rgriffiths

They seemed a very decent bunch and their diagnosis was from their computer hook-up. He said that it indicated the blower but that often when the blower goes, so does the board. I have the bits from the old one - might try and put it back together when I get a few mins.

Thanks for all the answers. I am certain that this strange behaviour is because the inverter's output is not a decent sine wave. Excellent advice suggesting dropping a line into a neighbour's boat - will certainly try that. The model is Hoover HBWM 84TAHC-80 Integrated 8 kg 1400 Spin Washing Machine. Otherwise it would seem that Victron and Mastervolt remain the favourites.

It is not a compact. A Hoover 8KG thing. I will need to check the exact model.

Thanks Alan - I understand we have a bit of a cheapy on board but just wondered what the alternatives are. If we have to go Victron .......

Yes - the charge is fine and the batteries good. Engine running we are at 14.6v. There are other strange behaviours too such as devices not being recognised when plugged into laptops that are plugged in the mains. Unplug the mains and the devices get recognised immediately.

We are looking into changing our inverter since we are experiencing a few issues with our current one - a Spark 2000w Pure Sine Wave. The inverter is working but I am not sure that it is working correctly. There are a number of strange behaviours such as our washer machine (quite a digital affair and probably quite sensitive to fluctuations) beeps regularly during operation indicating a poor power supply. It is not drawing anywhere near 2000w as it this happens on a cold water wash. The wiring has been tested and everything is fine and when I connect my generator the issues go away. So I guess the inverter is just not good enough. Any advice/recommendations? I know Victron or Mastervolt are old favourites but maybe there are some alternatives.

Thanks for the tip. I ended up sending it to https://www.bowersautomotive.co.uk - very nice guys. They told me it was the blower and possibly aslo the board. They changed and tested the blower first and it still didn't work. And so it was a decision of either a new blower and board, or a new unit. There would not be a huge price difference. So we took a deep breath and went for the new unit hoping we might be able to do something with the old one selling for parts. New one was just under £1000 and repair about £850. Hopefully this one will last!

Hydronic is an Eberspacher. A water version not air. It could be unburnt fuel. Just wonder if anyone knows of anyone who can check it over.

I am in London. Happy to post it. It does fire up but smoke is seen coming out of the sides and the air filter.

Does anyone know where to get one of these repaired/serviced? There is white smoke coming from it and while there are lots of videos showing how to service it yourself I wouldn't mind a professional to take a look.

I don't know what was up with the battery but will ask when picking up the replacement. They say that they have not had to send one back in years. I did try all the simple stuff first. I just didn't expect brand new batteries to be damaged inside and lugging them around and taking them back to the shop etc etc was a real pain.

So.... Just in case anyone is interested. Batteries have finally come back from being tested and they were faulty. New set on and everything is rosy. Miles of driving and removing/refitting alternator etc. But pleased to get to the bottom of it. Thanks for all the help and advice.

Echo the "All very good advice". It is quite possible that the new batteries were completly flat from the shop as .... and I agree this was not clever ... they were not tested when purchased. However when they were installed nothing was to suggest that they were flat. Little green ball showing and reading 12.4v (from memory). I agree the old batteries would come up to full charge faster due to lower capacity but they are in OK condition. Still wating to hear back from the shop as to whether one of the new ones was a dud. I will update when I find out more. I plan to do this when I get a chance. Good idea.

Yes - it was around 40 to 50 amps. Very similar to when I swapped them to the old ones.

Firstly thanks to everyone for the time spent looking at this problem and offering advice. Hugely appreciated. So having spent a few hours on the boat today here is the update .... In answer some of the questions: Current being drawn on the domestic side without anything being used was around 0.05 to 0,1 amps. When the fridge kicked in it was around 3.1 amps. This all seemed about right. The controller I was referring to was the MPPT solar controller and today it was putting out about 5 to 6 amps. The alternator output was around 40 to 50 amps on idle. At no time did the batteries seem particularly hot (hard to tell in the housing) or out of shape and I couldn't smell anything out of the ordinary. Today I spent time taking readings and watching what was going on and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I put the engine on and it actually got up to about 13.9 volts, but the alternator was still getting way too hot. I don't have any means of measuring the temperature but I could hold my hand on the other one without any issue but the domestic alternator was too hot to touch for more than a second. So, I decided to put on two spare batteries that I had and swapped out the two brand new ones. The spares were a little old and not a perfect match but thought I would give it a go. It went straight to 14.2 volts charging .... looking better. The main thing was that after running the engine for a while the alternator was not hot at all. We then moved the boat and cruised for about 4 hours. Alternator still a normal temp and much the same temp (albeit by feel alone) as the starter one. I know the batteries I put on were not great shape and so don't expect them to perform that well but does the fact that the alternator remained a normal temperature indicate that the problem lies with the new ones? I have taken one back to where I bought them and I am waiting for them to test it and get back to me.