House battery system intermittent issue

[kyserkd]

I'm a new 28 NW edition owner--have just had her a month. I'm having some trouble with the house electrical system going completely dark on me while the engine is offline. It is obvious to me it's not a low charge situation. Was out fishing on Sunday afternoon, drift mooching with the current around Fox Island for about 30 minutes. Inverter was off. Engine off. Garmin system on (radar off), VHF on, autopilot may have been on. All lights off. We talked about switching to a troll with the downriggers so in the time it took me to get them set up and before starting the engine, I looked in the cabin and noticed the Garmin system was off. I checked the power panel in the lower berth and sure enough, Battery bank 1 voltage was pegged to low side...BUT, the battery charger display showed bank 1 at 12.9V. Banks 2 & 3 at the panel were showing full charge ~13V when selected. The house breaker was not tripped. We were close to home so decided to forego fishing and motor back to the boathouse to begin troubleshooting. Back at the boathouse, manually tripped and reset the house breaker (no change), switched on the crossover battery switch and the house systems came back online, switched off and they went down again. I opened the starboard hatch to inspect the batteries for anything obvious, but found nothing. Anyway, I dinked around in the 1/4 berth for a bit and I think it was between switching on the crossover switch and back off again, the house battery voltage to the panel was restored....weird.
Then, yesterday was out with the Volvo guy getting my engine PDC done. Everything was great, but got back to the boathouse, turned off the engine and got her tied down. Then the Volvo guy went to raise the engine compartment cover...nadda. House system was down again. Exact same deal as Sunday--no voltage at the panel, charger display at 12.9V, house breaker not tripped. About 15-20 minutes later, cycled from shore power back to off on the A/C side and battery voltage to the panel was somehow restored. Just doesn't seem like a problem with the batteries themselves...any ideas?

 

[Cutwater28GG]

loose connection? caused garmin to turn off and not reboot if power was temporarily lost?

check all the battery connections.

 

[Cessna172]

I have been dealing with nearly the exact same thing on my 2017 C28. I have not yet found the problem or solution.

Just after an hour cruise, dropped the anchor and turned on the Wabasto. The heater would not start and was giving a low-voltage error code. The Garmin indicated voltage low below 11.7 volts. Switched the combiner and everything worked fine.

Then a month later while trolling the Garmin again alarmed low voltage and shut down. After starting the engine the voltage read fine.

It is almost impossible to troubleshoot as the problem is so intermittent. If you find a solution before I do, would love to hear it.

Gary

 

[Cutwater28GG]

hmm. I'm guessing here as there is limited data, but Gary your case could be a damaged battery thats not holding charge. that sounds similar to my experience when my house batteries were dead (i.e. not holding charge despite charging)

in the first case I didnt assume this as the boat is brand new. that being said it could also be caused by a bad house battery.

might be worth pulling the house batteries and load testing them to see if they are able to hold a charge? others on here will have other ideas.

 

[Cowichan]

Certainly could be a faulty battery. My 6 month old C30 had the engine battery dead several times- good enough to charge back at the wharf, but no power after some time cruising. I mentioned this to our local dealer as I was having some warranty work done anyway, and they charged and tested all batteries, apparently all were fine. However, when the boat was dropped back to me by trailer, she wouldn’t start! They are replacing the battery. Anyway, it is obviously possible to have a new battery that doesn’t do what it should!

 

[BB marine]

I'm not sure of the chain of events but it sounds like when you are at the dock and using shore power your house system 12V side comes back ( Pro marine charger on). When you leave the dock and after a period of running your house batteries discharge and a low voltage is indicated. You have two charging systems in your boat. One) all battery banks are charged from the Pro marine Charger which should have 3 separate charging circuits , 1) house,2)Thruster3) engine, When plugged into shore power or using the generator the banks will be charged separately and with the charger on a low battery not fully charged will read around 13V. Two) Engine charging system ( alternator) All batteries are charged from one source but isolated using a SI-ACR Automatic charging relay. One output going to the engine battery and the relays link the other batteries based on voltage parameters.https://www.bluesea.com/products/catego ... lays/m-ACR all the information of operation can be found here. Bottom line there are many things that can cause your issue , loose connections, defective battery, a process of elimination once you learn the system it will be easier to troubleshoot. I would confirm the ACR is functioning properly. I have seen the ground wire on the ACR attached to the wrong connector and it not function. This is a very easy mistake to do. one spade connector is for ground one connector is for a remote indicator light. If the ground is not placed on the correct connector It will not work and that battery bank will not get charged from the engine. Just one more place to look.

 

[Cutwater28GG]

sounds like putting a volt meter on each battery bank with the engine running, shore power disconnected with batteries at different states of charge would give some ideas as to where the issue is.