Removing leisure battery from charge circuit

[Sam T]

Hi all,

One of my leisure batteries is damaged, I have new ones on order and am not using them in the meantime (switched off at isolator, solar controller disconnected and have not started the engine since it occurred).

When they arrive it will be a very simple reconnect, but in the meantime I need to move the boat.

 

I imagine this is very simple, but how do I go about disconnecting the damaged battery from the alternator charging circuit so it does not attempt to charge while the engine is running?

In an ideal world the non-damaged leisure battery would still be connected so I can use it/charge it as normal over the next week, but this isn't essential as I can get by without electric no problem if I need to.

 

I'm assuming if I disconnected and insulated any cables between the split charge relay and the leisure batteries this would do it, but not 100% sure of this and wasn't clear if there would be any implications for the relay itself/wiring if running the engine with these connections removed. 

 

I could also take the damaged battery out completely, but again not sure what to do with the wires that are currently connected to its terminals. I know I could rewire the whole thing so that there were only one leisure battery in the setup, but as I will shortly be going back to the current set up I don't want to mess around with the wires and moves things around when everything's in the right place at the moment.

 

Is there an obvious way to achieve what I'm after? Sorry if it's a stupid question.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[Paul C]

Yeah just disconnect and insulate one of the terminals (but if there's >1 wire connected to the battery terminal connector, leave those all connected together. One way to insulate it would be to thoroughly wrap the connector in insulating tape.

 

In an ideal world, you shouldn't really have loads of extra connections on the battery terminal (connector) - if your wiring does have this, it may cause issues in itself. But without seeing your actual wiring, can't be more precise etc.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Can you take a picture of the top of your battery bank? We may then be able to tell you which wires to move/remove. This may be the easiest approach if you aren't confident on electrical things.

Are we correct in assuming you have more than one leisure batteries, one of which is duff?

Are we correct in assuming you have one engine start battery?

 

Jen

Edited June 27, 2019 by Jen-in-Wellies

[Tony Brooks]

Simply disconnect the pos or neg connection to that battery (I would do the neg), make sure the bolt or whatever is tight so other cabled on that battery clamp/terminal still make a good connection and insulate the whole clamp. The you will be running on just one battery.

 

 

[Sam T]

Thanks for all the replies. 

On the many wires to one terminal point, I do have several yes. So the duff battery has a series connection to the good battery on both terminals. In addition the positive has one cable coming off to the isolator switch and one to the split charge.

 

The negative also has a cable to the solar and to a separate battery charger. What would be the ideal way to connect these if this isn't great?

 

If it makes any difference they're not standard stud terminals, they're copper plates like this http://www.cactusnav.com/victron-energy-12v220ah-deep-cycle-battery-p-13291.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsPih9YOK4wIVxeFRCh3kyw6rEAQYAiABEgK2JvD_BwE

 

Will send a pic when I'm home, but yes it's two leisures (one damaged but both will be replaced) and one starter.

 

Sounds quite simple to disconnect. Will send a picture first, but will disconnect the neg, pop a plastic insulating cover on the disconnected terminal and large amounts of insulating tape around the disconnected bolt, keeping the wires together.

 

Very much not an expert, didn't realise that would make it still work off the one battery.

 

Thanks.

[Paul C]

6 minutes ago, Sam T said:

So the duff battery has a series connection to the good battery on both terminals.

 

 

Does it?

 

Might I suggest this is an area, where if you need to ask, you shouldn't be doing it. With a loose connection (and with the number of connections it sounds like you have) and a high enough current, there is the outside chance you'll set fire to something. If the connections are tight, and the temporary insulation okay, and it doesn't rub or vibrate to wear it down, and it doesn't contact something it shouldn't, you'll be fine though. Its up to you, at the end of the day.

[Alan de Enfield]

12 minutes ago, Sam T said:

Very much not an expert, didn't realise that would make it still work off the one battery.

It will UNLESS you have a 24 volt system (Do you ?)

[Sam T]

It's 12v.

Sorry no it won't have a connection to the other batteries on both terminals. Was writing faster than I was thinking.

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, Sam T said:

It's 12v.

Sorry no it won't have a connection to the other batteries on both terminals. Was writing faster than I was thinking.

Disconnect the cables from one of the terminals. Use the nut and bolt to join them all together tightly. Wrap that connection with copious amounts of insulating tape so that it can’t possibly touch anything metal. 

[Sam T]

Thank you all for the help. 

Leisure batteries were connected with both terminals in parallel, not series, definitely 12v system, was writing too quickly before.

 

Have disconnected negative and put an insulating cap on the terminal. The three leads which were connected to it now look like the attached. Hell of a lot of insulating tape on them and all bolted together tightly underneath.

 

Flicked it on briefly and all seems to work. For what it's worth will prob keep the batteries off this week as have enough battery powered lights to not really need it. But ought to get me through the ~2 hour journey at the weekend and can get the new ones installed properly at that point.

 

Ta.

[WotEver]

That looks just fine