Sterling Alternator to Battery Charger

[dave921]

Hi all,

 

New to this forum and narrowboating in general! Just finished the purchase of our boat couple weeks ago and the starter battery was flat.

Bought a new starter battery (105a open lead acid) and now the LED light on the Sterling device that was previously solid green is now slow flashing green.  See below from the manual:

 

BOOST / HIGH CHARGE RATE ON : Green: This should be on from start-up (a slow flash shows that the unit is on but on standby, ie the high alt temp trip or some other trip has switched the boost aspect off and the unit is waiting to reset if possible). 

 

My question is why fitting a new battery has caused this, and how do I get the LED to stay solid green?

 

Thanks in advance.

[philjw]

Could it be because the new battery is not fully charged and actually needs the boost from the A to B?

If so then it ought to sort itself out given time.

Did you measure the voltage before fitting the new battery?

[dave921]

I thought that I totally but as the excerpt from the manual that I posted above states that the boost charge is not on and in standby mode, meaning it isn't charging now?

 

Maybe you're right as in I need to run the engine for longer and see if that tops the battery off although I thought new batteries came fully charged as is.

 

And no, didn't measure the voltage, I would have assumed it would be 14.4 or whatever being as it's new.

 

Thanks for your reply.

[Alan de Enfield]

7 minutes ago, dave921 said:

Maybe you're right as in I need to run the engine for longer and see if that tops the battery off although I thought new batteries came fully charged as is.

 

NO NO NO

And depending on where you bought it, if they had a slow turnover it could be 'years old' and totally boogered due to self discharge.

 

9 minutes ago, dave921 said:

I would have assumed it would be 14.4 or whatever being as it's new.

 

A fully charged 12v battery should be around 12.8-12.9 volts ( assuming it is not connected to any charging or discharging equipment and has not been connected for several hours.

 

You would only see 14.4-14.6 volts when on charge. It you measure the voltage immediately on turning off the charger you will get the same reading, but that is just 'surface charge' on the plates, - after a few hours (as it 'soaks in') it will drop to the 12.8-12.9 volts

[dave921]

Yeah that makes sense, could have been sat on shop shelf for a while before I took it.

 

If that is the case, then surely the old battery that I replaced would have also triggered the LED to slow flash green, but this was on solid (which means normal) and that battery was completely flat.  So not sure if a half depleted battery would trigger this error or not 

[Tony Brooks]

Please confirm this is a twin battery bank, single alternator boat, because if it is a twin alternator boat the Sterling will probably only be connected to the domestic alternator. This means that whatever has caused it, is not the engine battery. maybe you displaced a cable when changing the engine battery.

[dave921]

No, single alternator fitted.

 

I will re-check the connections when I'm back on it tomorrow, hoping that is the cause as will be an easy fix I guess.

 

The rev counter on the dial when the engine is running has also stopped working since fitting the new battery so may be as you say a loose connection. 

[Tracy D'arth]

23 minutes ago, dave921 said:

No, single alternator fitted.

 

I will re-check the connections when I'm back on it tomorrow, hoping that is the cause as will be an easy fix I guess.

 

The rev counter on the dial when the engine is running has also stopped working since fitting the new battery so may be as you say a loose connection. 

That is worrying as the alternator is almost certainly controlled by the signal from the alternator.  If its not disconnected cables then the alternator may not be working properly.

Edited January 1 by Tracy D'arth

[Tony Brooks]

28 minutes ago, dave921 said:

No, single alternator fitted.

 

I will re-check the connections when I'm back on it tomorrow, hoping that is the cause as will be an easy fix I guess.

 

The rev counter on the dial when the engine is running has also stopped working since fitting the new battery so may be as you say a loose connection. 

 

That suggests the alternator is not charging for some reason. Electric rev counters are usually driven from one of the three generating coils (phases).

 

Does your charge warning lamp come one when you turn the ignition on, and if so what happens when you start and rev the engine.

[dave921]

2 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

That suggests the alternator is not charging for some reason. Electric rev counters are usually driven from one of the three generating coils (phases).

 

Does your charge warning lamp come one when you turn the ignition on, and if so what happens when you start and rev the engine.

 

When I turn the ignition key to on, the alarm sounds as normal, yellow battery light on. Turning the engine on, the yellow battery light stays on, and the rev counter doesn't move regardless if moving or not.

[Tony Brooks]

Just now, dave921 said:

 

When I turn the ignition key to on, the alarm sounds as normal, yellow battery light on. Turning the engine on, the yellow battery light stays on, and the rev counter doesn't move regardless if moving or not.

 

Did you rev the engine to about 1200 rpm? If not, please do so and report back.

 

That is another indication that the alternator has give up the ghost.

 

It seems that the Sterling thing may not be seeing a charge or rise in battery voltage, so has stayed turned off.

[dave921]

1 minute ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Did you rev the engine to about 1200 rpm? If not, please do so and report back.

 

That is another indication that the alternator has give up the ghost.

 

It seems that the Sterling thing may not be seeing a charge or rise in battery voltage, so has stayed turned off.

Yep, revved the engine past 1000 and no movement on the dial.

 

Just don't get why this has happened since swapping out the battery. Had a survey on the boat before purchase and that came back with a clean bill of health.

Edited January 1 by dave921

[Tracy D'arth]

4 minutes ago, dave921 said:

Yep, revved the engine past 1000 and no movement on the dial.

 

Just don't get why this has happened since swapping out the battery. Had a survey on the boat before purchase and that came back with a clean bill of health.

Maybe the alternator was on its way out and having to work harder finished it off.  Surveyors specialise in getting things wrong IMHO.  If the charge warning lamp will not go out with the engine revving to 1300 rpm it means there is no charge from the alternator.  

Are you sure all the wires were correctly fitted to the new battery?

[Tony Brooks]

 

Is the alternator drive belt both in place and correctly tensioned? That is the first test when a charging problem crops up.

 

The fact the charge light comes on means you are trying to excite the alternator, unless you have managed to trap and split the insulation on a thin wire - less likely. It also means that the brushes in the alternator are making some form of contact, so it should charge.

 

There is a charge system fault-finding process in the electrical notes on my website (tb-training.co.uk) but you will need a voltmeter to do them. An ammeter is needed for one test, but you can find a lot out without one.

 

Surveys can not be relied upon to give much of an indication of the state of the electrical and mechanical parts. The surveyor will not strip things down to assess wear and likelihood of incipient failure. Many do not even start the engine unless instructed to and all that tells them is that it starts.

1 minute ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Are you sure all the wires were correctly fitted to the new battery?

 

Reverse connection of the pos and neg will burn the alternator out within seconds, I wonder it the OP noticed any magic smoke from it.

[dave921]

Nope, no magic smoke, just replaced the battery connections like for like when swapping out. May have been possible that a connection has come loose so will double check tomorrow.  The boat is also being taken out the marina tomorrow so will be able to see if the charge light goes after a few hours of engine on time.

[Tony Brooks]

2 minutes ago, dave921 said:

Nope, no magic smoke, just replaced the battery connections like for like when swapping out. May have been possible that a connection has come loose so will double check tomorrow.  The boat is also being taken out the marina tomorrow so will be able to see if the charge light goes after a few hours of engine on time.

 

If the lead connecting the alternator output to batteries fell off while it was charging, then that also can fry the alternator - as will turning the master switch off or disconnecting the battery while it is charging. No smoke in this case usually.

[Tracy D'arth]

6 minutes ago, dave921 said:

Nope, no magic smoke, just replaced the battery connections like for like when swapping out. May have been possible that a connection has come loose so will double check tomorrow.  The boat is also being taken out the marina tomorrow so will be able to see if the charge light goes after a few hours of engine on time.

I doubt running longer will fix anything but will flatten your batteries which they will not like.

[dave921]

4 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

If the lead connecting the alternator output to batteries fell off while it was charging, then that also can fry the alternator - as will turning the master switch off or disconnecting the battery while it is charging. No smoke in this case usually.

Well the battery isolation switch was off when swapping the batteries, engine off etc obviously so not sure how the alternator would have been trying to charge during the swap out.

 

Will just have to double check the connections in the morning by sounds of things. If not, then alternator will need replacing judging by the consensus here.

[Eeyore]

1 minute ago, dave921 said:

Nope, no magic smoke, just replaced the battery connections like for like when swapping out. May have been possible that a connection has come loose so will double check tomorrow.  The boat is also being taken out the marina tomorrow so will be able to see if the charge light goes after a few hours of engine on time.

Not entirely sure that going out with a known fault isn’t the way forward.

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, Eeyore said:

Not entirely sure that going out with a known fault isn’t the way forward.

 

Maybe its a cunning plan - go out for a cruise, next morning find the battery is flat and cannot start the engine and call out RCR who come out and identify the fault, fit a new alternator and battery and away he/she/it goes without getting his/her/its hands dirty.

[dave921]

13 minutes ago, Eeyore said:

Not entirely sure that going out with a known fault isn’t the way forward.

It has to move tomorrow, booked a boat mover to start it's journey tomorrow to the marina where we want it

[Eeyore]

8 minutes ago, dave921 said:

It has to move tomorrow, booked a boat mover to start it's journey tomorrow to the marina where we want it

So are going to tell the boat mover that the boat has a known fault? Offloading a fault for someone else to find certainly isn’t going to go down well. These people (and CRT) have schedules  to keep.

[dave921]

8 minutes ago, Eeyore said:

So are going to tell the boat mover that the boat has a known fault? Offloading a fault for someone else to find certainly isn’t going to go down well. These people (and CRT) have schedules  to keep.

Appreciate your concern for the boat mover. Yep they have been made aware.

[mickp]

Is the new battery (105) a 12v or 6v variety 

[dave921]

Just now, mickp said:

Is the new battery (105) a 12v or 6v variety 

12v battery