Will dead batteries come back to life?

[Neil Smith]

My sterling combi works the other way round, if the shore line trips or we have a power cut the combi turns off and will stay off even when power is restored until you switch it off and on again to reset it, a bit annoying as we leave a dehumidifier on and it wont work until the combi is reset.

 

Neil

[WotEver]

My sterling combi works the other way round, if the shore line trips or we have a power cut the combi turns off and will stay off even when power is restored until you switch it off and on again to reset it, a bit annoying as we leave a dehumidifier on and it wont work until the combi is reset.

 

Neil

A cheap fix for that would be as previously suggested. Have a socket directly wired to the shore power input (via RCD and after GI/IT of course) and use that for any unattended mains stuff.

[Proper Charlie]

 

 

My 3000W Victron has a "charger only" setting, which I use when leaving the boat unattended to prevent this from happening.

 

You can also set the low voltage trip setting. Mine is set to 12.0 volts. Default setting is set to trip 10.5 volts IIRC.

 

 

Thanks for all the replies. I'll just have to cross everything and hope. As cuthound says, my combi does have a low voltage trip setting which (I think) was set to 10. I'm hoping it cut out at that point and that the batteries are not therefore stone cold dead.

[RD1]

A cheap fix for that would be as previously suggested. Have a socket directly wired to the shore power input (via RCD and after GI/IT of course) and use that for any unattended mains stuff.

That works for us, we have an sms text controller that we can use to switch on a dehumidifier, set to a time via sms text. It also advises when power is lost and restored, and boat interior temperature. Over the last 2 months we have had two shore power failures, but were restored within a few minutes. Some dehumidifiers won't restart after a power drop out, and others, don't respond well to power outages when they are going through a drying cycle. Choose your equipment carefully, check them as to what they do after a power failure.

 

A simple mains power fail detector could be...

Take an old mobile phone with some credit, preferably with a very poor battery. ( don't know what would happen if you had no battery at all !)

If you call it, and power is ok, it will ring out, free call if it doesn't go to voice mail.

If you call it and you have lost mains power, then the battery will run down, and the phone will switch off, and if set right, the phone will not ring out, ie unobtainable or go to voice mail.

 

Some experimentation required to check what happens to your old phone, during power failure and restore, but might give some of you peace of mind, as to the status of your shore power. Clearly regular checks are required, but if power is on, the calls are free.

If your phone battery has a life of a week, then it could be over a week before you realise you have lost power.

Not fool or idiot proof, but might be of some use.

Richard

[smileypete]

That works for us, we have an sms text controller that we can use to switch on a dehumidifier, set to a time via sms text. It also advises when power is lost and restored, and boat interior temperature. Over the last 2 months we have had two shore power failures, but were restored within a few minutes. Some dehumidifiers won't restart after a power drop out, and others, don't respond well to power outages when they are going through a drying cycle. Choose your equipment carefully, check them as to what they do after a power failure.

 

A simple mains power fail detector could be...

Take an old mobile phone with some credit, preferably with a very poor battery. ( don't know what would happen if you had no battery at all !)

If you call it, and power is ok, it will ring out, free call if it doesn't go to voice mail.

If you call it and you have lost mains power, then the battery will run down, and the phone will switch off, and if set right, the phone will not ring out, ie unobtainable or go to voice mail.

 

Some experimentation required to check what happens to your old phone, during power failure and restore, but might give some of you peace of mind, as to the status of your shore power. Clearly regular checks are required, but if power is on, the calls are free.

If your phone battery has a life of a week, then it could be over a week before you realise you have lost power.

Not fool or idiot proof, but might be of some use.

Richard

 

There's an android app (E-Robot) that can be set up to send a text when the charger is disconnected. (ie shore power removed)