any recommendations for a marine electrician ?/ need help
Submitted by Zand on Wed, 2014-08-20 19:37
any recommendations for a marine electrician and boat enthusiast.
need some help with the electronics on our boat .. lowrance setup ... having troubles with batteries (optima blue tops x3)
happy for any advice or help as pulling hair out after several auto electricians cant find the fault.
the batteries continue to drain .. and we are getting low votage warning signs popping up even after putting in new batteries.
Have checked all the wiring that we can and also auto electicians have and cant find what is draining the batteries
thanks guys
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Vinesh87
Posts: 2751
Date Joined: 02/04/11
Elaborate on your problem
Elaborate on your problem mate there will be some very good suggestions from here!
I have always used Blue and yellow tops!
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
My lowrance gave me low volt
My lowrance gave me low volt warnings but battery always tested full. Since hooking up my dual battery setup I haven't had the warning msg, Not much help I no. I always wondered what lowrance had there settings to for low volt cause I never had any troubles starting motor never got around to researching it either.
Not much help
Rig
Posts: 2925
Date Joined: 27/12/06
spot on
I was getting the same alarm when I only had one battery, when your motor starts the voltage drops for a split second which causes the alarm. So either install another battery as stand alone or part of dual battery management system for your equipment, sounders etc or dont be alarmed(lol) when the alar pops up
If your running a 2 stroke motor, generally it wont be putting alot of charge back into your batt
EDIT: after reading you post below I would go for a rewire anyway for all your auxiliary equipment as an extra precaution
Vinesh87
Posts: 2751
Date Joined: 02/04/11
Do they drain even with the
Do they drain even with the battery isolators in the off position?
How are the batteries setup, VSR or isolator?
Are they charging up properly to 13.2ish volts I think they spec?
starbright
Posts: 3
Date Joined: 15/04/14
Hey guys... to elaborate a
Hey guys... to elaborate a bit further...
We have a HDS12 installed with Airmar B60 and B164 thru hulls on a lowrance selector switch installed. Lowrance radar, sonichub for tunes, led lighting throughout, 3x optima blue tops (house, start 1, start 2) with a vsr (start, parallel, house) plus isolator. (0, 1, 1 & 2, 2).. 250 horses on the back alternator fine.
Constant drain and no replenish on house battery and have had 2 batteries fry themselves, low voltage warnings on HDS even thou alarm set to 12v and not draining at or below 12v.
Irregular voltage readings on smartcraft v's multi meter v's cig plug meter.
We are getting 13+ volts reading only for a short time after throwing the c-tec on all batteries individually.
Certainly not chasing a free fix, happy to pay to fix or advice to sort it out ourselves if possible.
Several auto electricians have said everything is fine... Jumped on the boat tonight to look at the exmouth charts and low voltage alarms going off plus batteries not at full charge.
Any help is greatly appreciated as we just want to safely get out there and fish.
Thanks
Mattyb84
Posts: 388
Date Joined: 28/12/12
Check all connection for
Check all connection for corrosion first. Make sure the is no wires running directly to the battery. mate had probs with a verdo doing the same because they have a memory of some sort so needed constant power to keep its data bull shit so it by passed the the isolaters. If u have ur switch set on 2 battery once 1 is dead the other will try to charge it a kill the good one. Good luck mate
Pgfc member
PaulS
Posts: 21
Date Joined: 06/05/09
Location
What are area you in Zand so someone local may be able to help
Zand
Posts: 27
Date Joined: 20/02/13
Based N.O.R
we are up near Morley if anyone knows anyone up this way??
Mitch1
Posts: 66
Date Joined: 28/03/10
Hey mate, give Dinkum Auto
Hey mate, give Dinkum Auto Electrical a go if you have no luck fixing it yourself, they are in Malaga and also a member on this site
squidvicious1
Posts: 821
Date Joined: 22/07/10
Glass or plate?
Glass or plate?isolate one item at a time starting with the radar than sonic hub, and then charge batteries and see if they still drain, even the vsr might suspect.
crano
Posts: 695
Date Joined: 04/11/09
On your lowrance you should
On your lowrance you should be able to display the voltage on your screen.Turn it on in overlay data.
tim-o
Posts: 4657
Date Joined: 24/05/11
An ammeter in series of the
An ammeter in series of the battery will tell current draw, just start pullin fuses till the draw reduces, thatl tell you the circuit at fault. And ad Vin said, if the charge rate isnt high enough, the vsr wont activate and the aux battery wont see a charge. Duno if hes still operating but try trackin down Marco's mobile auto electrics, hes in the area and pretty cluey, boat electrics aint rocket science
I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
starbright
Posts: 3
Date Joined: 15/04/14
We have another auto
We have another auto electrician inspecting tomorrow morning... Will report outcome. Fingers crossed the ghosts will be found!
Thanks for your comments and help so far... Appreciated
starbright
Posts: 3
Date Joined: 15/04/14
Problem solved
So the auto electrician came out this morning, Elite Auto Electrical... they are fantastic to deal with and very thorough.
It appears at some stage during the swapping out of batteries someone has forgotten to put the negative cable off the BEP VSR back onto the negative post of the start battery... something so bloody simple.
Tested absolutely everything and just about ready to start pulling isolators apart to check the wiring and this was discovered well hidden and tucked under the battery tray.
Besides this being now sorted, we've decided it would probably be a good idea to invest in a solar panel to help maintain charge the house battery so there's another project to start looking into.
Thanks again for all your help
Zand
Posts: 27
Date Joined: 20/02/13
Thanks for all the help
Cheers guys much appreciated for all the help