R27 Electrical Question

[SKI3PO]

First some background:

I have a new to me 2014 R27 Classic. The batteries are original. The boat was trailered and stored with shore power connected and the AC battery charger turned on. The batteries are AGM type and I assume the original equipment that came with the boat. The standard configuration of 1 starter, 2 house and 1 thruster/windlass battery.

The problem:

On our first overnight trip we motored for about 1.5 hours to our anchorage in the late evening dropping the hook about 1130pm. Once the engine was off we had the cabin lights on for about a half hour and had some use of the water pumps. Overnight I left on the GPS for the anchor alarm and the refrigerator. At the time I went to bed about 1230am the voltmeter on the solar meter had battery 1 and battery 2 at about 13.9 volts. About 530am I heard an electronic chirping that turned out to be the wired CO2 detector. Voltage on Bank 2 read 11.3 volts. I immediately shut down the fridge and the GPS and the chirping stopped. In the morning both battery banks read 14.3 volts and this was confirmed by the voltmeter on the DC power distribution panel. I had reset the Amp hour meter at the beginning of the trip bank one had used 2.5 amp hours and bank 2 had used 13.0 amp hours. The engine started fine and we motored back to the boat ramp without incident.

Here are my questions:

1. What happened? Is there something wrong with my batteries and do they need to be replaced.

2. Please confirm that bank 1 is the start battery and bank 2 is the house on the solar meter

3. The toggle on the DC panel changes the reading on the volt meter, not what bank your drawing power from? correct? What bank is represented by 1, 2, 3 on the toggle?

4. My solar panel seemed to be drawing a max of 4-5 amps on a pristine sunny day. Is there something wrong here too?

OK, Tugnuts give me your take and thanks in advance for any insights.

Thanks,

Tim

 

[Red Raven]

We have a 2014 R27 Classic so our boats should pretty much match.

1. I have never left the GPS on overnight so that could be it. If I want an anchor alarm I use an the Drag Queen app on my iPhone. Also there is a way to turn down the display on the GPS and I would recommend that as a minimum. Check the amp load with a clamp-on DC current meter and turn everything on and off to see if there is anything unexpected. The refrigerator should draw no more than 4 amps when running. You can check the GPS draw at that time. All the lights should draw less than an amp if you have LED lights (including th anchor light). You didn’t say whether the inverter was on. If it was on and you had anything on 120V that would also explain it. Do not leave the inverter on except when using The microwave or small plug-in appliance. Do not attempt to turn on the hot water tank while running from the inverter. You will absolutely drain your batteries and potentially damage the inverter. You may want to pull the batteries and have them tested.

2. On the solar panel meter Battery 1 should be the house even though everywhere else the house is number 2. You want this because the solar controller assumes house is #1. When set to 90/10 charging (which is what you want) the house will get 90% of the solar charge while the engine will get 10% of the solar panel. The indication of 11.2 volts on battery 2 in the morning is an indication it is wired incorrectly. You should confirm this and change it (swap the wires at the controller). This would not explain your battery drain however. Also, I believe the amp hour reading on the solar panel gives you the amp hours delivered and not the amp hours used (I’m not sure how it would do that as the loads do not run through the solar controller).

3. The toggle on the breaker panel changes only the battery the meter is reading.

4. 4 or 5 amps is pretty typical “on average” for a sunny day in the Salish Sea but that won’t be the same for you in Anchorage. It depends on the sun angle and any potential blockages (radar dome, kayaks, etc.) At near noon on a clear day with no blockages I see up to 9 amps max but it does last very long like that what the sun angle changes. In Anchorage you likely will not have any time with the sun directly overhead but you will have more daylight hours in the summer to make up the difference.

I am surprised to hear you had 13.9 volts at 12:30am. That could only be coming from the solar panel if you were on the hook. With the sun down it should drop off fairly quickly to 12.7 volts or so if there is any draw at all. Are you sure that reading was taken after dark? That reading is a mystery to me. Maybe that number was for the engine battery?

With only the refrigerator running at night you should see 12.2 volts or better in the morning if the batts are healthy and they were fully charged before dark. Depending on the GPS draw you would indeed see less for sure. I would not recommend running the GPS and refrigerator overnight without additional batteries on the boat.

Hope this helps.

Curt

 

[Cutwater28GG]

my initial thoughts are similiar to Curts but I would add

Are your interior lights upgraded to LED bulbs? using incandescent is a power hog.
leaving the chartplotter/GPS on is a pretty large amp user.

your batteries are 4 years old. they wont be as good as new units. you may be on the edge of poorer battery performance

to eek out more battery performance - try turning down the temp on the fridge: as you are not opening the door it wont warm much.

im not familiar with reading the volts on the solar meter? (I have found my sunsaver duo display panel to be an average display at best and I dont trust it) do you have another direct measuring device of the volts on the batteries?
what about the main power panel?
I have a balmar smartguage for this task.

 

[knotflying]

Here are my thoughts. The GPS draws a lot of power and you are better off using a smart phone app for an anchor drag alarm.

Your post did not mention what the volts were when the chirping on the co detector was going on. That is usually a sign of low voltage. When you woke up in the morning I am assuming the sun was out. So the voltage you were reading on the displays was most probably a surface charge on the batteries.

So with that said, you could have drained the batteries down because of the load between having the GPS on and the refrigerator. However, being that the batteries are 4 years old and from your statement it sounds like you are a second owner, the batteries could be in a questionable state. You may want to see how it goes or you can load test the batteries to see how well they are. A load test at an auto place will require having them fully charged and then rest for about 45 minutes or so and then remove them and bring them in.

My experience, as Curt stated, is that after a night on the hook my voltage is about 12.2 to 12.4

 

[ALICE J]

I vote for load test on the batteries. Check for corrosion on all the terminals, especially the negative buss bar in the generator box on the bulkhead just in front of the battery compartment. The buss bar was mounted just below the hinge and water and salt did produce corrosion despite the buss cover. I placed a 2 inch aluminium angle piece as a drip shield. I have Life Line AGM batteries and have been absolutely brutal to them. Forgetting to hook up the battery charger, leaving the fridge on, careless about lights, voltage down to 11.3, but in the three and half years of use, they come back strong and keep on ticking. I do have a separate digital voltage from Blue Seas to see the battery health (when I look at it 😳 ) and an analog amp meter to see how much the alternator in putting out. AGM's can take the full jolt of 150 amps, then ramp back as the alternator heats up and the batteries accept the charge.

 

[SKI3PO]

Thanks all for the replies. Very helpful and I am definitely going to get my batteries load tested and check the wiring on my house batteries.

Is it possible the drain on bank 2 (starter) on my solar meter was caused by not turning the engine off with the key fob, but rather just hitting the ingnition switch so the green light goes out?

Thanks again.

Tim

 

[tuggin aweigh]

Greetings from Marathon

A little off the battery postings but today while checking the stern thruster terminals for corrosion I found a pair of wires, one white with red stripe and a yellow one laying on top of the holding tank. On each end was a butt connector shrunk on one end only. All lights on the stern are working. I never noticed them until this afternoon. Anyone have any ideas what their purpose may have been? The boat is in the water and the wires indicate zero voltage.

Tuggin Aweigh

 

[Red Raven]

Thanks all for the replies. Very helpful and I am definitely going to get my batteries load tested and check the wiring on my house batteries.

Is it possible the drain on bank 2 (starter) on my solar meter was caused by not turning the engine off with the key fob, but rather just hitting the ingnition switch so the green light goes out?

Thanks again.

Tim

If the green ignition light is off then the ignition is off and there should be no drain on your start battery. The key fob just locks it for security.

I doubt bank 2 is actually the start battery on your boat. If it was reading 11.2V and the CO monitor was beeping it is almost certainly the house. You should swap them at the solar controller. They should be labeled nearby. This is a known issue with some boats of your era. You can confirm this with Fluid Motion.

Curt

 

[knotflying]

Yep, someone at Ranger is dyslexic, The solar and analog meters seem to be reading the opposite batteries on many of the boats.

 

[Osprey]

Greetings from Marathon

A little off the battery postings but today while checking the stern thruster terminals for corrosion I found a pair of wires, one white with red stripe and a yellow one laying on top of the holding tank. On each end was a butt connector shrunk on one end only. All lights on the stern are working. I never noticed them until this afternoon. Anyone have any ideas what their purpose may have been? The boat is in the water and the wires indicate zero voltage.

Tuggin Aweigh

Based on the Ranger accessories 2 wiring schematic the positive leads for downriggers are AWG 10 red/white. Yellow is a ground lead. You might check the P.D.P fuse block located in the port cockpit locker . Look for the red/white lead and associated fuse connection.

 

[bill46]

I replaced the house batteries on our R31CB last year. Believe they had been abused by former owner. Thruster and Engine still strong. We have led lights, and solar panel. Agree you need to load test, turn on inverter with a heavy load, microwave, portable heater, toaster and see how long they last. Bill