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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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Not an expert but I'd say if the alternator is only putting out 17v something is deffo not right, I would have expected to see min of  26v

Experts will be along shortly, oh and have a care because if your new batts are at 11.5 you are on the way to killing them.

Phil 

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On a 24V system I’d expect to see in the region of 29V from alternator/solar/shore charger. So at 17V something is very wrong. 

 

If you don’t start getting some charge into those batteries very soon they’ll be irreparably damaged. 

 

As the batteries are wired in series then I’m also very confused as to where you’re reading 17V. 

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1 hour ago, andrewbridget said:

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. 

 

 

 

I’m sure that someone will be along in a minute to tell you that you’ve just trashed £600 worth of batteries by attaching them to a charging system with known issues ☹️. We’ll need all the basic stuff to have a chance of helping you engine type, number of alternators, voltage of starting system, voltage of dimestic system (they can be different) and a few pictures of the instalation would help. Pictures may be an issue though for new members; I think there are some restrictions. In your position I might be asking the “professional” a question or two.

 

Edited by Eeyore
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In the meantime, see if you can get your batteries on charge somehow - leaving them discharged will be hurting them. If you don't have access to a shore supply and charger, at a push you may be able to reconfigure to use your start battery alternator. 

  • Greenie 1
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That means take one out of the bank and use jump leads to carefully connect it to the engine battery. Make sure you do not short the lead clips. After several hours do the other one in that series string. Refit the string and repeat in the other string. If you have two sets of jump leads Take a whole series string out, connect them is series and then connect to the engine battery and charge for at least 8 hours. Tonight replace that string & take the other string out so tomorrow you can deal with the second string. Minimise domestic electricity use.

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9 hours ago, andrewbridget said:

I have a split charge relay and it reads the same as the alternator in motion. 

How would this work then if the domestics are 24V and the engine 12V? Would this not mean that when the relay is energised the full voltage of the 24V alternator would be applied to the engine battery?

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Ok thanks everyone. I only have 1 alternator. I will try the charging trick as fingers crossed their recoverable.  

Otherwise I'll take all out and get them charged elsewhere. 

At the moment the combined voltage on the ampmeter is 23.50. Even with engine running so 26/28 is what I need. I wish I had a 12 volt system. Lol. It is confusing. 

1 minute ago, philjw said:

How would this work then if the domestics are 24V and the engine 12V? Would this not mean that when the relay is energised the full voltage of the 24V alternator would be applied to the engine battery?

Oh I don't know. There are 2 split relays together. Maybe that explains. 

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6 minutes ago, philjw said:

How would this work then if the domestics are 24V and the engine 12V? Would this not mean that when the relay is energised the full voltage of the 24V alternator would be applied to the engine battery?

24V starter motor?  We currently know way too little about this system to fault find at a distance. 

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10 minutes ago, WotEver said:

24V starter motor?  We currently know way too little about this system to fault find at a distance. 

He does say engine BATTERY not BATTERIES in his OP.

 

If he is trying to charge a 24v battery bank with a 12v alternator it just isn't going to happen.

Neither a 24v or 12v Alternator should be putting out 17 volts.

 

The numbers just don't make sense.

 

9 hours ago, andrewbridget said:

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. 

 

 

 

Andrew - may I suggest that as you appear to have possibly killed another £600 of batteries in 3 days that you get someone in to sort it out for you, it will be cheaper in the long run.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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1 minute ago, WotEver said:

We currently know way too little about this system to fault find at a distance. 

Quite so.  I am intrigued to know how the split charge relay, possibly 2 relays, would be wired to charge both 24 and 12V batteries.  If the starter were to be 24V and is separate from the domestic I would expect two engine batteries. The OP talks about "the engine battery".

Perhaps the split charge relays are something else?

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I agree with all those who have said this doesn't make a lot of sense and far more information needed.

 

So are the domestic electrics 24 volt, (2 pairs of 2 batteries wired in series then paralleled together)?

 

But the engine 12volts (12 volt starter motor, single battery?)

 

If so how many alternators are there, one or two?

 

I can't imagine any combination of switches and/or split charge relays that make it practical to charge a 12 volt starter battery and a 24 volt domestic bank with the same alternator. Trying to do this would sound like a bodge too far.

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30 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

The numbers just don't make sense.

Precisely. 

31 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Andrew - may I suggest that as you appear to have possibly killed another £600 of batteries in 3 days...

Hopefully, if they go on charge pronto, there won’t be too much damage done. One of the figures given was 11.5V which (if accurate) isn’t devastatingly low as long as they’re fully charged ASAP. 

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Yes it's had me scratching my head. I'll try and gather as much info later as not at the bitch atm. Obviously this is new to me but I do appreciate all your comments. 

5 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Precisely. 

Hopefully, if they go on charge pronto, there won’t be too much damage done. One of the figures given was 11.5V which (if accurate) isn’t devastatingly low as long as they’re fully charged ASAP. 

Thank you . Fingers crossed.  

38 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

He does say engine BATTERY not BATTERIES in his OP.

 

If he is trying to charge a 24v battery bank with a 12v alternator it just isn't going to happen.

Neither a 24v or 12v Alternator should be putting out 17 volts.

 

The numbers just don't make sense.

 

Andrew - may I suggest that as you appear to have possibly killed another £600 of batteries in 3 days that you get someone in to sort it out for you, it will be cheaper in the long run.

I agree. If anyone is available next Saturday . It's in Rickmansworth.  Thank's.  

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1 hour ago, andrewbridget said:

Yes it's had me scratching my head. I'll try and gather as much info later as not at the bitch atm. Obviously this is new to me but I do appreciate all your comments. 

Thank you . Fingers crossed.  

I agree. If anyone is available next Saturday . It's in Rickmansworth.  Thank's.  

If you wait until Saturday your batteries will be all but Bugghered - they need charging yesterday, if you cannot do that they must be charged today.

Every day you leave them at 11.5 volts your are seriously reducing their capacity. (speculation ) they could have lost 50% of their capacity  after a week or so at only 10% SoC

 

Red is the "Dead Zone"

 

 

battery-state-of-charge.jpg

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2 hours ago, andrewbridget said:

Ok thanks everyone. I only have 1 alternator. I will try the charging trick as fingers crossed their recoverable.  

Otherwise I'll take all out and get them charged elsewhere. 

At the moment the combined voltage on the ampmeter is 23.50. Even with engine running so 26/28 is what I need. I wish I had a 12 volt system. Lol. It is confusing. 

Oh I don't know. There are 2 split relays together. Maybe that explains. 

The expected charging voltage is more in the region of 29 to 29.2 volts. Modern “12 volt” batteries have a higher calcium content requiring higher charge voltage of about 14.5 to 14.6 volts, so yours will be twice that. There is a trend is towards higher calcium content in vehicle batteries, so charging voltages up to 14.8 volts can be found on nominally “12 volt” systems. I still think your “professional” installer has some difficult questions to answer. The battery (or batterybank) is only part of the battery system, which by default must include a method of recharging. To demonstrate that the new battery functions as intended would include both discharging it into a load ( fridge, lights etc.) and that it charges correctly from the available charging sources. With regard to the current situation; it’s all about the economics, a day off to go and sort it now or an extra day or two at work to buy another set.

 

Edited by Eeyore
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6 minutes ago, Eeyore said:

I still think your “professional” installer has some difficult questions to answer.

To be fair - if someone asked me to 'install 4 new batteries' I would lift them in, bolt them down and attach the cables. I would be unlikely to try any diagnostic work on alternators etc unless requested - particularly if the 'customer' mentioned he had flattened the previous batteries by being a bit overzealous with the inverter, and not 'I don't know what happened, I ran my engine for 8 hours every day and they still went flat'.

 

I think the context of the request to 'install' is important.

  • Greenie 1
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24 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

To be fair - if someone asked me to 'install 4 new batteries' I would lift them in, bolt them down and attach the cables. I would be unlikely to try any diagnostic work on alternators etc unless requested - particularly if the 'customer' mentioned he had flattened the previous batteries by being a bit overzealous with the inverter, and not 'I don't know what happened, I ran my engine for 8 hours every day and they still went flat'.

 

I think the context of the request to 'install' is important.

I’d agree with that. OP only said that he had them professionally ‘fitted’. That doesn’t suggest “Please sort out my charging arrangements”. 

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47 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

To be fair - if someone asked me to 'install 4 new batteries' I would lift them in, bolt them down and attach the cables. I would be unlikely to try any diagnostic work on alternators etc unless requested - particularly if the 'customer' mentioned he had flattened the previous batteries by being a bit overzealous with the inverter, and not 'I don't know what happened, I ran my engine for 8 hours every day and they still went flat'.

 

I think the context of the request to 'install' is important.

 

21 minutes ago, WotEver said:

I’d agree with that. OP only said that he had them professionally ‘fitted’. That doesn’t suggest “Please sort out my charging arrangements”. 

I’m only expecting a functional check; the only information I’m expecting is something as simple as “all done mate, everything in the boat is working, but I did notice the voltage didn’t come up when the engine was running; you’ll need that seeing to”. I think anything less would be a disservice to the customer.

Edited by Eeyore
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4 minutes ago, Eeyore said:

 

I’m only expecting a functional check; the only information I’m expecting is something as simple as “all done mate, everything in the boat is working, but I did notice the voltage didn’t come up when the engine was running; you’ll need that seeing to”. I think anything less would be a disservice to the customer.

I had a new battery "professionally fitted" on my DiL car.

It is a Renault and requires plugging into a 'diagnostics computer' to keep the electronics and memories 'live' whilst removing the old battery.

(I could have jiggled about with jump-leads but if one of them had pinged off whilst moving batteries it would have been serious - so - not worth it)

 

I was there when the garage did the change over - they did exactly as I requested - 'supply and fit a new battery' nothing else expected or offered.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I had a new battery "professionally fitted" on my DiL car.

It is a Renault and requires plugging into a 'diagnostics computer' to keep the electronics and memories 'live' whilst removing the old battery.

(I could have jiggled about with jump-leads but if one of them had pinged off whilst moving batteries it would have been serious - so - not worth it)

 

I was there when the garage did the change over - they did exactly as I requested - 'supply and fit a new battery' nothing else expected or offered.

 

 

You’ve got a lot of worms in that tin, haven’t you ?

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