2011 R27 Electrical Question

[TomHall]

I have a 2011 R-27 with factory installed remote battery switches that are on the interior wall of the quarter berth near the table.

With all switches off, I can still get some power to the ignition switch. Is that normal?

It also appears that I have a draw on the electrical system - with all three batteries losing power slowly. I am assuming that may be the culprit.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[bakerboat]

Hi Tom,

It is normal, unfortunately.

There are a number of circuits that are wired directly to the batteries upstream of the disconnect switches. The factory wiring diagrams do not show this very well.

If you are dry storing ashore, the easiest thing to do is disconnect the negative cables from the batteries. If you're in the water, you will need to rely on the solar panel or battery charger via short power to keep up with the load as disconnecting the negative at the battery would disable your bilge pumps.

Regards,
Ken

 

[TomHall]

Do you know if under normal conditions will the solar panel keep up?

 

[Gcarlson]

I am sure the solar panel would keep up with the parasitic connections if there were no refridgeration and sun.

They would not for me however, in dry storage. My thruster battery died each longer storage time, which lead me to believe there might be a parasitic connection there also - perhaps TV or antennae as there is no switch - and also lead me to discover the ACR relay drops out at 10.5V, so it won't recover. A longer storage period (covid), killed all four batteries in dry storage.

I added some Yandina combiners and more solar, but the R27 at least does not like to be dry stored. A starting battery should be functional in 3 months...

I think Ken is right - it needs more disconnects.

On another boat, I had rigged a 12V water element to my solar panel controller, with a dump function. I think Range should have this; perhaps bank 1 is the house bank (and you can manually connect to engine to get a start), and bank 2 is a second low-wattage heating element, so you can often be knocking the chill off some water.

 

[TomHall]

Thanks for the insight, that gives me some ideas.

Would it make sense to isolate the start battery?

Do you know if the bilge pump run directly to the house battery?

I pulled the TV 12V plug from the socket, I noticed that was always live.

I will be mooring the boat, so I feel that I need to solve for this.

 

[knotflying]

There are wires that go directly to the ECU from the engine battery. Even with the battery switch off if you turn the key it will power up the ECU and kill thye battery if left in the on position. The battery switch kills the starter.

 

[TomHall]

Has anyone added a 5th battery as an isolated start battery with it's own switch?
I don't have the genset, so I have a ton of room in that locker for a battery box.

 

[rpmerrill]

On my 2012 boat the Engine is on batt #1, House on batts #2 and Thruster on batt #3.
All nicely labeled. I've always assumed by the factory.

 

[bakerboat]

I modified my battery arrangement and combined my thruster battery with the house batteries. I did that to help with the voltage drop across the battery when running the thrusters (3 batts is better that 1 batt) and also to increase the usable amp hours for overnight use. I have toyed with adding an additional battery but I would add it up forward near the bow thruster to help reduce the voltage drop in that long cable run forward for the thruster while also increasing my house amp-hr capacity. Lots of ways to do things, just have to decide what you're comfortable with.

 

[scross]

Our R-25 Classic has four house batteries in addition to the start and thruster+windlass batteries. The solar panel is 180 watts and is connected to a Victron MPPT controller. This system charges well even on mostly cloudy and overcast days.
I have had the boat in fall dry storage up to a full month, with no shore power and with the refrigerator running, without ever going below 12.3 volts. I feel pretty confident that, with the refrigerator turned off, the solar system would keep all the batteries charged through a normal PNW winter. The parasitic electrical load on the R-25 Classic is just not that significant.
I’m hooked up to shore power in the driveway just to run the two A/C dehumidifiers, GoldenRod heater in the bilge area and the True North automatic heater in the cabin.