Help with charging batteries from diesel engine

[Spudwynk]

We've got our first boat and been on our maiden cruise. One thing we couldn't figure out was how to disengage the gears to run the engine with more revs than neutral to charge the batteries. Didn't find a button on the accelerator. Could it be anywhere else?

 

Have an isuzu lb33 engine. Not figured out what gearbox we have yet

 

When we are in a marina on the shoreline will this charge our batteries?

 

Thanks for helping

 

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by Spudwynk
Additional info

[BEngo]

Picture of your speed/gear control please.

 

N

[PD1964]

Different throttle leaver assembly’s have different means of putting the engine out of gear so being able to Rev it. Post a pic and someone will tell you👍

[Alan de Enfield]

There are various ways of disconnecting the gears from the lever - the most common one is to grip the centre (the round bit where the handle pivots) and pull it 'out-wards' (in towards the boat), the then allows you to move the throttle without engaging gears.

The other way is that there is a 'button' underneath the handle, or a button on the centre of the base of the handle (where it pivots)

 

You will not be very popular if you sit in a marina with the engine running.

 

Yes your batteries should charge when plugged in to the mains hook-up, assuming :

1) You have a battery charger fitted

2) You switch the battery charger on.

Edited August 1, 2022 by Alan de Enfield

[booke23]

Here's a diagram showing the methods Alan has already described.

 

 

 

 

 

However sometimes you do see throttles where the top of the lever is pulled upwards for neutral as illustrated by the arrows on the lever below.

 

[Tony Brooks]

Some Morse (the maker) have the pull-out button in the housing below the lever boss.

[jonesthenuke]

34 minutes ago, booke23 said:

Here's a diagram showing the methods Alan has already described.

 

 

 

 

 

However sometimes you do see throttles where the top of the lever is pulled upwards for neutral as illustrated by the arrows on the lever below.

 

To clarify, in the lower picture, you pull the knob on the handle up to move from neutral to forward or reverse and the gears will be engaged. To rev the engine without engaging the gears the whole handle is pulled out horizontally first.

[booke23]

.

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by booke23

[Tracy D'arth]

Some have a red tab behind the lever.

[jonathanA]

So to sum up there will be some 'knack' that allows you to move the throttle and rev the engine without engaging the gears...

 

Just because you have a shoreline doesn't mean there will a means to charge the batteries. You need to see if there is any charger or combined inverter / charger and its switched on and the shore line is supplying power... (e.g credit on meter, breaker not tripped etc...)

[Spudwynk]

13 hours ago, jonathanA said:

So to sum up there will be some 'knack' that allows you to move the throttle and rev the engine without engaging the gears...

 

Just because you have a shoreline doesn't mean there will a means to charge the batteries. You need to see if there is any charger or combined inverter / charger and its switched on and the shore line is supplying power... (e.g credit on meter, breaker not tripped etc...)

Thanks. Wanting to know the knacks to try. Have an automatic battery charger next to the inverter so assume that will do it

[Alan de Enfield]

57 minutes ago, Spudwynk said:

Thanks. Wanting to know the knacks to try.

 

If (as requested) you post a picture you will be told the 'knack' for your particular model.

 

Assuming you have a multimeter, check the voltage of your batteries, connect to the mains hookup and your voltage reading will increase, could be anywhere between 13v and 14.6v.

 

If the voltage doesn't increase then :

a) The battery charger is not switched on (even automatic ones will have an on/off switch)

b) The battery charger is not working

c) The electricity supply is not working (bollard tripped)

d) There is no credit on the bollard

e) Your master switch in the 'fuse box' is 'off'

f) One of your trips has 'tripped'

 

Or a number of other unlikely things such as a wire is loose in your plug / socket of the hook-up lead etc. 

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Spudwynk said:

Thanks. Wanting to know the knacks to try. Have an automatic battery charger next to the inverter so assume that will do it

 

 

Assume what you like, it won't necessarily be the case.

 

With boats and boating in particular, assumption is the mother of all cock-ups. Always check and find out for sure.

 

 

 

 

[alan_fincher]

15 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

Some Morse (the maker) have the pull-out button in the housing below the lever boss.

And for some like MarineMaster it is a push pull tab on the housing above the pivot for the control lever.

 

It is red in this example...

[Tonka]

36 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

And for some like MarineMaster it is a push pull tab on the housing above the pivot for the control lever.

 

It is red in this example...

Wow 5 engines in a narrowboat 

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Tonka said:

Wow 5 engines in a narrowboat 

 

 

I think Alan was caught by that forum bug where you press the "Submit Reply" button and nothing appears to happen, so you press it again, and again then get bored. Alan pressed it five times before giving up. 

 

Thing is, each button press does actually submit the reply, it just doesn't tell you. 

 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

16 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Some have a red tab behind the lever.

This ^ ^ was obviously over looked. 
😃

[Spudwynk]

14 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

If (as requested) you post a picture you will be told the 'knack' for your particular model.

 

Assuming you have a multimeter, check the voltage of your batteries, connect to the mains hookup and your voltage reading will increase, could be anywhere between 13v and 14.6v.

 

If the voltage doesn't increase then :

a) The battery charger is not switched on (even automatic ones will have an on/off switch)

b) The battery charger is not working

c) The electricity supply is not working (bollard tripped)

d) There is no credit on the bollard

e) Your master switch in the 'fuse box' is 'off'

f) One of your trips has 'tripped'

 

Or a number of other unlikely things such as a wire is loose in your plug / socket of the hook-up lead etc. 

In a nonsensical kind of way I posted my question as we headed away from the boat towards the commonwealth games.  Back there on Sunday so will definitely post up a photo

[PD1964]

40 minutes ago, Spudwynk said:

In a nonsensical kind of way I posted my question as we headed away from the boat towards the commonwealth games.  Back there on Sunday so will definitely post up a photo

I take it you never had a hand over from the previous owner or a run out on the canal to be shown anything??

[Spudwynk]

7 hours ago, PD1964 said:

I take it you never had a hand over from the previous owner or a run out on the canal to be shown anything??

We bought the boat from a couple who do up boats that need a bit of work to sell. They had owned it for 8 weeks. We know its sound but they have not figured all the systems out. Previous owners hardly used it hence the sale. We did have a run out and it had Hull and engine survey but we need to figure everything out ourselves 

[Spudwynk]

Thanks for the help everyone. We were at the boat yesterday and we could pul the lever out sideways. That's one thing ticked off the ever growing list

[LadyG]

Good result then.

I note there is a lot of free electricity available today, indeed from March to September you may not need to run engine to charge batteries.

So before you close that list can you add solar panels and controller.

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by LadyG

[Mad Harold]

On 02/08/2022 at 11:28, MtB said:

 

 

I think Alan was caught by that forum bug where you press the "Submit Reply" button and nothing appears to happen, so you press it again, and again then get bored. Alan pressed it five times before giving up. 

 

Thing is, each button press does actually submit the reply, it just doesn't tell you. 

 

 

I think I hold the record for that!

Nine times!!!  😰

[Spudwynk]

2 hours ago, LadyG said:

Good result then.

I note there is a lot of free electricity available today, indeed from March to September you may not need to run engine to charge batteries.

So before you close that list can you add solar panels and controller.

 

It was the first thing on the list but we need to save over the winter to install in the spring. We may have shot batteries too as the boat had stood unused for a while before we bought it. Still working on that one.  We have soar electric and hot water at home so I don't need convincing 

[LadyG]

24 minutes ago, Spudwynk said:

It was the first thing on the list but we need to save over the winter to install in the spring. We may have shot batteries too as the boat had stood unused for a while before we bought it. Still working on that one.  We have soar electric and hot water at home so I don't need convincing 

Midland chandler's have some good deals on batteries  under clearance, not sure if that is usual. But they may not be the right configuration ,/ dimension / capacity

Bimble sell second hand panels, which are a bit cheaper, I found the kits helped me decide on sizing, you can mix and match, to some extent.  Again ask them for advice before purchase!!! Other companies do the same.

If you are in a marina shorepower is going to be a massive advantage keeping batteries up to speed.

Edited August 8, 2022 by LadyG