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Isuzu 35 - Bird chirping in control panel


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I'm having trouble trying to workout why my boat sounds like a small budgie is trapped behind the control panel.

 

To try and isolate what is causing this I disconnected the oil pressure switch sender (all 3 wires), and then separately disconnected the temperature sender and switch......and although the chirping is faint, it's still happening. The batteries are charging well, and I don't see any battery warning lights flickering, even when I switch everything on. 

 

What am I missing? Thanks so much in advance. 

 

 

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Do you have plenty of solar charging? If so maybe its caused by very well charged batteries and a solar voltage above the alternator voltage.  To test this get the noise going and then turn on loads of electrical equipment. If the noise stops its probably just fully charged batteries. If you have twin alternators stop the engine operate the stop while spinning the engine on the starter for maybe a minute or so in 30 second  bursts. If you then start and rev the engine and the noise has gone away then its the start batteries that are fully charged.

 

Unless you have a mouse in there I suspect that you have a diode down in the alternator or an exceptionally loose/worn drive belt.

 

Unless you can give us the alternator's maximum output, the voltage and charging currant at about 1500 rpm at first start of the day and again just before shutdown, for both battery banks if you have two alternators, we will be unable to guess at the state of the alternator(s).

 

Many people do not realise there are three generators inside a typical alternator so even if one fails you still get charge to the batteries but not as much as there should be.

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Mine does that too, Beta 43, only does it after a few hours running when the batteries are well charged, I did the same as you, disconnected  temp and oil pressure senders and everything else that I could think of. I think Tony is probably correct and now I just do what my wife does when the car makes a funny noise, I turn the radio up.

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1 minute ago, Bee said:

Mine does that too, Beta 43, only does it after a few hours running when the batteries are well charged, I did the same as you, disconnected  temp and oil pressure senders and everything else that I could think of. I think Tony is probably correct and now I just do what my wife does when the car makes a funny noise, I turn the radio up.

Mine started doing it after fitting 65W of solar and leaving it full sun for a week but it stopped as soon as my wife turned the fridge on. In my case I could see a very dull glow from the warning lamp if I cupped my hands around it so the lamp was in the dark.

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Just to eliminate the possibility of the sound playing tricks on you, I take it from your 'behind the console' you've ruled out a "chirping" alternator belt? This would become less prevalent after the engine has been running a while and the batteries concerned demand less charging current. 

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This sounds very similar to the noise the alarm made on my Isuzu 38. After a lot of help on here I discovered it was a broken diode in the alternator which caused 4 volts across the warning buzzer so it made a annoying but fairly low volume chattering noise. 

 

Cheers Graham

 

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I think Tony is right,,,, unless.............Have you bought a parrot recently??

 

I do know of one family who complained about a squeak at night. Turned out they had mice breeding under the bed around the calorifier which they were eating the insulation off.

 

A duff alternator is much easier to sort out.........................................................

 

  • Greenie 1
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13 minutes ago, canalboat77 said:

No solar panels on this boat. How would I test the alternator? Or would it be quicker to just switch it out? 
 

Thanks for all your help everyone. 

As per post  #2 - "Unless you can give us the alternator's maximum output, the voltage and charging currant at about 1500 rpm at first start of the day and again just before shutdown, for both battery banks if you have two alternators, we will be unable to guess at the state of the alternator(s)."

 

From  those figures we can get a fair idea if the alternator is providing maximum current in the morning with flatish batteries (the charging voltage will be low at that time so is of no use to us). The, when the batteries are well charged, just before shutdown the voltage will indicate if the alternator can reach its regulated voltage.

 

If you are handy you may find it easier to take it to an autoelectrical specialist for testing who will be able to supply you a new or reconditioned unit. If your alternator is a rare   one then they may  rebuild it for you.

 

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