2015 29-S Batteries are Dead - Want to Charge or Change Them

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dfogal

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 7, 2019
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88
Fluid Motion Model
C-30 S
Hull Identification Number
FMLT2918L415
Vessel Name
As You Wish
Hi Folks:

I'm not sure how it happened, but the batteries on my boat are dead. The marina took the boat out of storage and put it in the water. It started up. Ten days later - house battery and engine battery are kaput. They left the parallel switch on - would that do it? Maybe the batteries were nearly kaput and the ten days did them in.

Anyhow, I would ideally like to pull the five batteries from the compartment on the port side of the boat. I could then measure them, charge them, rehabilitate them and/or replace them.

Looking in the compartment today - it appears like the batteries are in a black plastic cage that is screwed to the deck. Is this on some sort of rail? How do I get those batteries out? Can I get them out as a unit of four - then reach the one?

Insights welcomed. It killed me today when all the boats were leaving the dock. And mine was not. :-(

Daryll
As You Wish
Windsor,ON
 
If these are original it is time for new. Yes it should be on a track for easier access. These are heavy, very heavy batteries. I like to try to do most things on our 29s but not this. No way. I’ll do a gumby in my engine compartment, change disgusting toilet parts, and other knuckle busting chores. Have a beer and relax on your beautiful boat. Cheers.
 
I just purchased 4 new house batteries to install this weekend. Not looking forward to it either, as they are heavy as hell 65.7 lb.

Any recommendations for installation would be helpful for me too.
 
I don’t know the additional complexity of the ranger battery compartment compared with mine on the cutwater. One trick I did was to tie rope to the battery handles. This way I could lift the batteries while standing and not kneeling and ruining my back.
 
Not cheap, just replaced all six of my batteries on my 2016 R29.
 
The first question would be, why did they turn the parallel switch to on? Perhaps the engine battery was dead? Hence if the engine battery was bad it probably drained the house and that is why they died. Depending on age of batteries you may want to consider changing them. I would fully charge all batteries, let them rest and then do a load test. That will help determine condition of each battery before you decide to spend money on new ones. If you are replacing them others may chime in on best way to remove and reinstall.
 
Be sure to pull the cockpit fridge before starting this project. On our boat there is a hole that allows access to the three forward house batteries. It allows you to take things apart (be sure to zip tie and label connections so you don’t mess up reassembling this mess).

BTW we found the Ancel BST200 to be a useful battery tester. It measures capacity reasonably well along with CCA. All without the traditional load test. Also really small and cheap. We used it to discover our house batteries had bought it, but our thruster and start batteries were still strong with good CCA. The tester lives on the boat now, although I did use it to discover the battery on my wife’s car was far enough down that it was time for replacement.
 
Thanks all. We were able to get the engine battery charged again (with a conditioning charger). We then started the engine and let the alternator charge up the house batteries. They all came up to 13.5-13.8V and seem to be holding the charge. Thanks for all the input.
 
And terrific hint about taking out the fridge!!!
 
Glad to hear things charged up, but a word of caution: just because they hold their charge doesn't mean they haven't lost capacity. That is what happened to my four year old factory batteries. They charged fine, but their capacity was shot. When I tested them with that Ancel tester I cited earlier, fully charged they showed only 40-45% capacity while holding a comfortable 12.75V. It explained a lot. Even though we would charge them all day, overnight on the hook with the LED anchor light, fridge, occasional heater use, and other little things going (about 10 amps/hour max) they would go off the deep end (less than 12.3v-sometimes below 12) by morning. That was our clue that it was time to change batteries. Four healthy 110 ah batteries should be able to handle that load just fine.
 
Thanks. I’m documenting every trip including battery levels to keep track. I will watch the voltage levels.
 
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