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Batteries/alternator


snigsnig

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Hi guys

 

I recently replaced 3 x 110ah batteries for my domestics with 3 x 135ah, but now the alternator barely seems to be charging the battery bank at all. I have a Beta 1903 with twin alts - could the one charging the domestic bank now be too small (but would it stop working almost completely this way??) or is there something else I'm overlooking. Ran the engine for a couple of hours today but stored power ran out within half an hour or so. The same batteries had previously lasted 2.5 days after a full charge from shoreline.

 

Thanks for any help!

 

Neil

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Hi guys

 

I recently replaced 3 x 110ah batteries for my domestics with 3 x 135ah, but now the alternator barely seems to be charging the battery bank at all. I have a Beta 1903 with twin alts - could the one charging the domestic bank now be too small (but would it stop working almost completely this way??) or is there something else I'm overlooking. Ran the engine for a couple of hours today but stored power ran out within half an hour or so. The same batteries had previously lasted 2.5 days after a full charge from shoreline.

 

Thanks for any help!

 

Neil

 

Hi Neil

 

Do you have any kind of battery monitoring system to refer to such as victron bm or Nasa or ampmeter?

 

Tim

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Nope, nothing! boat.gif

 

N

 

Well I am not the best at lectrics but your 1903 will easily charge the batteries despite the slightly larger capacities. I had a 1903 with standard set up that easily did more batts than you have. You need to check what the alternator is putting out or you will have nowhere to start with your problem.

Some leccy boff will be along soon but as aliveaboard of long standing I must say some monitoring device is just about essential.

 

Cheers

 

Tim

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LOTS more info needed!

Battery actual volts before charging, current during charge, volts during charge.

 

Have you checked that the connections in the charging circuit are good and clean and tight. Has this situation only started since the batteries were changed.

 

However you should only need to replace the power/energy used from the batteries, but a full charge is likely to be a bit longer than before.

Edited by Arthur Brown
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Cheers Tim.

 

I've really only just got around to starting to sort my battery bank, so thanks for your advice. I did assume the alternator could cope fine, so hoping I've just go a loose wire!

 

Neil .... typing from a rapidly dimming cabin ninja.gif


LOTS more info needed!

Battery actual volts before charging, current during charge, volts during charge.

 

Have you checked that the connections in the charging circuit are good and clean and tight. Has this situation only started since the batteries were changed.

 

Only started since changing the batteries, yes. I have no way of giving any exact numbers and figures, just welcoming any obvious things I may have missed... the first being checking again for loose connections first thing tomorrow! Thanks.

 

N

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Neil, as I often say on this forum, electricity is invisible and so you need adequate test/monitoring equipment to know what is going on. When everything is working, that is all fine and dandy, but when it isn't it is like trying to fix your engine with the lights out - you are just stumbling around in the dark UNLESS you have proper test/monitoring equipment.

 

Anyway, the good news is that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with your setup - the engine / alternators should be able to charge the batteries quite happily, so there is clearly a fault that needs fixing. How to find that fault? Well, you need .... (Fill in the dots!)

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Chances are that your 'new 135Ah batteries were supplied at <80% SOC and already 'sulphated'; ideally you would have immediately recharged them to 100%. The cure, apparently, is 15.5V for a few hours but few of us can achieve this. After I totally discharged my new 'leisure' batteries several times, due to a failed alternator, a long (12h!) charge/cruise seems to have recovered much of their capacity but I expect to replace them sooner than annually.

 

Good luck, Alan

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Hi guys

 

I recently replaced 3 x 110ah batteries for my domestics with 3 x 135ah,No problem there but now the alternator barely seems to be charging the battery bank at all. I have a Beta 1903 with twin alts - could the one charging the domestic bank now be too small No (but would it stop working almost completely this way??) or is there something else I'm overlooking.Probably Ran the engine for a couple of hours today but stored power ran out within half an hour or so.Batteries were not charged and are now completely flat and in a bad condition to be left in The same batteries had previously lasted 2.5 days after a full charge from shoreline.

 

Thanks for any help!

 

Neil

 

Check and double check all connections are in the correct position, clean and tight.

 

My thought is it is a bad/missing connection, check the back of the alternator a wire may have become disconnected even though you never went there when changing the batteries.

 

Check any multi connectors, pull apart and check they are clean and re-connect, again may have been moved when fitting batteries.

 

Then it's into meters and checking the alternator is working.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks everyone. Had a mooch, bit of a fumble, gave things a waggle, and lo and behold it started charging fine the following day. All connections seem tight and clean, but she's quite an old boat so something must have just needed a bit of a nudge!

Edited by snigsnig
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You could try giving the battery isolator switch a waggle (when the engine is not running) because some types are notoriously unreliable.

Really important that you do this with the engine stopped. With the engine running you are certain to blow the alternator regulator.

 

N

Edited by Theo
fat fingers
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Really important that you do this with the engine stopped. With the engine running you are certain to blow the alternator regulator.

 

N

Yep need to re-iterate this. I blew my alternator regulator because my starter battery isolator switch had gone intermittent which meant it occasionally went open circuit. If I hadn't got volt meters permanently connected to each set of batteries I wouldn't have known and quite possibly could have blown up a battery. The voltage went up to 16.5 volts across the battery terminals by the time I actually noticed it.

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That's interesting.

 

I was under the impression that regs normally failed open circuit so that the alternator stopped working rather than the opposite.

 

N

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That's interesting.

 

I was under the impression that regs normally failed open circuit so that the alternator stopped working rather than the opposite.

 

N

 

It need not be the regulator that failed. If the voltage surge blew one or two field diodes open circuit you are likely to get a higher charging voltage.

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