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Completely confused by boat electrics


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Hi! Having some problems with our boat electrics. Currently moored in a marina and plugged into shore power however still having power issues. Red light which indicates low power on the inverter comes on frequently. Also noticed today that the pump to pump hot water from log burner heated water to the radiators, controlled by a thermostat seems to be struggling and I'm assuming it's a power issue. But if I'm plugged into shore power why should any of this be happening? Also have a battery charger which indicates that it's on 'float'.....whatever that means. Currently have a bank of 4 domestic batteries.....completely clueless, can anyone help?...

Thanks in advance :)

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18 minutes ago, Hawisia said:

Hi! Having some problems with our boat electrics. Currently moored in a marina and plugged into shore power however still having power issues. Red light which indicates low power on the inverter comes on frequently. Also noticed today that the pump to pump hot water from log burner heated water to the radiators, controlled by a thermostat seems to be struggling and I'm assuming it's a power issue. But if I'm plugged into shore power why should any of this be happening? Also have a battery charger which indicates that it's on 'float'.....whatever that means. Currently have a bank of 4 domestic batteries.....completely clueless, can anyone help?...

Thanks in advance :)

Questions that would help in providing answers :

What battery charger is it (size / make)

What Inverter is it (size / make)

What electrical appliances do you have running of batteries ( lights, pumps, TV, Phonecharger, computer ?????)

What appliances do you have running of 'mains' (TV, Compute, phone charger, washing mchine, toaster, hair dryer ??????)

How old are the batteries ?

How do you monitor the state of charge of the batteries ?

What are you using when the 'low power' lights flicker ?

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Have you got anything to measure the voltage of your battery and/or 12 volt system?. It does sound like your volts are a bit lacking.

A little multimeter is a good (essential?) tool to have a boat. Lots of boats have really complicated stuff to measure volts, amps, and amp-hours. If you don't have (or want) this then a cheapo ebay volt meter that plugs into a 12v socket will tell you quite a lot. 

This sort of thing:................

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2in1-12-24V-Universal-Car-LED-Digital-Voltage-Voltmeter-USB-Charger-Socket-Plug/162256923468?_trksid=p2045573.c100506.m3226&_trkparms=aid%3D555014%26algo%3DPL.DEFAULT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20151005190705%26meid%3D2dddd99ba7924f5abb04f731b8d4fc79%26pid%3D100506%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26

..............Dave

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If you're genuinely on shore power, then you don't even need an inverter, yet alone having it running, yet alone have it reach a situation where its red "low power" light comes on. I suspect that you actually have a combi (combined inverter/battery charger) and for some reason, probably a simple one, you're not actually receiving shoreline power, thus the combi is automatically trying to power all the mains items from your batteries using its inverter function, rather than powering the mains items from the shoreline AND charging the batteries at the same time.

A simple voltage check on the domestic batteries would reveal this, since if the batteries are being charged it should read 14.x (or maybe a bit less if on float, ie 13.5 or so); and if the batteries are providing the power, they'll read 12.something, possibly worse.

There should be clear indicator lights on the mains incoming panel or combi, or battery charger (we don't really know what equipment you have) showing it has incoming shoreline power.

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There's no point me offering anything more to this thread until we get a few answers to the questions above. All good posts so far although I'm not sure that I see where Paul came to the conclusion that OP has a combi. 

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Simply based on 1) the fact that the 'inverter' seems to be running despite being on shoreline - a nonsensical situation if the boat is on shoreline with the batteries being fully charged and on float charge - where would the "load" come from to trigger a demand from the inverter, and a low voltage warning? And 2) that there is some possible confusion over whether the mains items are being powered by the inverter or the shoreline. Combis typically also integrate the mains changeover switching within their functionality, a system which has separate inverter and battery charger would typically have a manual changeover switch, and you'd hope it was clear on this switch which source was connected at the time. Rarely boats have an auto mains changeover with separate battery charger and inverter, but if they did there's probably even more reason to have some kind of clear indication of which source was connected.

I suspect it might be a DIY install of a non-standard or bizarre wiring, or possibly misleading, unlabelled switches used to changeover, combined with a lack of indicator lights or their labelling. Or even a manual changeover done by a plug and sockets, possibly squirreled away somewhere on the boat out of sight.

You're right, we're all guessing at this stage.

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Although you are plugged in to shore power are you actually switched over to it? Some are wired for automatic change over between power sources, some like mine you have to switch a switch to the desired source...

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Does the shore power supply the 240V appliances on your boat directly, or does the shore power ONLY power the battery charger with the appliances on the boat powered by your inverter???

If so, then if your power consumption is greater than the charger can supply then your batteries will go flat.

We need a better explanation and description of your system configuration to be able to help you.

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I had a problem a while ago noticing the the 12v system lacked uumph, the water pump was struggling even when i was plugged into the shore power, lights was dimming.

Found out the problem was the emergency red key cut off switch for the 12v system was breaking up on the inside. As soon as i replaced it all was ok.

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1 minute ago, rustydiver said:

I had a problem a while ago noticing the the 12v system lacked uumph, the water pump was struggling even when i was plugged into the shore power, lights was dimming.

Found out the problem was the emergency red key cut off switch for the 12v system was breaking up on the inside. As soon as i replaced it all was ok.

That's a very common fault, particularly with those nasty plastic switches with the removable red handle. 

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Just now, WotEver said:

That's a very common fault, particularly with those nasty plastic switches with the removable red handle. 

It was a plastic type one. I could only replace with another off the same, thats all the marina had at the time, my son had to ride the bike back to get one. Ive got another spare now on the boat. Just in case.

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57 minutes ago, OliveOyl said:

Any chance the elecs on my son's boat could have a dicky red switch Tony ?

Was it not your son's boat that Tony B visited? If so then he'd have diagnosed the switch in short order, so no, sorry. 

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47 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Was it not your son's boat that Tony B visited? If so then he'd have diagnosed the switch in short order, so no, sorry. 

Thanks Wot, just wondered as my boat has a dicky red switch :rolleyes:

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1 minute ago, OliveOyl said:

Thanks Wot, just wondered as my boat has a dicky red switch :rolleyes:

Like I said, it's a really common problem. I suspect it's the only one stocked by marinas because they know they'll sell a lot of them ;)

tony

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As has been previously stated you need to check the state of your batteries with a meter, if you don't have one fitted or can't borrow a multimeter I am moored in Uxbridge at the moment and will be here for about a week. I would be happy to check the voltage for you if you are still stuck.

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