Hi all,
We recently purchased our first bigger sailboat, a Beneteau Oceanis 40 from 2008. The boat was in very good condition and appeared only lightly used.
The survey did not discover any significant problems, and most of the issues mentioned by the surveyor were fixed by the owner bevor the deal was finalized.
So far, so good.
To get comfortable with the boat, I did spend almost two days crawling through the boat together with a knowledgeable person. We named every part, checked and explained function, he explained problems that could come up, and solutions to solve them. While doing that, we also opened every box with "spare parts" we could find, and one box was holding a complete electric panel. So obviously the electric panel had been replaced.
Anyhow, during our second trip with the boat after about 35 minutes of going under motor, the engine battery alarm came on. The small display in the electric panel showed the engine battery with 6.5 volts, obviously way too low, literally dead. We went back to the marina and connected the boat to the shore power. Because I had no voltmeter, I asked the marina for help. They came the next morning checked the batteries and found that everything was OK. Also no battery alarm on the panel anymore. However, they also mentioned that the house batteries are lead-acid while the motor battery is AGM, and that might cause problems. The charger is a Xantres Truecharge 40+, and it's stated in the manual that mixing battery types should be avoided.
I also looked in the surveyor report, and there the house batteries are reported as AGM batteries. So I have to investigate further who is right here, the surveyor or the marina technician.
The next day we went over this again, now I had a voltmeter, and we did some simple checks on the batteries with the engine (alternator) running and another with the charger on. It seems that the batteries being charged either way and without any load on them or charging all batteries had normal voltage.
During our testing, when the engine was running, the engine battery alarm cam on again and showed about 7.7 volts. We checked the battery directly, and it showed 14. 2 volts with the engine running and without about 12.5.
So long story short, from our simple way of testing things, I would carefully assume that battery and charger/alternator are running as expected, and the problem seems to be the panel giving false alarms, but I am not sure.
Are other people here having a similar experience?
Any thoughts about what else could be wrong?
Thank you,
Christoph
We recently purchased our first bigger sailboat, a Beneteau Oceanis 40 from 2008. The boat was in very good condition and appeared only lightly used.
The survey did not discover any significant problems, and most of the issues mentioned by the surveyor were fixed by the owner bevor the deal was finalized.
So far, so good.
To get comfortable with the boat, I did spend almost two days crawling through the boat together with a knowledgeable person. We named every part, checked and explained function, he explained problems that could come up, and solutions to solve them. While doing that, we also opened every box with "spare parts" we could find, and one box was holding a complete electric panel. So obviously the electric panel had been replaced.
Anyhow, during our second trip with the boat after about 35 minutes of going under motor, the engine battery alarm came on. The small display in the electric panel showed the engine battery with 6.5 volts, obviously way too low, literally dead. We went back to the marina and connected the boat to the shore power. Because I had no voltmeter, I asked the marina for help. They came the next morning checked the batteries and found that everything was OK. Also no battery alarm on the panel anymore. However, they also mentioned that the house batteries are lead-acid while the motor battery is AGM, and that might cause problems. The charger is a Xantres Truecharge 40+, and it's stated in the manual that mixing battery types should be avoided.
I also looked in the surveyor report, and there the house batteries are reported as AGM batteries. So I have to investigate further who is right here, the surveyor or the marina technician.
The next day we went over this again, now I had a voltmeter, and we did some simple checks on the batteries with the engine (alternator) running and another with the charger on. It seems that the batteries being charged either way and without any load on them or charging all batteries had normal voltage.
During our testing, when the engine was running, the engine battery alarm cam on again and showed about 7.7 volts. We checked the battery directly, and it showed 14. 2 volts with the engine running and without about 12.5.
So long story short, from our simple way of testing things, I would carefully assume that battery and charger/alternator are running as expected, and the problem seems to be the panel giving false alarms, but I am not sure.
Are other people here having a similar experience?
Any thoughts about what else could be wrong?
Thank you,
Christoph
