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Showing results for tags 'batteries'.
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Spending my first night on board my new home. Everything seems in order but I can't work out my battery % has dropped to 89 when I am connected to mains power. Not my area of knowledge so any help would be much appreciated : )
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i have 3x 110Ahr new domestic batteries and a smaller starter battery. i have a 295 W solar panel with a 20 A MPPT charge Controller that has a feature to turn on a load for an hour before sunrise or an hour after sunrise, (probably for lights). i lay the boat up for winter with all batteries fully charged; and the solar keeps the domestic batteries well topped up through out. but last spring the starter battery was down to 11.1V. so I'm thinking of using the load timer to top up the starter battery for an hour daily after sunset when the voltage will probably be around 12.5 V, I'll include a 10A fuse with 4m of 16A cable. will this work? and will it cause any problems/damage? some years i have permanently connected the batteries together with no problem, but if there was i would then have all batteries flat! -
Hi everyone, ive had my narrowboat for about four months and have been happily living off the leisure batteries. However I now have the opportunity to access shorepower and would like to have access to a few luxuries from time to time (like tv, or the ability to charge my laptop onboard). I have no idea what to do though. My boat has no power sockets whatsoever. As far as I know the only things that run off 12v are the lights and water pumps (shower, oven, fridge etc works off gas). there is no external socket for shorepower. I assume that in order to access shorepower I need quite a bit of work done on the boat. Can anyone explain - slowly - what I need to do? Many thanks for reading.
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Hi all, Firstly, a quick shout out to everyone in this forum for all their help and advice to date. This really is a great community! I hope I will be able to pay it back with my own advice in the future when I become a little bit more clued up! I wasn't sure whether to post this in the boat building and maintenance, but considering I'm still a boat baby I thought it best to start here ? 1) I sprung a leak from a jubilee clip on my inlet into my engine radiator today, nothing major and crisis averted thankfully. The experience made me realise how important it is to have a socket set on board. What are people's view on drive size? 3/8, 1/4 or 1/2 inch? 2) Regarding keeping my acid lead batteries happy over the winter. Someone I met mentioned it's prudent to insulate the battery bank with rubber. Is this good advice? 3) I need to install a mains battery charger for when I moor up in a marina for the winter. Any recommendations? Thanks ya'll George x
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Hi All Just a quick one as lots of conflicting information out there. Am revisiting my Solar MPPT regulator in the belief the Absorption and Float voltage settings are incorrect, I have maint free lead acids Numax XV31MF. My question is what should the Absorption and Float Charging voltages be. Absorption Volt Charging = 14.6v ?? Float Volt Charging = 13.5v ?? Thank you for reading Andy
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Hi, Just wondering, where do people keep their battery banks on the boat? Mine are in the engine bay and I've noticed they lose their charge a lot quicker now it's cold. Does anyone keep them in the living area to keep them at a more stable temp. How does this work with the BSS regs? George
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Hi, I have a charging issue it seems. I have just bought 4 new leisures at £600.00 and had them proffesionally fitted. But they are down to 11.5 v . The weird thing is the engine battery is getting fully charged. I have not used the inverter as that's how I killed the last lot. Only had the new ones on 3 days and I have been very careful. My system is 24v so they are linked - to + in the bank. The alternator is quite new and it's pushing out 17v. Not sure if that's right. The control panel says my batts are at 100% but that's obviously incorrect. And on another setting my amp hours said 280 but every second it dropped 2 hours until eventually saying zero hours left. I have a split charge relay and it reads the same as the alternator in motion. I'm just getting fed up now trying to sort this out as it's ruining my time on the boat. There's more info I want to add but I can't remember atm. So guys what dya think? Alternator, fuse, spilt relay or control panel.? Oh yeah when the last lot of batteries died my voltmeter shot up into the red zone as I reved the engine. Thank's.
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Spurred on from another thread, I have 3x 230 ah batteries, my bmv tells me they are 100pc when the tale current is about 25, so I ignore that and keep charging when running the engine to under 1pc , it gets to about 5 something, i do this weekly whilst running the engine, easy at the moment through summer. Even then I spoil myself and plod into a marine to give it a good charge every couple of weeks.or a pub with eleccy hook.in winter I visit a marina more often just for a night, or if forced to by a freeze coming, but basically the same thing, give the batts a good charge. So everything is fine, (I only know what I know from reading on here) i have two solar panels , think there 100 w when I leave the marina etc and bmv is reading around 0 amps, as soon as I put it on inverter it jumps to , tail current 4v. When it's a sunny day and I haven't ran the engine, it can show being 100pc when, if I start the engine the tail current would show about 70,amps, that's against running the engine till it gets to 100 pc then it's 25a, why is there a discrepancy between the two figures? i do charge to as far as I can , regularly and have no prob with batteries, I probably protect them too much, but why do I get two different readings as 100 pc, both wrong I know, just wondering.?
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Hi there, I’m wondering if someone can help me. I’ve just installed 2 solar panels (in series) and they don’t seem to be charging my batteries. 2 x 320w panels (mono crystalline) 1 x 60A outback MPPT charge controller 4 x 6v Trojan t-125 240AH batteries in series and parralell connection giving 480AH in total. Ive checked all the connections. Seems fine. Battery monitor is saying the voltage from the charger is what the batteries are at. However the perctage on the monitor has stayed the same. Can someone please help?! I thought I’d have full batteries everyday with 640W of solar but so far nothing! Hope thats enough info, thanks in advance!
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Hello, apologies if this question has already been asked, I've had a good trawl through the pages already though.. Basically, I need to know, what is the proper use of the leisure battery isolator switch? I'm on shore power currently. Thanks!
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So lesuire batteries How do you guys test them. I have four 110ah leisure batteries on a 200watt solar mppt setup. currently waking up to dead batteries in the morning's around 10v DC out ! Only thing running in the night hours is the fridge about 3Amps when it is on . Drop test says batteries are fine .... Yes I did take them out for a good few hours after full charge cycle ! Don't want to buy new batteries if don't need to.... But wondering if maybe drop test not the right test ? Help !!!! Thank you for reading Andy
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Hello Any advice or tips on the following energy problem would be much appreciated! We recently bought a dutch barge that we've just cruised down to it's new mooring. On the way down the the inverter only worked occasionally, most of the time the 'low battery' light was on. It has a 'Victron Energy phoenix multi plus' inverter with a 'Victron multi control' panel. I assumed the batteries were spent, but we'd be fine once hooked up to shoreline (32 Amp) And we were...for a few days. All was well but we no longer have any power - the inverter is once again just showing 'low battery' So....does shoreline bypass the batteries making it irrelevant if they are in good condition or not? (making it a problem with the inverter?) And should we still have the inverter on when using shoreline? (The switch options are 'on' 'off' and 'charger only') Thanks for your help, sorry if it's obvious!
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Just thought i'd post this as it came as a bit of a surprise to me, I've been maintaining my t-105's based on the data sheet here, but also have come accross the trojan batteries user guide which specifies different values for Equalise voltage (16.2v) and absoroption (14.1 - 14.7) I've contacted Trojan in the UK and US and they both recommended going by the user guide, NOT the data sheet. I asked for clarification on the charging values for the T-105's and the reply was: Use 16.2V for the EQ voltage setting. Your absorption voltage of 14.8 is correct. The Float setting can be 13.2V up to 13.5V So there you go! - not that you can't equalise at 15.5, but it takes much, much longer. (in my experience) Next problem is getting my Victron Phoenix to charge at 16.2. I can get it up to 16v in absorption using the VEConfigure II Software (that's the max value), forced equalisation seems to top out at 15.5v. Be interested to hear anyone else's experience here.
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I know this is possible, but is it realistic? Coffee roaster on the boat, it pulls max 3300 watts at full power for about 15 minutes, then about 300 watts for 3 minutes, this is the time per roast of 1kg beans. Now if i was to fit this on the boat and run from batteries, i would need a hefty invertor and bank, or just run it from a genny, but then is a genny that supplies 4kw too much?
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Hey everyone, new to boating and still very dumb about it but trying to learn. The problem relates to the batteries, I have a solar panel and charger and the charger tells me the voltage of the batteries. When I charge them via the engine, the voltage can go up to 13 - 13.2 volts which says to me they are charged but it only takes an hour or two. I've been told I'm not charging them for long enough but if I leave it on charge for longer it generally stays the same voltage the whole time and when I turn the engine off, it goes to 12.9-12.7 which I'm aware is fully charged. An example today is my voltage was at 12.2 so I charged the batteries for 2 hours, the batteries were at 12.7 when I finished charging and they're back down to 12.2 again after only 2-3 hours even though I've only had LED lights running and 1 usb charger for a mobile. What I'm basically asking, which has been mentioned on my previous posts, are my batteries knackered or do I need to leave them charging for longer regardless of what my controller says? I've ordered a generator and battery gauge so hopefully that will give me more answers. Thanks! Oh also, I have 2 x 110amp leisure batteries.
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Hello! Having found some very useful anwers on here previously, I was wondering if someone might help us with a problem we've got concerning the engine. To turn the engine on, we turn the key 90degrees clockwise and wait while it beeps for about 10 seconds. This is supposed to heat the engine. Then we can turn the key down once and this will turn on the engine. Since yesterday, after having turned the key down, the engine turns on and makes a happy noise, but the beeping doesn't stop, even after a few minutes of the engine being lit. Looking at the electronics control panel,one warning light is on: "Batteries D". (We were also told that the batteries should always remain above 12.8V. The inverter is off, however, they are now at 11.7V.) Is there anything we could try to do to fix this problem? Can we run the engine anyway (we were told that the engine should be run every day in winter)? Any help or indications on this topic would be much appreciated! Many thanks
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Hi there I am looking to buy AGM batteries for my boat and wanted to purchase a Varta LAD115 but cannot locate stock anywhere. I have been given details on two Lucas batteries AGM 140ah and a 120AH (which will fit in the space). However, I have spoken to a company called Shield batteries who have suggested their own battery which is an AGM battery. Here are the links to the one they are suggesting: http://www.shieldbatteries.co.uk/products/sterling.html However when you look at the product in detail it shows it as a lead acid battery? http://www.shieldbatteries.co.uk/uploads/h140-12.pdf I think there are two types of AGM battery so not sure if this one is any good - the guy on the phone said it would need venting? I have a Pro Combi S inverter Are there any differences between the Lucas, Varta and the Sterling battery (no connection with the Sterling inverter people btw). It just gets more confusing the further I go..........
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I am about to order 6x 6v t105 trojan batteries and will need to connect them in a series parallel arrangement in order to get 12v. I've read through a few posts and the smartguage article on battery balancing, but i'm not sure how to connect these properly. Has anyone done this? Thanks.
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Hi all, I have 2 x Trojan T105 6v batteries producing 12v with a capacity of 225 amps. I also have a solar panel that is now actually becoming useful now the sun has come out to shine! What settings should I set it at? Bearing in mind the table listed by Trojan below: Daily Charge: 14.8 Float: 13.2 Equalize: 15.5 The settings on the solar controller are: Load On (Voltage): Presuming this is the "Daily Charge" setting? Load Off (Voltage): Presuming this is the "Float"? PV Off (Voltage): No idea what this is PV: Showing the current amps the solar panel is producing Thanks in advance!
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So I've got a Honda EX1000 charger and it bust my first 50amp charger, I've since had this replaced and it's literally done the same thing (part of the circuitry blows). I have no idea what's going on, I thought if there was too much power going to the charger the fuse was blown. Is this more of a charger issue or a generator issue?
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Hi, I am about to start fitting out a widebeam sailaway boat. I need an electrician to connect up the leisure batteries to the alternator and then to a fuse board. Once this is done I am confident to do the rest it is just this stage I am unsure of. I am struggling to find an electrician who will come to my boat to do this, the boat is currently at Hayes and Harlington and I wonder if anyone knows any good electricians who would be able to come to my boat to do this stage for me? Kind regards, Will
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Hi there, I’m looking into connecting my BMV600 battery monitor to a PC to access all the charging data etc. Has anyone tried that before? Would it be as easy as getting RS232 to USB connector cable and downloading Victron software? Thanks!
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Hi there, I'm about to buy a boat which has been fitted out (electrics-wise) for shore power, with loads of 240v plug sockets everywhere, TVs, Kettles etc, but we don't anticipate or want to be hooked up at all. What I was wondering was if anyone has had experience in changing this sort of setup over to a 12v, battery-based setup, and what challenges they faced whilst doing so. Is it just a case of removing the external hookup point, connecting the internal wiring to the existing 12v loop (which runs the cabin lights etc) and replacing the 240v sockets with 12v ones? Maybe keep one or two and run through a separate, inverter-containing loop from the battery bank? I don't expect it to be that easy but hopefully it won't mean ripping the walls apart! Cheers, Alistair
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Hi! We're new to boating and are on a boat with 4 leisure batteres (Xplorer 120Ah). Very annoying power issues: the batteries don't seem to hold charge well at all, but it doesn't seem to be a busted cell (paid a guy to come around and tell us that much, but unfortunately not much more). We can charge to well above 12V and leave overnight with little drain, but as soon as the batteries are in use, or god forbid the inverter is on, they drain like there is no tomorrow. Also using certain items, like the 12V fridge, results in lights dimming, fllushing the loo results in radio resetting, etc) Is this all due to weak batteries? The problems do seem to be less when they are charged more. Our solar arrives tomorrow, which will be a god send (we are continuous cruisers). At this stage we are considering taking the hit and just getting 4 new batteries. It is a real bother to run this loud old lister for hours to charge them up, disconnect them and wait for them to drain so I can test them each in turn. The thing is they were expensive batteries, and some of them might be fine. If I buy some more batteries, is there a place I can test and sell the old ones? Do I even need 4 of them? If I could test them prior to buying new ones, wouldn't it be best to replace all of them at the same time anyway? Is there a big chain in London (aside from Halfords) where I can just rock up and get a good deal on leisure batteries? Any help or advice would be much appreciated!!
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I had hoped to resolve this by myself - knowing how heated battery discussions can become. I fitted new batteries a few weeks ago, limited access made it near impossible but in the end I was satisfied that all connections were good. What a joy - leaving the fridge on at night means I can buy stuff to keep in it! And the lights don't dim when I give something a quick blast in the microwave Anyway, I'm already seeing signs of trouble. My regime has been to never let them go below 60% / 12.2v, usually recharging much sooner. I charge up to at least 80%, usually 90% or more. Even then I'm running the engine a lot less than I used to - 2 hrs a day and a longer one every week or so, roughly. The last time I got to 100% I left the engine running for another hour for a "really good" charge. Lately I have seen the charge% dropping off quickly, but also some very erratic readings from the smartgauge. For example, I woke today to find the batteries at 12.15v / 57% (I always check both readings as it gives me a better picture of what is going on - I know if the fridge is running, or other equipment to make allowances on the expected voltage). Anyway, a quick 1 hr charge to get me through to the evening and the batteries read something like12.6v/63%. A bit later by themselves they have gone up tp 13.15v/67%. Now at 12.9v/69%. I do have solar panels and I know they can affect the voltage reading but there is no sun and they are basically not doing anything today. I've checked the smartgauge wiring for loose connections, seems ok. I've checked all the battery wiring, seems ok. I have observed a very slight build around one or two places on the posts - just in the gaps between post and fitting. I had to take out the smartgauge fuses to inspect the crimps etc so it might be confused now. When I enquired about the snake oil - sorry battery desulfator, the reply I got was quite helpful and suggested that the batteries (my old set) may not be suffering from sulphation but that something else may be going on. Well, I'm hearing those words in my head now - overcharging? The batteries never read more than 14.4v with engine running, but I wonder if it is worth disconnecting the alternator to see what it is really putting out? Or perhaps there are other suggestions. Both my previous and current batteries are 4x110ah sealed. This is another reason why I want to get a generator - to use the good charger on the Victron. thank you guys
