No shore power

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Donheist

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Marina Sant Elmo Alghero Sardinia
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Any advice on troubleshooting my electrics?

Got to my boat in gouvia after 4 months and no ac or dc. Batteries are totally flat. 625 amp hours worth of rolls deep cycle completely drained from full since September. I don't entirely trust my sterling 3 in one solar regulator (disconnected)' inverter and charger so left the boat disconnected and batteries switched off.

There is power to the jetty and I have tried two power outlets and checked switches and fuses on shore power. Usually even if batteries dead the ac bypass works. Boat main fuse panel switches on - will check fuses.

Not much of a sparky. Got a multimeter but a bit nervous about poking around with ac.

Will try a new power lead tomorrow. Engine starts but can't use this to charge batteries because sterling box showing no signs of life.

I need to find someone to charge my phone then I will seek professional help but if there are any obvious things to try I'd be grateful for advice. I have a lot to do this week and no power will be a PITA.
 
Are the batteries actually isolated when switched off or is there a permanent connection to something?

I leave my batteries for six months or more and they're fine. And one has a car radio permanently connected.

When isolated are they still connected in parallel? If so, could one have failed?
 
This might be a silly question but was the marina charging monthly for your shore power useage? If not they possbly cut you off. If they were charging you and the power supply failed, and they didn't fix it, then you may have recourse to action against the marina for the battery costs.
 
Thanks for the replies. When off the batteries are isolated but connected in parallel with each otherl. Shore power is unlimited and included but I don't leave the boat hooked up since the sterling box made an odd noise one day and switched itself off. Has worked fine since but don't fancy leaving it unattended for months. Everyone I talk to says my batteries ought to be fine - the previous owner installed them and didn't skimp. We can run the freezer off them at anchor for days without charging.

The alternator point is fair but the previous owner put in a complicated system of duogen, solar, ridiculous second alternator which looks like it came off a tank. Everything goes through the battery management kit. My mission this week was to make sense of it, follow the wiring etc and draw circuit diagrams to make sense of it.

But the ac should bypass all of that. Frustrating...
 
We stopped in govia overnight in sept and hooked to a power outlet, but it was tripped - a few other boats had the same problem-i had to open the outlet up and press the re set button. maybe yours tripped?
 
I think I would isolate all of the batteries and charge just one using an external charger. Do you have one? Forget trickle chargers unless you have 625 hours to waste! You can get a 20 amp one for around £100. Farm suppliers have reasonable prices.

Then reconnect just one of the batteries.

You then have to find what is drawing power by reconnecting them one at a time. I'd invest in a good multimeter! And an external current shunt. Not sure if a DC current clamp would be sensitive enough.
 
That was the first thought of someone oh the pontoon. I asked the marina too - they mentioned the "safety switch". I am starting to feel pretty thick on this issue - might be due to staying up all night in Athens airport - I have switched all the individual socket switches to on, and the post switch beneath off and on again. On two posts. Is there another button somewhere?

I hope it is a post problem - those batteries are heavy and expensive - i think tomorrow i will find another boat to try the socket on theirs, and borrow their lead to try on mine.

Thanks again for the replies
 
" ridiculous second alternator which looks like it came off a tank"

If this alternator is dedicated to the domestic battery bank, and the batteries are stone dead, running the engine will not charge them- there will not be enough voltage to energise the field of the alternator.
Start the engine, run at fast idle, and connect the engine battery bank to the domestic bank, either with a parallel switch if fitted, or a set of jump leads. It only need to be connected for a few seconds normally.

as to why the AC charger will not charge- lots of possibilities there, if its a modern AC charger some makes cannot cope with stone dead batteries as the electronics register the lack of volts as no battery present in the circuit. Edit- but you should still have AC available at the sockets, so as mentioned start at the RCD/ MCBs!
 
Last edited:
Donheist said:
That was the first thought of someone oh the pontoon. I asked the marina too - they mentioned the "safety switch". I am starting to feel pretty thick on this issue - might be due to staying up all night in Athens airport - I have switched all the individual socket switches to on, and the post switch beneath off and on again. On two posts. Is there another button somewhere?

I hope it is a post problem - those batteries are heavy and expensive - i think tomorrow i will find another boat to try the socket on theirs, and borrow their lead to try on mine.

Thanks again for the replies
Click to expand...

we swopped ours over with a boat that had a working one to make sure it was not a fault on our boat-it is pretty straight forward to reset the box.
iirc it has a latch on the side of the box,unlatch this and inside is the reset buttons,

failing that or if you are not sure have a word with the guys in the office. good luck.
 
Needed an excuse to buy a better multimeter. External charger is a good idea too. 100 quid i could do without spending but I need peace of mind on this so I will see what can be got in gouvia tomorrow.

The batteries are 2 banks of 6 2v cells so replacing a duff one is easy enough if that's the issue.

Still can't understand the ac bypass failing. Definitely need to reduce the number of variables I think so like the battery charger idea.
 
Right, I am leaving wifi land to return to my cold and dark boat with at least three things to try tomorrow morning before resigning myself to £££. Thanks - there is hope yet. Will have another look at the post on the way back too. Beer fines if it that, but I have learned a bit more about all things electric. Thanks very much. Will keep you posted.
 
Have some power now...

Parallel the engine did the trick for the alternator charging the batteries! Such a relief.

But Ac charger faulty. Sought professional help. Angela and aleco were awesome having also tracked down the reason for the battery drain. apparently there is a third inverter lurking behind the switchboard which has been on for four months. They have taken the sterling box away for repair. Here's hoping they fix it because they say a replacement is four figures. Gulp. Cheaper to buy more modest batteries and appropriate charger. 650 ah batteries and the ability to run a freezer for 5 days at anchor is bait over engineered methinks.

Thanks for the help and advice. Very encouraging. Will definitely get to grips with my multimeter and map all my wiring now.
 
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