House battery draining while away from dockside electric

J

johnw

Active member
Joined
May 22, 2018
Messages
40
Fluid Motion Model
C-28
Vessel Name
Aisling
Greetings fellow Ranger boaters,
here is my problem with my 2012 - 27 foot Ranger and I will try to make it as brief as possible.
Last year my 3 batteries were about 4 years old.... always reading 13 or 14 volts on the helm 3 bank meter when motor off.
About 10 months ago, my house battery would drop and go dead after about 12 hours not tethered from dockside electric. I have 3 large solar panels also.
I took it the the "professionals" and they ran every test for 2 days and concluded you need a new battery!! I paid them $1,200 for that new battery and evaluation .
I stayed in the Keys for 8 weeks and was always hooked up. I took the boat back to Pennsylvania and leave the 3 battery switches off and kept the electric on for 4 months or so.
I launch the boat in the Spring and house battery is dead! I start motor and put parallel on and travel 3 miles and the house battery charges back up...
I dockside charge for weeks and all 3 batteries are at 14 volts. I take a ride for about 2 hours and 2 batteries are at 14 and house bank is at 12 and drops to 11.. my chart plotter drops into energy saving mode and the screen is darker.... As I drive back to dock, I put on parallel and in 10 mins, all 3 batteries are at 14.
The professional guy came back to trouble shoot again and indicated everything is fine......
I'm done with them and wanted to appeal to any Ranger person that would have any thoughts.
Thank you so much for any theories......
John Weinrich
johnweinrich@remax.net
 
I have a 2012 R27. To be clear, you should have four batteries— one engine, one thruster, two house batteries— that are separated into three banks by the Automatic Charge Relays (ACRs). If you have only three batteries, then your electrical system has been messed with seriously.

The parallel switch is designed to be used to provide house battery current to the engine battery, not the other way around.

Step #1 before going any further, do you truly have only one house battery?
 
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Let me understand, you had all battery switches off, and the battery was being charged by shore power and solar? There has to be an issue with the charging, and something on your 24-hour fuse block/panel is draining your batteries. The shore power and solar should be more than sufficient to power all loads left on from the 24-hour fuse panel. Now, this assumes that the boat is wired correctly. As for the $1,200.00 you spent on professionals, this is something that, with a few basic tools and test equipment, you can test. Digital Multi-Meter (DMM) and AC/DC Amp Clamp.
 
The most valuable thing you can do for money spent would be to install a shunt in your house battery circuit so that you can monitor what is going out of the house battery Bank. Without that it's a guessing game on whether or not you have something consuming energy in the background. With the shunt installed it's pretty easy to determine whether your house battery bank is bad or not. You will also be able to monitor your consumption away from the dock and know whether or not you should turn things off or continue your usage the way it is.
 
The float switches for the bilge pumps always have power (from the house bank) even when all battery switches are off, if the boat is still wired the way Ranger made it. Just something else to consider in sorting out the problem. Might want make sure a bilge pump is not running continuously.
Barry 'Keep On Tuggin' 2011 RT 25SC
 
also check the propane solenoid switch. thats a battery drainer

id also wonder if the new house battery was damaged if it sat with no charge for a long period

sounds like an issue with the charging circuit. Id start there and make sure your batteries are actually getting charged.
 
CaspersCruiser said:
I have a 2012 R27. To be clear, you should have four batteries— one engine, one thruster, two house batteries— that are separated into three banks by the Automatic Charge Relays (ACRs). If you have only three batteries, then your electrical system has been messed with seriously.

The parallel switch is designed to be used to provide house battery current to the engine battery, not the other way around.

Step #1 before going any further, do you truly have only one house battery?
Click to expand...
Yes, only one double sized house battery and 2 smaller ones for the last 8 years
 
SKing said:
The most valuable thing you can do for money spent would be to install a shunt in your house battery circuit so that you can monitor what is going out of the house battery Bank. Without that it's a guessing game on whether or not you have something consuming energy in the background. With the shunt installed it's pretty easy to determine whether your house battery bank is bad or not. You will also be able to monitor your consumption away from the dock and know whether or not you should turn things off or continue your usage the way it is.
Click to expand...
is the shunt the little digital reader on top of the battery? I have that and it says 12.5 ish and goes black sometimes...? Thank you
 
No,
Attached is a screenshot of my battery currently. We were at anchor for two nights and just ran back to the dock an hour of run time. I can see that my battery still did not charge up in that time frame and I can see how many amp hours it will take to charge my battery plugged into Shore. Right now plugged into Shore power I can see that I am charging at 30 amps an hour, last night at anchor It showed -7 amps and I knew that after 10 hours at night I would have drawn down 70 amps 1000029344.jpg
 
Its much like guessing your fule economy prior to having the Garmin calculating it for you. No more guessing about battery performance.
 
johnw said:
Yes, only one double sized house battery and 2 smaller ones for the last 8 years
Click to expand...
Please photograph your battery compartment and post it here so we can see how it is wired. Include the automatic charge relays that are mounted on the stringer inboard of and adjacent to the batteries. I’m really curious about the single “double sized” house battery.
 
Tele diagnostics, without any instruments, is always iffy....but, if I understand the descriptions of the situation, the issue is only present when you are trying to charge from the engine alternator? Not when on shore power. And it's only the house battery. If that's the case, check your ACR between the house and the engine. Also, as noted, check the parasitic house current. The always on block should be easily supplied by a good solar charger and a good battery. Start adding refrigerators, etc, and it gets edgy.

Also, it doesn't take many draw downs below 12.2V to kill an AGM or flooded battery.
 
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