clendee

Once again you seem to fail to understand that I am a 12V electrics novice. I am so sorry I don't 'get it' on one shot. I have been cordial, appreciative, thankful and doing my best to understand. We all learn in different ways. The only way to intrepret on this forum is via the written word. Yes it takes me a few times to get my head around it. Cut me some slack.

I have purchased a negative post online, similar to the picture you shared above. I will move all the negative cables onto it as you suggested. In a previous message you posted... "What you think about grounding is not quite true. If there is no negative to the hull bond and a positive shorted to the hull, the result would be that no fuses would blow or circuit breakers trip and the whole hull would become live. That could easily cause excessive hull corrosion." I believe in moving all the cables to the negative post would leave no ground line to the hull, is this ok?

Thanks for continuing this topic Tony. I am back at work at the moment so not on the boat again for a few days. I will follow up on this once Im out on it again, it'll probably be the weekend. I can tell you for sure that one of the cables is the leisure battery ground and another is the VSR ground. The other two I'd need to do some tracing.

Hi folks. Thanks for all you help here, especially to Tony who guided me through this. I got the alternator working with the help of the following diagram. I have also purchased a voltage sensitive relay and installed that this morning. I now have a fully operational charging install on the boat and I am delighted.

Thanks for all your feedback (above) re my battery connections. I understand the conditions are less than perfect. I will purchase the necessary connectors and redo the battery connections as per BSS standards. Ok, here is the current setup. [Just saying as its connected now, before I start doing anything.] Unfortunately, I've go some pain in my arms, in a tennis elbow kind of way which is limiting my capabilities, you couldn't write this stuff] CURRENT SETUP Alternator, red cable on 61 -> Left hand side of Relay -> Right and side of relay -> Master switch -> Domestic battery. Alternator minus (-), there is a very small black cable on this post which seems to be connected to the casing of the alternator. Near the alternator casing is a thick black cable [not directly connected to the alternator], and this cable runs back to the negative of the starter battery. The negatives of the starter and domestic are not connected together (currently). PROPOSED SETUP Based on your notes, here are some presumptions Im making and what Im going to do: 1) Move the red cable from 61 to the B+ post 2) Bypass the relay with a red cable directly connected to main starter switch 3) Do a multimeter test on voltage between B+ and Neg starter battery. I hope Im intrepeting this correctly. I know this is just the initial section of your notes, Ive read them a few times trying to make sure I understand what Im doing. You mention half way down the page to 'connect it between B- and a mounting bolt'. Not sure I understand what a mounting bolt is? Sorry if these are dumb questions, I appreciate your patience.

Thank you so much for this breakdown. I look forward to returning the results of this experiment. My signal can be a bit rubbish out there, but I hope to respond onsite. I can say for sure that there is no cable connected to B- on the alternator Please note, this is the old alternator, that I thought was blown. That thick black cable to the left of the alternator goes to the negative of the starter battery (I believe, I will confirm this). Also the image of my battery setup below, this is an early photo but its still the same setup but the bilge pump has been wired into the panel now and the negative was moved to the other house battery (positive on house battery 1, negative on house battery 2).

Ok, thanks for the heads up on this. Yes it is a different regulatory body. This presenter (from his previous vids) has safety at the forefront of his work. Thanks for your thoughts, I'll be looking at my alternator in a few days and look forward to digging through the options. But you are right, I'd love if there was a series for BSS standards.

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=IGsFNjRC0mY What do ye think of this guy? I have watched MANY of his videos. This one is on alternator troubleshooting. He's mainly talking about sea going craft but I believe the principles still apply. He is based in Canada, so wiring gauges are in AWG and AC implementations are at 110V. I understand it doesn't really solve my issues, but I thought things were very well explained, especially his other videos.

If I am 'for testing purposes' connecting the battery + and - directly to the alternator + and -, what sized cable should I be using for that? Also, Ive read that alternators require sufficient revs to charge the batteries.

Interesting, Im back out at the boat this weekend and will be trying to look more closely at the situation. Ive only just replaced the alternator with a like for like, thinking my old one was broken.

That is a really good call, a friend of mine (non electrician but electrically curious [you know the sort]) seemed to think the relay was for that purpose.

Hi Tony, I won't be out on my boat until next weekend but intend to follow your instruction to the best of my ability. I'll report back with my findings and appreciate all the feedback I have gotten so far. The relay is connected on left hand side from the alternator and the right hand side goes to the leisure battery isolator switch.

Thank you so much, I will need to slowly go through this to make sure I am clear on all your suport. I have a Bukh DV24 engine. Thanks again.

Hi folks, I am based between Sharpness and Gloucester. It never occured to me that anyone would be physically willing to help with my issues. I went out to my boat today to have a look at the alternator and see if I can document the current state of affairs. It looks completely mis wired to me. The positive post is not wired to anything. The negative post is not wired to anything. I've added some more pictures. Im sorry to even put this mess on here, my starter battery is currently not charged by the alternator, it's charged by a manual switch on my solar array. I have inherited these problems, but I'd love to get my alternator working properly and charging my starter battery. Some history : I purchased this boat a few years ago and the alternator was never working. There is not a complete circuit wired to the alternator, so it is not doing anything. A friend looked at it 6 months ago and we didn't figure it out then either. The panel malfunction: I'll have to get back to you on this, it previously made the alarm speaker to emit constant tone. Its been disconnected so long, I'd need to check if this is still the case. Thank you for the link to your site Tony, I have come across your site and appreciate your feedback. Here is some more info I gathered today: Alternator is a Paris-Rhone 14V - 50A A 23N1M - F2 - L It has a - post, + post, 61 post and a W post The 61 post currently has the positive wire, the panel wires and the relay wires attached. This is how I think it should go, please correct me if Im wrong: + post -> positive feed to the relay - then from other side of relay to starter isolator switch - post -> negative feed to the (relay and engine?) 61 Post -> back to the panel Perhaps Im way out of my depth here, or its wired so wrong theres a lot to correct. The next day Im out at the boat I'll devote some decent time to the alternator situation, at least beginning with wiring the relay to the starter isolater rather than the leisure isolator. Apologies if there are still bits of information missing from this post. The thing is I really interested, but also a little overwhelmed.

Thank you for your input on this. I apprecate the time you took and the explanation. Yes you are correct in that my alternator is not working. I have 2 x 12v 100AHr batteries in parallel for the 'House' part of the boat and a single 12v starter battery. I have been having trouble with my alternator and replaced both the alternator and the relay. I need to look further and see what is happening with that. The negative from the relay is disconnected as it was affecting other functionality on the panel. My alternator just does not seem to be charging my battery. I understand that the relay is present to stop the alternator being connected to the battery when there is no current from the alternator (again, Im not sure if this is true or not). I don't think it is a full split charge relay system as the batteries are not connected together. Whats intersting is that the alternator is connect to the 'house' battery bank. I'll probably try and connect it to my starter battery as the house batteries are charged by solar.

Hi folks, I really need your advice here. I still consider myself new to boating and am learning every day. I've read many places that electrical circuits on a boat should NEVER be grounded to the hull. I think some of my circuits are grounded to the hull, see attached picture. Should I remove this immediately and replace with a suitably amped bus bar? I welcome your thoughts, Many thanks.

Thanks for your responses, this is very helpful information.

Hi folks, Im seeking some advice from here. Our narrowboat insurer has informed us that now that our narrowboat has reached 30 years old, they require a full survey approximately every three years? Is this true for every insurer, ie, is it law, or is it a stipulation of my current insurer? If anyone can recommend any reasonably good boat insurers that don't have such stringent requirements, that'd be much appreciated. Many thanks,

Ok, I thought is may have been to remove oil, but I wasnt sure. I dont feel like mine is working any more and I dont want to be sending oil out, any idea where I could pick one up. A quick ebay search has shown one in the US and Italy. Ideally I'd like to find one here in the UK.

Hi, I notice our bilge pump has a filter on it before the water outlet. Can anyone tell me what this is for and where I might get a replacement? Thanks for your time.

Hahaha, thanks for your thoughts. I'll probably use a bleach to remove and find the right gloss stainer to paint over.

Thanks for all your comments, I appreciate you taking the time to air your thoughts. I guess we'll wait until the spring when things start to dry up (hopefully) and treat the doors then.

Thanks for all your comments. Yes there is a layer of insulation between the wooden tongue and groove and the outer metal shell. However, in the bedroom area, there is no insulation under the gunwhale (I just looked up that term now, I hope Im using the right one) currently and there are drips of water there. Were waiting until the weather gets dry to tackle that.

Thanks for your reply. The boat is built by Saraband Boats, I dont think they exist anymore. I will look into replacing the doors, I just wanted to make sure I wasnt just missing out on key info.

Hi folks, The bow doors on our narrowboat are completely swolled from the recent wet weather and we cannot open them.. Is there anything we can do, either to treat the doors in some way to reduce swelling in the wood? Thanks.