At Anchor - Solar Instructions - Charging Batteries

[dialtone]

Question #1 : Mind giving me instructions to charge my house batteries (other batteries??) while @ anchor with the solar? Also how do I keep the fridges going on solar? Not sure which positions to set the solar charger in, inverter, etc.... Tried reading the solar manual but didn't glean much info from it. Thank you!!!

 

[pugtug613]

I leave my fridge going all the time. All I do is NOTHING. The solar charge is automatic. I have to plug in once in a while, but not often. Then if I plug in I make sure the switch is on shore power. If I use the genny, the switch is on generator. In both cases I make sure the A/C main is on and the battery charger switch is on. I can go several days with the panel, as long as the sun is strong. (even with a cloud cover) I use that monitor thing and keep an eye on the voltage. Once it goes below 12.3, I will run the genny or plug in.
Chester

 

[knotflying]

The solar panel automatically charges the house batteries and the engine battery. You can set the solar controller to charge each bank either 50/50 or 10/90. I use the 10/90 with the 90% going to the house. The refrigerator is 12 volt and draws off of the batteries. As was said in the previous post you may get a few days on the solar panel, but after that you may need to be on shore power or generator to charge up. The refrigerator is the biggest power hog. You will find that if you add up all your amp hour usage while on the hook unless you have long sunny days the solar panel will have difficulty keeping up with the total draw.
Your inverter is used to convert your 12 volts from the batteries to 110 at the outlets and the microwave. While on the hook you can use this, but it will result in considerable draw off you 12 volt system, especially if using the microwave.
You will also notice that on the remote meter for the solar panel the small green LED lights will turn orange if the voltage is getting low on the battery bank that you are monitoring.

Hope this information helps.
Mike Rizzo

 

[Helgerso]

This is all great info. I was having battery issues (engine battery kept going dead at anchor) and had someone come down and walk through everything with me recently. We isolated all of the batteries and found a potential issue with one of the relay switches.

Noted were that the refrig and the radar were the big power draws. Good reminder to power down the Garmin. I am also unable to get my mirco to work reliably on the Inverter - which this mechanic commented was not unusual.

Lastly he stated that the solar was pretty much useless - so good to hear others can maintain charge for a day or two. The comments are helpful - I will monitor and see if I can get that much out of the panel. I also didn't know you could change distribution 10/90 and 50/50 so again very helpful info!

Bryce

 

[knotflying]

Regarding the relays, when charging is going on they can sense when one bank is fully charged and then allow the lower charged bank to recieve charging, so even if you have your solar set for different charge rates eventually everything should be up to 100% anyway.
I don't necessarily agree with your mechanic regarding the uselessness of the solar panel. It won't keep up, but it gives you plenty of time on the hook if the sun is shining.

 

[HRowland]

One clarification, the automatic charge relay will close (combine the batteries) when it detects that either battery has a charge voltage. The battery does not need to be fully charged for it to activate. It will connect the two batteries when it sees 13V on either battery. There is a delay that depends on the sensed voltage and some lock-out conditions, the Blue Sea Systems web site has all of the technical details. There is a LED on the front of the relay to indicate when it has combined the batteries (or to blink a lockout code).

Howard

 

[dialtone]

How long do you think it would take the generator to charge up the batteries? The engine alternator will also charge the house batteries, correct?

Reason I ask is I ran both the engine and generator for about 2 hours and could only get bank 1 of house batteries to 12v. Bank 2/3 were at 13v. Perhaps I have a bad cell in bank 1?

Bank 1 will still read lower voltage even with system components off (however fridge is on).

Great great info so far thank you!!

 

[walldog]

How long do you think it would take the generator to charge up the batteries? The engine alternator will also charge the house batteries, correct?

Reason I ask is I ran both the engine and generator for about 2 hours and could only get bank 1 of house batteries to 12v. Bank 2/3 were at 13v. Perhaps I have a bad cell in bank 1?

Bank 1 will still read lower voltage even with system components off (however fridge is on).

Great great info so far thank you!!

Be sure to run the charger when on generator, as the 12 volt output of the generator does not charge as well as your on board battery charger. I do not believe I would run the battery charger though if running the main engine. The main engine has a high output alternator that will charge your batteries nicely. The only reason I see for running the generator while under way is for AC or other high amp ac uses.

 

[coreychamness]

You are describing some symptoms similar to the ones I had when my Promariner charger/inverter was failing. Somehow it impeded charging even from the engine.

 

[dialtone]

Battery is now holding voltage after a shore charge - not sure. Will keep an eye on it. Still working out some bugs...

 

[Helgerso]

After the batteries leaving us stranded again this weekend on the hook(even after turning all battery banks off for the day and the boat sitting in BRIGHT sunlight and 100 degree weather) we are just going to replace the house and engine batteries with upgraded Trojan AGM batteries and an Odyssey for the engine. Being the second owner of a rarely used boat (30 hours) you never know what the previous owner did to them (i.e. refrig left on while on trailer for long periods of time, lights left on, etc). Hopefully this works - being stranded isn't fun!

 

[dialtone]

Does the house bank need to be "on" for solar to charge the house? Or can all switches be set to off and solar still charges?

 

[wefings]

Solar is wired directly to batteries from solar controller. Does not matter where switches are set . Factory settings are 10% to start bank and 90% to house bank . No charge to Thruster bank . The meter that indicates charge on the 3 - 12 volt banks will show the solar's charging voltage when in the sun [daytime ] I believe it is not the real battery voltage unless you unhook solar or read it at night .
Marc

 

[dialtone]

Great answer thank you.

 

[Double boast crew]

Tagging on to this question. Family day on the boat aborted due to totally dead batteries. We were plugged in and on shore power but the refrigerator had been left on. What did we do wrong? We are worried that our solar panel is not working. Any hints as to why we would be totally depleting batteries even though we are plugged in and the " shore power" switch was in the middle position? Thanks.

 

[HRowland]

Depending on the vintage of your R27 you can have either a separate battery charger or a charger built into your inverter. If you have a inverter/charger make sure the inverter disconnect switch is On. It is probably near your batteries. If you have a separate charger make sure the AC switch in the panel near the helm is On. In either case you can tell status by checking the lights or displays on the charger. When charging you should see the battery voltage increase, as the approach full charge it will get close to 15 volts before switching to float, 13.5 or so.

Refer to your inverter/charger or charger manual for more info. Peter at Winter Island Yacht Yard can also guide you.

One more thing, if not charging check the fuses for either the inverter/charger or charger.

Howard

 

[Capt. Wanabe]

From your post I can't tell how long the batteries had been unattended but a couple of things that happened to me is that on my boat (2011 R27) there is a separate switch for the inverter that must be toggled to the correct setting or no charge. The second thing I have done wrong is turn off all of the cut-off switches thinking that would isolate the batteries from any drain. At least for me, not so. Somehow there was a parasitic drain from something that over a month of no attention killed the battery. I now leave the main cut-off switches ON to make sure the batteries keep getting the float charge. Over the past year and a half, no more problems.
Frank

 

[Helgerso]

That's an odd one - if you were truly on shore power and the switch in that position (and green) with your AC main on you should haven't had any issue. Was your battery charger on?

I broke down, as noted above, and bought a bank of new power house batteries. The verdict is out - but will be put to the test this weekend....