you can learn it yourself and in so doing will have much more control of your electrics destiny (and wallet's destiny)
The first thing you need to do is confirmn there is a leakage. This is done by removing one battery terminal ( do just one battery at a time with others completely disconnected) then insert an amp meter in between the terminal and the wire.
If you use a multimeter it has ranges which can be changed to check for really small currents. All services and devices should be turned off. Any current measured will be leakage.

Leakage current is measured by your multimeter in milliamps. ie 1000ndth part of an amp. So a 1 millioamp leak which is quite a lot of leakage would discharge a 100AH battery in 100000hrs. (aprox.)
Check the other battery in the same way. Obviously in the arrangement you use when leaving the boat.

If you have a stereo radio with digital select then it is most likely it is permanently connected to the power and will leak possibly several milliamps. Likewise a clock and possibly gas detector, burgular alarm etc etc. Even solar panel regulator could waste some current.

These devices don't usually cause any premature discharge of your battery and the current lost will be comparable with natural discharge of the battery over time.

So check your system. It will be worth you persevering for simply getting to know your boat.

Of course you may simply have tired old batteries in which case the cost of an expert would almost equate to a new set of batteries.
good luck olewill

 

[Birdseye]

The way you comment suggests to me that your problem is occurring when the engine isnt running, everything is switched off etc. I'm guessing, but if that is the case then the place to start is at the batteries. Charge them up, disconnect them and monitor the voltage over a day or two. Batteries can leak current internally, something they often do when on the way out. And if one is doing that, it will flatten the others assuming all in parallel.

If the batteries hold their charge, then with them still disconnected put a resistance meter across the terminals with everything switched off. You will find that everything isnt switched off and there is a resistance rather than an open circuit, so start to pull every fuse you can find, measuring the circuit resistance in between each fuse pull. Eventually you will find one circuit that is not shut off.

However, unless you have just added some kit, changed some wiring, its likely that what you have is a combination of a component wired directly and weak batteries ie something that has only become a problem because there isnt as much juice in the batteries as there used to be.

A leccy is only going to do the same logical process - except charging you £50 per hour or whatever to do so.

 

[Sandyman]

[ QUOTE ]
Hello, Can anyone recommend a good marine electrical engineer in the Gosport/Haslar area? My batteries are leaking power to somewhere and I can't find out to where for the life of me /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Cheers,
Rob

[/ QUOTE ]

Hello Rob,

Im a marine electrical/mechanical engineer and guess what ?
You may be in luck, cos I live in Gosport /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Have PM'd you my home tel number.
Will be pleased to help if I can free of charge. (not a sentence often heard in the yachting world /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif) But there is a catch /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif If I am able to help then I would request your consideration of a few shekels towards a local maritime charity I support. Cheers /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[gwc2004]

Now there's an offer you can't refuse!

 

[Chris_Robb]

Geoff Sargent - 07774 513338

Cannot recommend him highly enough - sorted out all my battery and wiriing problems, and unusually for the marine world - he did when he said he was going to!