I found a US website which is new to me and has some very interesting items especially on marine batteries.
The article on deep cycle batteries is very detailed but offers an interesting view if anyone is considering battery replacement.
Hope some of you will find this of use,
John
ASHANTI 2008M
Hi John,
As you say, an excellent article on batteries - I will need to replace one of ours for next season so now know what to look for but not where to find it from a UK supplier......
I will clearly have ot do a bit more homework before deciding what to buy. The battery that's failing is the original 2005 battery that came with the boat so can't complain. I use a microcontroller to charge the two batteries we have and it has proven its worth ( a cyrrix -ct battery combiner linked to a solar charger and the outboard alternator).
Mike C - Tarka 26M
Hi Mike
Im in the same position a 2005 Battery has been great value but now might be pushing my luck. So I would appreciate to know what you have bought
Being away from the Boat at the moment I’m not sure of size etc
kind regards
Ian T
Atthis
Hi
I have now replaced the two batteries we have with two new Advanced XD24 dual purpose 90Ah leisure batteries from Advanced Battery Supplies online at £85 each including delivery they within two days of placing the on line order and are as close as I could find to the original Centennial Marine Leisure battery specification.
The original Centennial battery has failed as it now doesn't hold charge and the 85Ah Halford battery that had been fitted as a second when the boat was new had also failed.
The two batteries are kept topped up by a 20W solar cell connected to a small cheap £10 solar charge controller and a Citrix battery combiner. This works well as we don't use the solar panel when we are sailing as it just gets in the way on the deck. The batteries are kept fully charged when we arrive on board.
Hope this helps
Mike C - Tarka 26M
Last weekend I took ASHANTI our for our first trip of the season. My Garmin 50s kept cutting out and finally would not get past the initial screen .
Ever since I’ve had ASHANTI the Garmin has cut out when the engine was started but would then turn on again without issues. I always put this down to it being sensitive to voltage change.
Yesterday I decided to investigate the problem, firstly I sprayed the connecting plugs and sockets on the back with quick drying electrical spray - no different - I tried single an both battery settings still no go.
My batteries seem to be in good condition they start the engine and run the Navman / VHF with no problem. The voltages were 12.61 & 12.72
Then I tried charging the batteries and with the charger attached the voltage was 14.21
i tried the Garmin and it worked fine as long as the charger was attached but when removed it cut out.
After charging both batteries were at 13.3 v
I ran out of time yesterday and wondered if any of you can offer some tips.
My thoughts are that somewhere in the power circuit to the Garmin there must be a poor connection which is causing the voltage to drop.
i guess I could check that out if I could find out which plug and pins on the back of the Garmin are the power feed, but I still need to find the poor connection.
ASHANTI has the original Mac wireing and fuseboard
I look forward to your comments
John
ASHANTI 2008M
You’re probably right. Most every electrical problem on a boat can be traced to a poor connection caused by corrosion, even if its not evident.
Leigh Ross
Crieff
0777 558-4561
1990 MacGregor 26S Ptarmigan
1992 MacGregor 26S Pelican
Hi John. I'm sure many others will offer more expert advice but it seems to me that your farm in must either be connected to your starter battery or your two batteries are not isolated adequately. A clever dual battery charger should isolate them but if you have simple charger then you should charge te a hem separately and keep separate otherwise charge will flow from one into other and maybe you have two inadequate batteries. For electrical equipment the voltage is critical but for starting the engine needs to draw a lot of current and when it does the voltage drops. That's why it's best to run equipment of house battery. I have a voltage sensitive relay to isolate my batteries and the gate only opens when charging is happening through alternatorr or external . All my stuff runs off house battery and I have a switch to override the vsr in case of emergency.
Last thought....do you have a very hungry fridge that sucks the current and drops the voltage?
That's my penn'orth, Roly
Glad everything else worked well.
Charger!....not farm in ! .....predictive text strikes again!
John,
Not sure it helps, but I had the same issue with my Raymarine head unit. It would either show "low voltage" or cut out. I traced it to a loose connection.
One of my summer jobs is a rewire of all the electrics.
David
David Claassen
"Logan's Run"
2006 26M
David got in first but do check your connections first. That bit is free.
Good Luck
Simon Armitage
Sowenna 26M
Sorry in my bit it was garmin not farm in. I suppose you may have garmin attached to starter which could make sense since starter should always be good and plotter going off might be a good warning. I will have to look at that . Not sure if it can damage electronics to be subject to large variations when starting.....what do others think ?
Roly
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