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Batteries not holding charge.


wullie

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I have 5 110 A flooded batteries, when battery watch says they are fully charged, just came out of marina after fortnight on land line, charger and solar 4 100 solar panels all fully charged batteries, within few hours batteries down to around 45% always had this prob. doesn't matter how much i charge batteries lose charge, only running fridge freezer at night, turning this off makes little difference, had boat one year and always been much the same, would you say batteries done change them or any other advice, boat had been lying for a few months when we bought it.

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Boat was laying (with discharged Batteries?) for several months prior to purchase, it’s always done this, now another year on... there’s not really much doubt that the batteries have had it. 

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For the  next few months you can discount solar from you planned charging regime.

During the Summer I was getting amps into 'double figures', now it is rarely 1 amp, and mostly around 0.5-0.7a (currently getting 0.2 amps)

Unless it is a perfect day' I reckon you will do well to average 24 Ah per day with your Solar set-up,

 

O' - and, your batteries need replacing, as the nights get longer you will be using more and more electricity, and producing less and less, sort them now !!

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1 hour ago, wullie said:

I have 5 110 A flooded batteries, when battery watch says they are fully charged, just came out of marina after fortnight on land line, charger and solar 4 100 solar panels all fully charged batteries, within few hours batteries down to around 45% always had this prob. doesn't matter how much i charge batteries lose charge, only running fridge freezer at night, turning this off makes little difference, had boat one year and always been much the same, would you say batteries done change them or any other advice, boat had been lying for a few months when we bought it.

Bin em and replace. Never leave em discharged. ok ok not for very long anyway. These are the usual pitfalls of being a hobby boater and having to live in a house. If you are a liveaboard the new batteries will survive better unless you are called Mike.

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23 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Bin em and replace. Never leave em discharged. ok ok not for very long anyway. These are the usual pitfalls of being a hobby boater and having to live in a house. If you are a liveaboard the new batteries will survive better unless you are called Mike.

Give it a rest, would you, Tim?  :P

Edited by Mac of Cygnet
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59 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

If you are a liveaboard the new batteries will survive better unless you are called Mike.

If anyone called Mike actually lived on board instead of merely sleeping there at night then he’d probably have a little more luck ;)

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Thanks all for advice, yes we do live aboard and its been driving me mad at times, checking water levels with hydrometer [bit awkward to remove caps etc] so will get on to it ASAP prob. end of week beginning next week, any advice on battery type, price will be the thing, thanks.

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27 minutes ago, wullie said:

Thanks all for advice, yes we do live aboard and its been driving me mad at times, checking water levels with hydrometer [bit awkward to remove caps etc] so will get on to it ASAP prob. end of week beginning next week, any advice on battery type, price will be the thing, thanks.

What make/brand are the current ones?

If the existing have caps then reading the SG with a hydrometer, after a full-ish charge, should tell something about their condition. El cheapo leisures are usually the 'sealed for life' type these days, it's a bit unusual to have proper topping up caps.

Edited by smileypete
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49 minutes ago, wullie said:

Thanks all for advice, yes we do live aboard and its been driving me mad at times, checking water levels with hydrometer [bit awkward to remove caps etc] so will get on to it ASAP prob. end of week beginning next week, any advice on battery type, price will be the thing, thanks.

Batteries always divide opinion. I buy sealed leisure at present from Sawley marina as price is good and last set lasted two and a half years, I never look at them until its time to change them. I do liveabord full time and have done for many years. Other people treat batteries as part of their hobby and molicoddle them and give them names and water them weekly, they don't last any longer pound for pound but whatever floats ya boat so to speak

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1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Batteries always divide opinion. I buy sealed leisure at present from Sawley marina as price is good and last set lasted two and a half years, I never look at them until its time to change them. I do liveabord full time and have done for many years. Other people treat batteries as part of their hobby and molicoddle them and give them names and water them weekly, they don't last any longer pound for pound but whatever floats ya boat so to speak

Would be nice to get some useful info along side the posturing. :rolleyes:

Make/brand? On/off grid? Daily/fortnightly CC? What kit do you run, how are they charged?

Edited by smileypete
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13 minutes ago, smileypete said:

Would be nice to get some useful info along side the posturing. :rolleyes:

Make/brand? On/off grid? Daily/fortnightly CC? What kit do you run, how are they charged?

They are sawley marinas chandlery stuff called " Brit marine " 110 ah sealed leisure. Charged every day by engine alternator completely off grid. Small amount of solar assisting in the summer ( 160 watts ) tv, pc in daily use nothing too drastic and all heavy useage such as washing machine, iron etc etc powered through travel power. Second set of the same kind I put these on in june this year after nearly two and a half years useage with the previous set. My life is too short to ever put water into batteries etc but others can suit themselves :D

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4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

For the  next few months you can discount solar from you planned charging regime.

During the Summer I was getting amps into 'double figures', now it is rarely 1 amp, and mostly around 0.5-0.7a (currently getting 0.2 amps)

Unless it is a perfect day' I reckon you will do well to average 24 Ah per day with your Solar set-up,

 

O' - and, your batteries need replacing, as the nights get longer you will be using more and more electricity, and producing less and less, sort them now !!

I've been regularly getting 7+ amps (sometimes up to 10) for the last week or so.  Enough so that I'm not needing to run the engine for charging. 525w array.

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50 minutes ago, Dave_P said:

I've been regularly getting 7+ amps (sometimes up to 10) for the last week or so.  Enough so that I'm not needing to run the engine for charging. 525w array.

 

There is definitely a striking difference here between you and people like Alan, myself and several others who are finding solar turns off like a switch this time of year. My panels are delivering 0.2A typically when I look at the controller these days. I have a 560W array. 

Can we perhaps investigate where the difference lies? What make and models of panels do you have? I have 4 x 110w panels from Bimble and a nearly new Tracer controller from Bimble too. All four Bimble panels are wired up in series with a further pair of 80w panels from an ebay supplier about five years old. 

What kit do you have exactly please?

Edited by Mike the Boilerman
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43 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

What kit do you have exactly please?

My 'Kit' :

From Bimble (new 2 years go)

170w 'Low-Light' panel (designed to work in Northern latitudes with low angles of incidence)

Tracer MPPT Controller

MT50 display.

Summer time regularly get 10+ amps on 'ideal days', average with clouds, trees etc. probably 7 amps, so for 14 hours of daylight, so around 100Ah

Actual figures :

From 8/11/16 to 6/3/17 (120 days) the records show 8.02Kwh produced, so in the 4 Winter months it worked out at roughly 600Ah for 120 days,

From 28/4/17 to 29/5/17 (31 days) the records show 10.5Kwh produced, or roughly 800Ah,

From 3/9/17 to 20/9/17 (17 days) the records show 9.3Kwh produced, or roughly 715Ah.

 

This shows that the Winter average daily output is approximately 12% of the average daily September output.

It does not take into account the state of charge of the batteries, which may have been 'fully charged' after a days cruising, or, having been on a charger / land line.

It does, in my mind, support the premise that you only get 10% of the Summer output in Winter.

 

Edit / addendum :

Monitor is showing the 170w panel is currently outputting 14.9w

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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2 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Thanks Alan but my question was addressed to Dave, who is claiming far higher charging currents this time of year than you and I. 

I know it was, but thought that if he could provide similar information it would be a useful comparison, when added to your own figures.

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6 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

There is definitely a striking difference here between you and people like Alan, myself and several others who are finding solar turns off like a switch this time of year. My panels are delivering 0.2A typically when I look at the controller these days. I have a 560W array. 

Can we perhaps investigate where the difference lies? What make and models of panels do you have? I have 4 x 110w panels from Bimble and a nearly new Tracer controller from Bimble too. All four Bimble panels are wired up in series with a further pair of 80w panels from an ebay supplier about five years old. 

What kit do you have exactly please?

I have 3 x 175w second hand panels from Bimble.  A 40a MPPT controller.  I probably could have made a poor job of wiring them all up but I got a very tidy job done by a well known 'diesel wizard' (Mark) on the Four Counties ring.  The panel are flat mounted on top of roof boxes.  They're wired in series and are wired directly into my inverter via the controller rather than running straight to the batteries.  I don't really understand how that works though.  What I do know is that I'm currently moored with no mains hook up and am not running my engine other than for a weekly move (average about 4 hours).  I run my generator once a week to use the washing machine and during the second half of the cycle, I flick the battery charger on for a wee boost for about an hour.

My panels are kicking out pretty much all the power I need and I'd expect them to continue until early november, depending on how cloudy it gets.

I'm sorry if I can't be more specific about my set up but I'm no electrician!  You're welcome to come and have a look.  Currently moored on the Droitwich canal near Hawford locks.

50 minutes ago, Rumsky said:

I moored up around 3pm today and for a while after was getting 4 amps out of my 2 x 100ish watt panels.

This would be consistent with what I'm getting.  To be honest, I was being a bit modest about what I'm getting.  I was getting well over 10 amps on saturday when the sun was out.

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I'm getting around 10A+ from our solar at the moment, but only in full sun. I do find they almost switch off completely come early November though. That's with 2 x 250w panels from eBay - solar farm seconds for £100 ea wired in series to tracer mppt controller. Panels mounted flat on the roof. 

Certainly kept up with fridge/freezer use over this weekend and we came back to batteries on 99% late Sunday night having left with them on 64% early Saturday.

 

Tom

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18 hours ago, Dave_P said:

I've been regularly getting 7+ amps (sometimes up to 10) for the last week or so.  Enough so that I'm not needing to run the engine for charging. 525w array.

I too gave been harvesting a worth while amount but I also know that situation will change quite quickly from now on as days get even shorter and the sun even lower in the sky

Phil 

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31 minutes ago, Phil Ambrose said:

I too gave been harvesting a worth while amount but I also know that situation will change quite quickly from now on as days get even shorter and the sun even lower in the sky

Phil 

I'm expecting the same, similar to last year.  My original point was in response to Alan saying he's now rarely getting 1a and averaging 0.6a.  I'd expect a lot more than that for the next few weeks.

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19 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

They are sawley marinas chandlery stuff called " Brit marine " 110 ah sealed leisure. Charged every day by engine alternator completely off grid. Small amount of solar assisting in the summer ( 160 watts ) tv, pc in daily use nothing too drastic and all heavy useage such as washing machine, iron etc etc powered through travel power. Second set of the same kind I put these on in june this year after nearly two and a half years useage with the previous set. My life is too short to ever put water into batteries etc but others can suit themselves :D

Fair do's, maybe my quick guide should mention that the el cheapest might be OK for light use. :)

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