Battery wiring at fault? 12v socket reading jumping.

[WotEver]

That shunt appears to be unused. All of the connections go to one end with the other end unconnected. 

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, Lady_Why said:

 Thank you! 

Lastly, the shunt does have two wires leading away from it, ha! ... but it goes to a mystery box that doesn't seem to open in any obvious way.

 

 

 

There IS a shunt in this photo, unconnected as far as I can see. Its the horizontal thing below the "Link Shunt" label.

 

The vertical thing with all the cables on it is just a bus bar. So no, you appear not to have a battery monitor although there probably used to be one, once. 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Mike the Boilerman

[WotEver]

4 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I think the upper device, the Sterling Advanced Digital Four Step thing, is a device for modifying alternator output. 

Nope. The Pro Charge D is an old Sterling mains battery charger. 30A by the looks of it, so OP’s generator might just power it, but probably not with flat batteries. 

7 minutes ago, Lady_Why said:

 

This is a split charge relay to enable charging of both battery banks with one alternator. We don’t need to worry about it at this stage. If Tony B visits on Saturday he may well suggest replacing it but right now it’s irrelevant to your problems. 

[MtB]

16 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Nope. The Pro Charge D is an old Sterling mains battery charger. 30A by the looks of it, so OP’s generator might just power it, but probably not with flat batteries. 

 

Ah ok.

 

I'm inclined to think the OP's genny won't run it. I have the same genny and connecting it to my 24v Sterling Pro Charge Ultra stops it dead, even with the Pro charge Ultra throttled back to 25%. 

 

  

[TheBiscuits]

32 minutes ago, WotEver said:

The Pro Charge D is an old Sterling mains battery charger. 30A by the looks of it, so OP’s generator might just power it, but probably not with flat batteries. 

It's the type that is actually 3 x 10A, and you can interlink 2 or 3 of the outputs to get 1 x 30A or 1 x 10A + 1 x 20A.

 

This does suggest that Tony could drop it to a 20A charger to allow it to run off the small genny. 

Edited November 13, 2018 by TheBiscuits

[WotEver]

2 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

It's the type that is actually 3 x 10A, and you can interlink 2 or 3 of the outputs to get 1 x 30A or 1 x 10A + 1 x 20A.

 

This does suggest that Tony could drop it to a 20A charger to allow it to run off the small genny. 

Great

 

Or even 10A if necessary. 

[TheBiscuits]

Just now, WotEver said:

Great

 

Or even 10A if necessary. 

Or 0A, but that would be silly! 

[Alan de Enfield]

Lady_Why

I'm sure Tony will explain all - but if the battery charger can be run from your 'little' generator you do know not to run the generator on the boat - don't you ?

 

The generator should be taken off the boat and put onto the bank ensuring that it is placed so that the exhaust is down wind of the boat and no gasses can blow back into the boat.

There are a number of boaters deaths each year which are caused by Carbon Monoxide poisoning as a result of petrol engines exhaust fumes entering the cabin.

[WotEver]

While on that subject... you do have at least one CO alarm, don’t you?

[Lady_Why]

Any good news at this point is very good news!! I do have a CO alarm but it is next to the stove which is at the other end. My lead doesn't quite stretch to the bank so I had been hoping to have it outside on the stern with the exhaust facing outwards (as I've seen others do, but then that is clearly not reliable!). As for earthing it.... let's take that conversation later!! I feel my hands are full with fixing this first.

So, I got a new battery for the multi-meter and headed back home with my heart in my throat, but...  it still fails the ohm test (pic attached to check I've done it right). I got jumpy readings that only settle occasionally at 1. 

I should head back into town to get a new multi-meter, right?

Edited November 13, 2018 by Lady_Why

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, Lady_Why said:

Any good news at this point is very good news!! I do have a CO alarm but it is next to the stove which is at the other end. My lead doesn't quite stretch to the bank so I had been hoping to have it outside on the stern with the exhaust facing outwards (as I've seen others do, but then that is clearly not reliable!). As for earthing it.... let's take that conversation later!! I feel my hands are full with fixing this first.

So, I got a new battery for the multi-meter and headed back home with my heart in my throat, but...  it still fails the ohm test (pic attached to check I've done it right). I got jumpy readings that only settle occasionally at 1. 

I should head back into town to get a new multi-meter, right?

 

 

 

Turn it the 2000k scale

[TheBiscuits]

1 minute ago, Lady_Why said:

Any good news at this point is good news!! I do have a CO alarm but it is next to the stove which is at the other end. My lead doesn't quite stretch to the bank so I had been hoping to have it outside on the stern with the exhaust facing outwards (as I've seen others do, but then that is clearly not reliable!). As for earthing it.... let's take that conversation later!! I feel my hands are full with fixing this first.

So, I got a new battery for the multi-meter and headed back home with my heart in my throat, but...  it still fails the ohm test (pic attached to check I've done it right). I got jumpy readings that only settle occasionally at 1. 

I should head back into town to get a new multi-meter, right?

Clean the probe tips so they are shiny. You won't get a good electrical contact with dirty leads. 

 

Hold them firmly together, not just resting one on the other when doing your resistance test. 

[Lady_Why]

Ok, wiped them down with WD40, changed it to 2000k and re-did it. It did jump a bit still but settled at 000. I assume the extra zeros are due to the shift to 2000.  

Went into engine room and my batteries read higher (12-12.20) so perhaps there is hope they're still alive. Will run engine until 8pm and then disconnect to check the individual discharge overnight. Early night for me!

(will check if alternator charge reads better now too, but given the still low levels from yesterday's charge I doubt the change will be much)

Thank you again, guys! 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Lady_Why

[Alan de Enfield]

5 minutes ago, Lady_Why said:

Will run engine until 8pm and then disconnect to check the individual discharge overnight. Early night for me!

Remember - before testing leave it an hour after switching off the engine.

Putting on a couple of lights for half an hour will help dissipate the surface charge (and wont take much - if anything - out of the battery.)

[Lady_Why]

Well, I'm back from the engine room as I am confused. The charge is lower again - I think what I just read was the surface charge from the tiny solar panel I had on it (it's literally just a clip on car one). However, out of curiosity I checked the charge from this panel and it read 19v. That can't be right? That's higher than my alternator. It's an absolutely tiny panel.

Sorry for taking up everyone's time!

[Alan de Enfield]

9 minutes ago, Lady_Why said:

That can't be right? That's higher than my alternator. It's an absolutely tiny panel.

The size of the panel does not determine voltage - it determines wattage (and indirectly current / amps)

 

Don't worry about it, reconnect it, every little helps (but remember to disconnect it well before doing any measurements).

 

Tony will sort it !!!

[Lady_Why]

Ok, can I run engine and keep solar panel on - or should I use solar panel during the day, and run engine when it gets dark?

 

[WotEver]

15 minutes ago, Lady_Why said:

can I run engine and keep solar panel on

Yes

 

The 19V you measured was what’s called the ‘open circuit voltage’. In other words the voltage with it not connected ‘in a circuit’. 

[Alan de Enfield]

23 minutes ago, Lady_Why said:

Ok, can I run engine and keep solar panel on

Yes.

Until you get it all sorted and you learn how to manage the batteries take every opportunity to run your engine and get maximum charge into the batteries.

 

Undercharging batteries results in them becoming sulphated (bunged up), this reduces the capacity of the battery.

 

Imagine a 5 litre bucket of water, it has a capacity of 5 litres

Now, add 1 litre of mud. The bucket still has a capacity of 5 litres but you can now only fit 4 litres of water into it.

Now, add another 1 litre of mud. The bucket still has a capacity of 5 litres but you can now only fit 3 litres of water into it.

 

Bucket is your battery

Water is how much electricity is available.

 

Your battery has a capacity of (say) 100Ah when it is new, as it has sat undercharged the capacity gets 'bunged up with mud' and it will drop to 90Ah, repeatedly undercharging could mean that your battery is still 12 volts, but now has a capacity of (say) 40Ah. This is why it will go 'flat' quickly. If you are drawing (say) 10 amps, originally (in theory) the battery would supply that for 10 hours, now it can only do it for 4 hours.

 

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[Nut]

hopefully you get sorted on Saturday ,brilliant advice being given ,im learning as well Lady_Why

[WotEver]

55 minutes ago, Lady_Why said:

Ok, wiped them down with WD40

That won’t do it. They need to be shiny clean. Wire wool will do it (a pan scourer will do at a push). 

[Stilllearning]

2 minutes ago, WotEver said:

That won’t do it. They need to be shiny clean. Wire wool will do it (a pan scourer will do at a push). 

Or an emery board. Useful things, emery boards!

[Lady_Why]

 Haha, sorted! Perhaps I should take the battery terminals (clamps! I mean clamps!) (wait not, perhaps they are called terminals)  off and sand them too on the inside? They're clean, but sanding clearly sound like the way to go. 

I want to uplike all your posts, but the forum won't let me for some reason! Well, water's topped up, engine is running and solar is clamped on. Duly noted I should wait an hour before measuring and disconnecting tonight. The saga continues! 

*I attempted using my hydrometer... but it was leaking.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Lady_Why

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, Lady_Why said:

I want to uplike all your posts, but the forum won't let me for some reason!

You have used your daily allocation - your store of 'greenies' will be recharged (like your batteries) and you can click away again tomorrow.

[TheBiscuits]

1 minute ago, Lady_Why said:

Perhaps I should take the battery terminals (clamps! I mean clamps!) off

Good catch!  Removing the battery terminals can be terminal for the battery 

 

Yes, when you disconnect the batteries it is well worth cleaning as many connections as possible.  Shiny bright to shiny bright gives the best electrical connections. Clean the inner clamp, the battery terminal itself and while disconnected you should do the battery cable to clamp connections as well.