Dead batteries

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shorty

shorty

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Apr 14, 2005
298
Pearson P34 Mt Desert, ME
I live inland, my boat is 6 hours away, on the hard now. 85 Pearson 34 with minimal (by today's standards)electrical requirements. Boatyard says batteries are toast. #1 Starter - Diehard #27582 - Group 29hm 675 CCA #2 House - RAE #E-5 Group 27m, 27m-13, 120AH, 220 min New to previous owner Spring 2004. Stored indoors & maintained by yard where I bought the boat over winter 04-05. Spring 05, they said the RAE was toast & got me a new one on warranty. They worked fine all summer. Watched them closely all summer on the battery monitor. I probably ran the RAE down a little too far once, maybe twice, but for the most part good voltage etc. and charged back up fine. Any idea whassup?
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Shorty, When I set up

Bietzpadlin I installed 2 Group 31 AGM batteries that lasted for five years with absolutely no attention. I never remove them from the boat for the winter. I monitor the voltage with a digital volt meter. I don't believe that I would install automobile starting batteries for a boat. Starting is such a small part of your battery use and the engine cranking demand is so small that there is no reason to install a battery sufficient for cranking a big V-8. Alternatively you can buy a surplus VW solar panel on ebay that is used when VW ships their cars and then discarded to keep your batteries topped off.
 
B

BobW

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Jul 21, 2005
456
Hunter 31 San Pedro, Ca
Something's wrong and ought to be figured out

before you put a bundle into new batteries. You didn't kill the brand new RAE by over-draining it a couple of times. Did you monitor the water level in the batteries over the sailing season? What is the voltage output of your charger? It is possible to kill batteries by over-charging, although this is more common to Gel or AGM batteries. Another possiblity is the output of your alternator when you are running the engine. If you use the engine a lot and the voltage is way high, you can cook the batteries. Not sure about other possibilities - I'll rack my brain. Cheers, Bob s/v X SAIL R 8
 
S

Steve Dion

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Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
Missing link

Shorty: There is a missing link here. What type of a charger do you have? What is RAE? (sorry for my ignorance)
 
shorty

shorty

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Apr 14, 2005
298
Pearson P34 Mt Desert, ME
Alternator

is Hitachi LR180-03, 80A. Motored a couple of full days when bring boat up from CT in June, otherwise pretty minimal. 15-20 hours for the balance of the season. Watched water level. Boat was left ~ 4 weeks, end Aug to end Sept, couple days use then put her up. Charge was down when I got to boat end of Sept.
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
get a digital

voltmeter and make sure that you can completely isolate the batteries from any loads. When I leave my boat all the breakers are off and the battery switch is off. The only item still connected is the charger and that is wired in.
 
tweitz

tweitz

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Oct 30, 2005
290
Beneteau 323 East Hampton, New York
VW solar panel

Ross mentions the VW solar panels. Could you tell me a little more about them? I was planning to get a solar panel to keep my batteries charged as the boat is kept where there is no shore power available.
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
VW solar panels

VW solar panel Ross mentions the VW solar panels. Could you tell me a little more about them? I was planning to get a solar panel to keep my batteries charged as the boat is kept where there is no shore power available. Are mounted with suction cups to the inside of the windshield of new cars prior to shipping because there is so much electronic equipment in the new cars that is never turned off. They are plugged into the cigarette lighter socket for the shipping and unplugged before starting the car. I don't think that they are weather proof but can be mounted with the suction cups to the inside of the fore hatch. They have a rated output of 3.5 watts. I bought mine on Ebay for about 25 dollars including shipping.
 
J

John

I love my soler pannel

I have a 70 watt glass pannel over rear polepit and it great keeps my power up to full all the time.winter and summer my alt dosent even come off floate charge all summer.And the moter runs better becouse it dosent have to use power/fuel to charge batterys If im not useing the frig the batterys stay above full.I have gellcells and run them down three times a year then charge them to full wile pluged in to shore power.And the solar pannel is great to stand under and fish in the sun or rain. John
 
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