last year I was able to get about 12-14 hours before I had to recharge my batteries while using my refrigeration (Grunert). This year I can only get about 4 hours. What's up with that? I haven't changed the settings on the refer, and I'm not using anything differently than last year. Batteries are full of water, but don't have that reserve power to kick on that refer without overloading the inverter and shutting it down. I'm open for suggestions.
- Status
Just loosing it.
Mark: Maybe you are just loosing your battery capacity. Your batteries are probably breaking down. I would have them load tested. There have been many discussions here as to the life of batteries and without a load test there is no way to determine if they are holding a load. If you have wet cells you should check the specific gravity with a tester first. You may also have one battery in the bank that is going bad and it could be draining the rest of them. I assume that you have a Heart Charger/Inverter. Be sure it is on the correct setting for your battery type.
Mark: Maybe you are just loosing your battery capacity. Your batteries are probably breaking down. I would have them load tested. There have been many discussions here as to the life of batteries and without a load test there is no way to determine if they are holding a load. If you have wet cells you should check the specific gravity with a tester first. You may also have one battery in the bank that is going bad and it could be draining the rest of them. I assume that you have a Heart Charger/Inverter. Be sure it is on the correct setting for your battery type.
Suggestions and questions
Mark, I am envious of your 460, the most beautiful boat Hunter makes. If you have ever left your batteries in a discharged state for a few days or longer, this could be the cause of diminished capacity. Sulphate forms and cannot be reversed. They can never be charged up fully after this abuse. Perhaps your Grunert is using more amps than it used to last year? Make sure the batteries are getting the full charge, measure with digital voltmeter while engine is running to see if 13.6 to 14 volts is measured. Check charger output also while on shorepower. Check battery terminals and connections for corrosion. Any corrosion can cause some resistance and cause the symptoms you describe. The voltage drops and is insufficient to power the reefer compressor on startup and the breaker trips. If all this is OK have batteries load tested after full charge to see if the capacity is diminished. What kind of charger do you have? I plan to replace the original equipment Guest charger in my 340 with a new Heart Interface with inverter next year. I have 210 Ampere hours capacity in my house batteries and I am going on 4th season. I check water level and clean and greased the terminals recently. No additional water was needed. Do your batteries use water if there are wet cells. I still can anchor all night with using anchor light, cabin lights, some TV watching to get the weather and news, stereo radio some VHF and cellular phone use and refrigeration continuously. I get much more than 14 hours and can still start the diesel on the house battery after 16 hours at anchor. I hope you find the cause and it is something simple to fix. Does the Grunert run off the inverter? What kind of batteries do you have and what is their capacity? PS, I used to sail in LI Sound but moved to NC 14 years ago. Hope to sail back someday.
Mark, I am envious of your 460, the most beautiful boat Hunter makes. If you have ever left your batteries in a discharged state for a few days or longer, this could be the cause of diminished capacity. Sulphate forms and cannot be reversed. They can never be charged up fully after this abuse. Perhaps your Grunert is using more amps than it used to last year? Make sure the batteries are getting the full charge, measure with digital voltmeter while engine is running to see if 13.6 to 14 volts is measured. Check charger output also while on shorepower. Check battery terminals and connections for corrosion. Any corrosion can cause some resistance and cause the symptoms you describe. The voltage drops and is insufficient to power the reefer compressor on startup and the breaker trips. If all this is OK have batteries load tested after full charge to see if the capacity is diminished. What kind of charger do you have? I plan to replace the original equipment Guest charger in my 340 with a new Heart Interface with inverter next year. I have 210 Ampere hours capacity in my house batteries and I am going on 4th season. I check water level and clean and greased the terminals recently. No additional water was needed. Do your batteries use water if there are wet cells. I still can anchor all night with using anchor light, cabin lights, some TV watching to get the weather and news, stereo radio some VHF and cellular phone use and refrigeration continuously. I get much more than 14 hours and can still start the diesel on the house battery after 16 hours at anchor. I hope you find the cause and it is something simple to fix. Does the Grunert run off the inverter? What kind of batteries do you have and what is their capacity? PS, I used to sail in LI Sound but moved to NC 14 years ago. Hope to sail back someday.
Question on how you use the batteries.
Did you run your Ref./Freezer off your batteries WHILE you were running your boat engine OR JUST from your batteries?
Did you run your Ref./Freezer off your batteries WHILE you were running your boat engine OR JUST from your batteries?
Agree re batteries
Sounds like your batteries ain't what they used to be. Wayne is right about damage caused by batteries sitting around in a discharged state. However, you can reverse some of the sulfation damage by "equalizing" your batteries, which involves ovrecharging them for a period of time. You either need a smart regulator to do this or a way to bypass the regulator.
Sounds like your batteries ain't what they used to be. Wayne is right about damage caused by batteries sitting around in a discharged state. However, you can reverse some of the sulfation damage by "equalizing" your batteries, which involves ovrecharging them for a period of time. You either need a smart regulator to do this or a way to bypass the regulator.
more on equalization
I believe, but am not sure that you have a 120 volt fridge that is running from your inverter. (or shore power). This presents a fair load to the batteries. I am fairly certain that you have an inverter on board, which is probably a Heart 25 amp. This has an equalization function, which is well documentented as how to use. This will help the sulphate problem. This should be done every 30 days. Good luck
I believe, but am not sure that you have a 120 volt fridge that is running from your inverter. (or shore power). This presents a fair load to the batteries. I am fairly certain that you have an inverter on board, which is probably a Heart 25 amp. This has an equalization function, which is well documentented as how to use. This will help the sulphate problem. This should be done every 30 days. Good luck
Refrig hours from battery
The important time is how much your refrig is running not how long it is turned on. If you calculate the amps that it draws and the amp hours in your battery bank you will see that you can not run your refrig much more than 3 hours from your battery. Remember that your refrig is at 120 volts and your battery at 12 volts. Therefore it takes 10 amps from you battery for 1 amp in your refig ( not counting efficiency loses). I find on my 450 (which I think has the same refrig) that once I get the units and their contents completely cold (and this takes over a day of intermittant cycling) 1-3 hours a day will keep it cold. However it is very dependant on how often you open it up. With frequent uses it takes much more power.
The important time is how much your refrig is running not how long it is turned on. If you calculate the amps that it draws and the amp hours in your battery bank you will see that you can not run your refrig much more than 3 hours from your battery. Remember that your refrig is at 120 volts and your battery at 12 volts. Therefore it takes 10 amps from you battery for 1 amp in your refig ( not counting efficiency loses). I find on my 450 (which I think has the same refrig) that once I get the units and their contents completely cold (and this takes over a day of intermittant cycling) 1-3 hours a day will keep it cold. However it is very dependant on how often you open it up. With frequent uses it takes much more power.
cheating
We've learned to cheat with our refer when anchoring out for long periods by lining the bottom of both compartments with 10lb blocks of ice, and then running the refer as usual. Then we keep a small beer cooler, cooled with frozen water bottles, in the cockpit so that we're not opening the big units as often. Each day we remove one block from the freezer and add it to the fridge. With 3 4-D gell cells on the house side, I'm able to go four days in 100 degree heat before I need to charge (With gells, I never let them drop below 50% charge.) If I use a keroscene anchor light at night, I can sometimes go 5 days before I need to crank up the beast.
We've learned to cheat with our refer when anchoring out for long periods by lining the bottom of both compartments with 10lb blocks of ice, and then running the refer as usual. Then we keep a small beer cooler, cooled with frozen water bottles, in the cockpit so that we're not opening the big units as often. Each day we remove one block from the freezer and add it to the fridge. With 3 4-D gell cells on the house side, I'm able to go four days in 100 degree heat before I need to charge (With gells, I never let them drop below 50% charge.) If I use a keroscene anchor light at night, I can sometimes go 5 days before I need to crank up the beast.
Thanks for the suggestions..
Will check it all out and report back with the outcome. Thanks again.
Will check it all out and report back with the outcome. Thanks again.
How dry I am!!!
Well, finally got down to boat to check out the battery situation, and one of my 4D's was bone dry. I added about 1 gallon of water to get it up to where it should be. It still remains to be seen whether or not is still good. Will be checking with the hydrometer this PM. Just curious as to why 1 would be dry and the other OK. The battery switch has always been on both. So it would seem to me that power should be drawn from both at the same rate. Also, these batteries were checked about 6 or 7 weeks ago and they were just fine. It seems like the Heart interface just "cooked" them dry, which is not supposed to happen. Any electrical guru's out there that might shed some light?
Well, finally got down to boat to check out the battery situation, and one of my 4D's was bone dry. I added about 1 gallon of water to get it up to where it should be. It still remains to be seen whether or not is still good. Will be checking with the hydrometer this PM. Just curious as to why 1 would be dry and the other OK. The battery switch has always been on both. So it would seem to me that power should be drawn from both at the same rate. Also, these batteries were checked about 6 or 7 weeks ago and they were just fine. It seems like the Heart interface just "cooked" them dry, which is not supposed to happen. Any electrical guru's out there that might shed some light?
Justa guess.
Mark: Just a guess, but I would bet that the battery is just defective. As I remember you boat is about a year old? Batteries are like anything else some are good and some are bad. Claim it under warranty if its bad and see if you problem re-occurs. Does not make sense that there would be anything wrong with the charger if the rest of the bank is okay.
Mark: Just a guess, but I would bet that the battery is just defective. As I remember you boat is about a year old? Batteries are like anything else some are good and some are bad. Claim it under warranty if its bad and see if you problem re-occurs. Does not make sense that there would be anything wrong with the charger if the rest of the bank is okay.
- Status