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Battery problems - please read this before starting a new thread (V1)


MtB

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When you post about your battery problem, please include the following information. If you don't know how to get it, then by all means post asking how to find it, but this info is essential before anyone can give any meaningful help diagnosing a battery problem.

1) Type of battery. Open cell, sealed, AGM, something else

2) Number of batteries in your bank, and the make, model and age of them

3) Exact make and model of any monitoring device(s) you have. Or say if you have none.

4) The method you use to charge them. Engine alternator, generator and charger, shore line and charger, solar, something else

5) The make and model of your engine alternator, charger, generator etc.

6) The voltage at which your batteries are being charged, assuming you have a voltmeter

7) A brief description of your charging regime, i.e. how long you charge for, how frequently

8) A brief description of how you know when your batteries need to be charged. I.e. when do you start charging?

9) A brief description of how you know when to stop charging them. I.e. how do you decide when they are full?

10) A brief description of how the batteries are seen to be underperforming or failing.

 

The board will probably still come back with further questions, based on the info above you supply, but this will speed an answer to your problems by several days, probably. Many thanks!

 

 

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On 13/11/2017 at 09:54, nb Innisfree said:

Trouble is many want simple answers to what is a complex subject, those people don' have the mental energy to delve deeper. 

 

Indeed. The short cuts Ianali seems to want simply don't exist. Which is why so many people get battery problems in the fist place. 

Gathering together the answers to that list is actually the first step in learning about how to properly look after a set of batteries. 

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Can I suggest:

1/. Number and make of batteries (what does it say on the label and how many have you got)

2/. How do you charge your batteries (with the engine/ with a generator/ solar/ wind)

3/. What does it say on the labels of your charging devices

4/. How are you charging your batteries (how long are you using each charging device for)

5/. How do you know how your batteries are doing?

Forum 'experts' are good at using Google, we can work out the stuff we need from the labels. The rest is just combining questions and changing the order. Asking about smartgauges before working out if the boat has a big enough alternator seemed a little illogical

Richard

Edited by RLWP
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11 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Can I suggest:

1/. Number and make of batteries (what does it say on the label and how many have you got)

2/. How do you charge your batteries (with the engine/ with a generator/ solar/ wind)

3/. What does it say on the labels of your charging devices

4/. How are you charging your batteries (how long are you using each charging device for)

5/. How do you know how your batteries are doing?

Forum 'experts' are good at using Google, we can work out the stuff we need from the labels. The rest is just combining questions and changing the order. Asking about smartgauges before working out if the boat has a big enough alternator seemed a little illogical

Richard

Thats more like it Richard. 

Ian.

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May I suggest as this is V1 that once its finalised with a V2 and everyone is happy with it (if such a thing will ever exist) that mods are asked to pin it AND lock it so it becomes a simple guide to the info we would like rather than the start of a 100 page thread of questions and answers. V1 could then be deleted.

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You could just say:

   - Do you have a smartguage, if so do you stop charging when it says 100%?

   - Have you read the Smartguage manual very carefully from cover to cover yet?

The answers (Yes, No) often tell you all you need to know!

 

I guess the problem breaks down into:

   - An education problem - knowing how to properly charge batteries.

   - A technical problem - can the existing batteries be properly monitored and charged with the existing equipment, and what changes need to be made.

   -  The battery problem itself - are they just tooo far gone for continued use.

  

I'd be happy to stick with MtBs list for now, try it and see. If people want to offer their own help against a shortened list that's fine by me. :unsure:

Edited by smileypete
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3 hours ago, nb Innisfree said:

Trouble is many want simple answers to what is a complex subject, those people don' have the mental energy to delve deeper. 

Part of it must come down to motivation, some more explanation as to why such a level of detail is better might help. Maybe expand on that a bit in the preamble at some point in future, if early feedback supports it?

That said a lot of the time the OP is in straw clutching mode, their CWDF topic is just one straw with several elsewhere, and they want to clutch hardest on the easiest straws. I don't see an easy answer there, a decent paid marine electrical specialist to visit in person?

Edited by smileypete
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3 hours ago, smileypete said:

I'd be happy to stick with MtBs list for now, try it and see.

 

Ten questions does seem rather a lot, but we do seem to end up asking all of them before even a vague picture of what's going on emerges. 

The 'data label' approach suggested by Richard seems a good idea as an alternative to the significant work of writing out ten answers to the ten questions. Maybe the following could be used as an option, to paint the initial picture:

Please post a photo of each of the following (including data labels if possible):

Your batteries
Your alternator(s)
Your charger and generator
Your ammeter, voltmeter and any other monitoring device you have.

 

This is perhaps simpler, shorter and less intimidating. Then the detailed questions could follow. 

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2 hours ago, BruceinSanity said:

Except that some people find posting photos really hard <snip>

Especially newbies to the forum

On the other hand, photos are really, really helpful when solving problems. It takes a lot of questions to show up inadequate wiring or corroded terminals, a photo shows that up pretty quickly

Richard

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