DaveC426913 wrote:Six weeks ago or so I drained my batteries by leaving something plugged in. They've never been the same since. I left them to charge from shore power (30A) for a week or so, but it only had enough charge to get me out of the marina - not enough to bring me back in. Before heading out, I checked voltage, and it was a nice 13.4V on both batteries.
One is a deep cycle marine and the other is standard. No idea which switch setting is which - I generally turn my switch to 'both' when heading out.
It happened again last night. It sounded fine when I went out, but two hours later, when I went to start it up to come in, I got nothing - just a click. I had not been running anything while out - no lights, radio or other equipment. I sailed back in to the marina, but - before committing mayhem with the other boats by sailing into my slip - I tried my engine one last time. It started up.
This suggests to me that it's less a problem with charge than with a bad connection (or both).
I've pulled both batteries out and am prepared to replace them with new ones, but now I'm wondering if that will even fix the problem.
P.S. My wiring is terrifying. All those old cracked wires lying in the bilge - it's a wonder I don't electrocute myself every time I step aboard. Maybe I should fix that up before eyeing the batteries as the culprit...
P.P.S. any marine electricians in the GTA area who feel like making some $$ rewiring a
?
Brother, have I been there too--up to my armpits in a nightmare nest of half-ass half-done PO wiring.
First of all, whatever Sumner may suggest you may confidently assume is probably a generally sound idea. Though I, like you, also have mixed-type batteries hooked up and used and charged together through a manual 1-2-Both-Off Perko switch. So far they seem to have been coexisting quite happily...though these two very different batteries might romantically be said to lead a charmed life together as far as batteries go, being more-or-less continuously hooked up to a nice warm 50 watt solar array and regulator when on the trailer, kept pretty much happily tip-top thereby. Then again, they've not yet sailed together to the Bahamas like Sumner's: these are day sailors. Yours' mileage may vary too.
It's not clear to me if you've hauled yours in to an auto parts joint for a proper "load test" (just a voltage reading won't do: that could just be a quickly dissipating "surface charge"), but if not, that trip should be step one. If either's bad, replace both as Sumner suggests. If both are OK, you need to "embrace the rat nest"...probably a fine idea anyhow: at least you'll soon learn where the worst-smelling smoked turds are. For this voyage of discovery you might do well to pick up a copy of Don Casey's great little book,
Sailboat Electrics Simplified, and properly square at least some of the obvious issues away yourself, if only to get a sense of things in there. I bought a few marine electrical guides to help me deal with my own 26X, which had a massive nest of "mysteries" left half-installed or still new-in-box by her previous owner, but it was Casey's book that I kept coming back to and was the most help. It's the one still on board. You can pick up used copies for about five bucks plus shipping all day long
right here. I like to think it kept me from doing anything
too idiotic or outright dangerous.
Happy hunting
!
