New boat. Nearly a whole entire month without something breaking !

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oldgit

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Battery Charger refuses to do anything.
220v definately going in from shore power / generator but the device refuses to produce 12v to charge batteries.
Desperately hoping there is a an overload reset button lurking somewhere but suspect its an out and away to be an expensive mended fix.
Was of course working perfectly when we went away at beginning of week but conked out on first day or two away when all the batteries urgently need charging.
All suggestions welcome including who can look at it.

 
Have you removed lower cover to see if 'on' led is lit? Remove shore power and check mains input fuse to right of mains input terminals. Then try inline battery fuse that should be fitted.
If those checkout it's a return for repair.
 
trevbouy said:
Have you removed lower cover to see if 'on' led is lit? Remove shore power and check mains input fuse to right of mains input terminals. Then try inline battery fuse that should be fitted.
If those checkout it's a return for repair.
Click to expand...

Def no LED lights on.

Checked the 220v ceramic fuse soldered into PCB and have continuity.
Checked two glass fuses soldered to PCB adjacent to 12V leads and again continuity.
Will try and discover if any 12v fuse(s) has been installed elsewhere, if not, looks like trip to the menders. :(.
Fortunately Victron list a dealer on my doorstep
 
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Sandy said:
Have you had the covers off and checked things out with a multimeter?
Click to expand...

Yes....................
........but with my inate ability to make things much much worse while endevouring to investigate broken stuff, have limited my efforts to a quick look for the glaringly obvious before admitting defeat.
This normally saves me considerable amounts of money and distress.
 
UPDATE................
Grrrr....................the observant may have noticed " that" timer unit under the charger !
Just about to remove charger from boat when a cursory squint at the virtually unreadable and tiny weeny text on the timer screen revealed that it had set itself to permanently "OFF" therefore not allowing any 240v from either shorepower or genny to the charger.
Removal of the timer, instantly resulted in the green LED coming on and the fans bursting into life.
The point of the timer is ?
Previous boat certainly managed without one.
 
Just_sayin' said:
To stop your batteries charging 24/7?

We had three timers.

Batteries charged for one hour a day.
Heater for twelve hours a day.
Dehumidifier for four hours a day.
Click to expand...

Just curious , but surely once any of the batteries are fully charged, current flow reduces to nil. ?

Previous boat certainly had no timer installed to its rather prehistoric charger . On shorepower 24/7 and certainly no battery problems in 6 years of ownership. ?
 
Might want to take a look at the fire Extinguisher pretty sure they are nozzel down type so you might not get the result you want/need!

Centuers are good chargers but really are for a continuous load type scenario and not well suited to floating the battery as there is no storage mode. This would explain the timer.
 
oldgit said:
Just curious , but surely once any of the batteries are fully charged, current flow reduces to nil. ?
Click to expand...

Many years ago we had a battery boil dry whilst we were on board. My mistake. It was terrifying.

We sometimes don’t use one of our boats for > 6 months although it is in commission.

I would feel very uncomfortable leaving the battery on charge 24/7, even with a smart charger, without us being around.

They DO discharge over time.

280A1431-1BAC-46A0-9583-7F03A4A6DAAE.jpeg
 
oldgit said:
Just curious , but surely once any of the batteries are fully charged, current flow reduces to nil. ?
Click to expand...
I think the main charger, which you would connect to the larger bank, is 3-stage, and the charger for the starter battery is a steady current (4A on the latest Victron Multiplus 1600).

There's probably also some power consumed by the charger itself even when it's in float.

I think if the marina is billing you for your shore power and the boat is left alone for weeks at a time then there's some sense in a timer which only puts it on for an hour or two a day.
 
Our Victron inverter/charger uses 0.5 amp. on float - its an old model, has no timer and has been faultless. However because of the float usage - we switch it off when we do not need it.

Jonathan
 
My Victron Bluesmart charger uses only 2p worth of electricity per day when in float/maintenance mode.
My previous charger did become faulty and consumed more than normal amount of energy as its leaving present .
 
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Thanks for all contributions.
Have now bothered to search through all the paperwork that that came with boat and low and behold timer instructions were lurking within the folder.
Going to refit timer and set to always On for now.
Boat kept in a club pontoon 10 mins from home and in Mid Winter may not be checked for nearly two or three days at a time. :)
Next time RTFM. ?

Next on the list ?
A mysterious lonely Red LED on the dashboard that constantly flashes but appears to do not very much.
Looks to be an aftermarket owner fitted warning of something or other, possibly of a full Poo tank or merely just the imminent failure of something expensive/important.
It looks to require extensive dismantling of the dash to find out what it is connnected to, so will remain a mystery.
 
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oldgit said:
Next on the list ?
A mysterious lonely Red LED on the dashboard that constantly flashes but appears to do not very much.
Looks to be an aftermarket owner fitted warning of something or other, possibly of a full Poo tank or merely just the imminent failure of something expensive/important.
It looks to require extensive dismantling of the dash to find out what it is connnected to, so will remain a mystery.
Click to expand...

It may well do nothing. A friend has a flashing LED he fitted to give the impression of a security alarm being fitted.
 
jwfrary said:
Might want to take a look at the fire Extinguisher pretty sure they are nozzel down type so you might not get the result you want/need!

Centuers are good chargers but really are for a continuous load type scenario and not well suited to floating the battery as there is no storage mode. This would explain the timer.
Click to expand...
I was going to mention about that ext8nguisher as well. That position would be next to useless?
 
After much dismantling of most of the boat, the little Red LED is conected to the bowthruster to indicate when it ON.
The fire extinguisher was installed by the builder. Dufour.
Looks like its on its last legs regards pressure as well.
 
MartynG said:
It may well do nothing. A friend has a flashing LED he fitted to give the impression of a security alarm being fitted.
Click to expand...

Indeed, I made a key box that fitted just inside the companionway on one boat, the keyswitch turned on a flashing red led and the unit was clearly visible through the smoke glass hatch boards. This coupled with 'warning, alarms installed' stickers kept us free of thieving scrotes whist boats either side of us were pillaged. (y)

edited to add.

The red flashing led was powered by a 9v battery inside the keybox (a converted plastic cig lighter box from local chandler's odds and sods box) simple to make cheap and effective. from outside in the dark the red light looked like a laser detector beam across the entry way
 
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Stuck at Runnymede, so bought two new engine start batteries to get the boat moving during this farce and assumed the old batteries ( VETUS) were finished due to battery voltage falling so low, but popped them on charge at home and they came back to life and charged fully.
Have checked them with some fancy kit and have been assured by the device that the batteries are still in good order.
Going to reinstall them on the boat.
Date Code 20 9MF.......................Anybody got any clue ?
 
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