R-23 Batteries failing repeatedly

[bradpeek]

For the 2nd time in 3 years our starter and bow thruster batteries are coming up and not charging adequately.... Anyone else encountering issues like that?

Cheers!

Brad
Gooner 2018 R-23

 

[freedomvango]

what is your maintenance routine
How often are you charging? How are you charging? Are you checking voltages generally?

 

[Submariner]

For the 2nd time in 3 years our starter and bow thruster batteries are coming up and not charging adequately.... Anyone else encountering issues like that?

Cheers!

Brad
Gooner 2018 R-23

I know the early model R27's came from the factory with the 24x7 fuse block wired to the engine battery instead of the house battery. (2018-2019 model years). Moving the 24x7 fuse block to the house battery helps. (24x7 fuses are bilge pumps, CO detector, stereo memory). Not a lot of power draw, but also not zero, and the engine battery is meant for starting.

But this wouldn't explain the thruster battery issue you're having. That could just be due to operation if you use your bow thruster a lot. I rarely use my by thruster.

It took me 90 days to completely sulfate/destroy my house bank on my brand new boat. The first 18 months of owning Channel Surfing all I had was house battery bank problems. I went through another set of AGM batteries, which led me to convert my boat to LFP.

Channel Surfing turns 5 years old next month, and she's still running on the original engine and thruster batteries. We have 940 engine hours.

I'd check where your 24x7 fuse block gets it power from (engine or house bank).
Are you on shorepower with the battery charger turned on to keep your batteries topped off?
Do you have a solar panel on the boat? (R23's don't always come with solar).

 

[Jcat2010]

Like Submariner, my starter and thruster batteries are at least 5 years old, and test out ok every year. Between the shore power charger, and the solar charger, the start and thrust should not see the wear that most trailered boat batteries see. All flooded chemistries suffer from self discharge, so if they're not kept topped off they can suffer.

One way to monitor the "health" of both is to regularly check voltages (Bluetooth sensors) and also the voltage drop when used. For example, the starter should stay above 10v during a start, and charge back up to full voltage in less that 15 min. Also disconnect chargers and measure current, if any. Just the "always on" devices can kill a battery in a couple of weeks, if chargers aren't balancing them out.