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Just aside, I'm being lazy I know, but is the dtv 1000 directional?

yeh, the dtv 1000. that's what we've got. but as i say just stuck in the wheelhouse. big metal box so not ideal. good to hear putting yours outside solved the problem.

our LED's knock out the telly reception. it is a weak signal anyway so hoping putting the aerial outside will be sufficient...... sorry, not directly linked just thought I'd chip in! ?

oh well ......... i'll order 2!!!

5 times faster they quote, or even 20!! ....... mind it should be for that price! ......... surely it does something for £374?.......or is this to counter problems with these so called smart alternators? http://sterling-power.com/collections/battery-to-battery-chargers/products/battery-to-battery-chargers

I'm going to be cruising in the winter so I can forget solar. More engine running and cooking on travel power whilst engine running I guess....... oh and lots of jam and bread! ..... oh and planned marina stop overs with electrical hook up.

That was my main concern for good battery health as I didnt think running on partial charge for 3 months would do them any good.

I have a MICC but because the % charge goes out of sync I usually leave it on mains charge for several days before resetting the MICC. Of course off grid I won't be able to do that so will have to monitor the amps being put back into the battery as well as the voltage.

mine charge around 14.2V. I am interested in any gains because I am hoping to CC for 3 months but only intend cruising for 3 to 5 hours every other day or even moor up for 2 to 3 days on occasions but suspect I will not be putting enough back into my domestic batteries without going without lights(figure of speech) for sometime or running my engine whilst moored. Or live on jam and bread! ?

thanks very much All. You've saved me £350 ish! much appreciated.

Hi All, Been reading about alternators only charging batteries up to 80% and very slowly at that, which I have seen for myself on my MICC. The fix seems to be to install a battery to battery charger in order to achieve 100% charge, 5 times quicker. That's the theory at least anyway. Apart from them being pricey I would appreciate any practical advise on whether you feel the benefits are real, worth it and if there are any draw backs? Alternator early failure for example. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the advice! went with RCR in the end, £500 with mine as exchange. Excellent efficient service and kindly supplied the gearbox before receiving mine in return

It works immediately after clearing the browser history but then reverts back to not allowing me to log out....... or should I say sign out.

Shire 65, Yanmar 4TNV98

You are right. I did look when I got the boat a year ago but didnt make a note and am now going from memory ....... which isnt what it was ....... or what I remember it being!

Ok, thanks

Unless I have the charge feature enabled on the Mastervolt 100/2000, but I guess that is pointless when the batteries are being charged directly by an alternator anyway. The current draw is confusing me as already stated it can be around 150 amps yet from memory the alternator ratings are 160, 80 and 50 so if the 160 is travel power only not sure where the high charge amps are coming from. I will have to check at the weekend when I am back. Need to get my head around this electrical circuit. I know it shouldnt be difficult its just tracing the cables!

Good point! Now you mention it the literature did state that BT and starter battery are on the same alternator but as I have 3 alternators I keep assuming 1 - domestic, 1 - starter and 1 - BT. But now youve reminded me it is more likely 1 - travel, 1 - domestic and 1 starter and BT........ then again when the domestic batteries are depleted they do take a charge in excess of 140amps and I only have one alternator capable of that so it is more likely 1 - travel and domestic, 1 - starter and BT and 1 - ????? think I'm going to have to trace it!?

I understand your logic but mine certainly has a trip on the alternator side also. There is no mistaking the diameter of the cable.

Sorry for going off piste ......... again! ....... but ive just had a thought. I have read that you must never disconnect your batteries while the alternator is running as you can cause serious damage to the alternator. Not that I can see any reason why anybody would want to but what happens if you blow the thermal trip, like on the bow thruster? Isnt that the same thing?

Quite possibly. Something else I need to trace through as the electrical drawings are pretty basic to say the least. There are 3 alternators in the system. I have just added a volt meter to the bow thruster battery circuit because I didnt think they were charging and my fears seem to have been confirmed. I say seem because there was no noticeable voltage increase when I started the engine. The other possibility is too big a voltage drop from the alternator to the bow thruster batteries which are mounted at the front of the boat so a 17 metre run of cable. I need to put a volt meter across the alternator. In addition I am thinking of making use of the 5a trickle charger in the Mastervolt 100/2000 which according to the literature is connected to the starter and bow thruster batteries but from what I can see it isnt. So the starter and bow thruster batteries are currently only charged from the alternators......... sorry! started rambling........ nothing to do with your question or the original post!

8?! that must be about the limit is it Mike? ...... how long do they last off grid? I get about 3 days off six in the summer, 4 at a push but I suspect more like 2 in the winter as the diesel central heating pump draws a bit........ so far so good! ........ There were 4 110AGM's in the domestic bank when I bought it, 1 110AGM as a starter battery and 2 110AGM's for the bow thruster. Which I thought was a total waste for the starter and bow thruster applications. Replaced the starter battery with a standard 75Ah starter battery and the 2 bow thruster batteries with 2 75Ah starter batteries and what a difference! Definitely more punch in the bow thrusters despite smaller, cheaper batteries, but better suited to the application. Mind that maybe because the old batteries were past there best. 9 years old and the boat hadnt been used for 2 years so I guess that didnt help. Cheers John

It is 1/ which is not being achieved although the batteries are definitely fully charged as 2/ and 3/ are achieved. I've looked at a photo I took and the starter battery negative goes to a common earth on the hull but the domestic battery bank negative appears to go off else where. I'm away on business so cannot check physically until the weekend.

Yes, I do reset manually was just hoping to avoid. I've seen that thanks and wired according to the last one. Looks a bit of a rats nest but i understand the theory. I'll check that out thanks. I know they not connected directly to each other but not sure which side of the shunt they connected. I did wonder if I was just going to accept that I will have to keep resetting it manually. thanks

Hi all, I'm getting bored with props so was wondering if you could help me with an electrical matter? I recently changed every battery on the boat and tidied up the wiring as there were positive and negative cables coming off different batteries within the domestic bank. Just out of interest I have 6 110Ah wet maintenance free Numax leisure batteries. Yes, Ive gone cheap and chearful! They are charged via a fairly significant 160 amp alternator and I also have an electrolux 3.5kw travel pack which supplies 240v ac to a Mastervolt 100/2000 Inverter/ Charger with MICC remote controller. All works well from a supply point of view but after using the inverter off grid I can never get the MICC to display 100% charge even after going back on grid without manually resetting the amps. The closest I have managed to get is 94% but that is playing with the settings and including 100% charging efficiency which we know is not possible. The more charge/ discharge cycles I do before going back on grid the further out of sync the MICC seems to be. I am confident the batteries are being fully charged, once back on grid, but the MICC doesnt seem to be counting all the amps which are going back into the batteries leaving the MICC percentage display short and minus some amps. As a side I have never been totally sure whether the charger should be on whilst using travel power or not. Of course the Mastervolt has to be on but I am talking specifically about the charger part of it. It doesnt seem to matter either way but I have decided to leave it off as the alternator does charge the batteries directly anyway as this can be seen from the display on the MICC, amps going in. When I bought the boat nobody was able to offer advise on how the system should work. Any advise would be much appreciated. ps. apologies if the title is misleading. I believe the batteries do achieve 100% charge but the MICC controller displays something less.