Battery voltage/charge. Is this normal?

[tabbibus]

Hi all, still figuring out this boat. 2018 LSE with the solar panel (single one in the middle of the bimini). No battery charger/tender since I dry stack and do not have the option to plug anything in during storage. Sunday turned on Connext and voltage was 12.6 for start and 11.9 on the house. That got me reaaally worried. It cranked just fine and the voltages jumped to 14.2 and 13.9 respectively after I looked at them again after a few minutes of no-wake cruising.

Normal? Suboptimal? This is a "new" boat but really a demo unit that was used for 7 hours last year.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dixie Highway]

I have a NOCO charger hooked up to both start and house, after being plugged in for 24 hours plus my Connext reads 12.3 V. I don’t know if it reads both batteries on there or combined, but I’d expect after a smart charger optimizes brand new batteries they’d read a bit higher than that. Still cranks really fast and seems ok so idk.

 

[tabbibus]

Yeah, batteries and chargers are a mystery to me.

 

[Beachbummer]

12.7= fully charged. 12.0= 10%

14v is a charging voltage... The boat was doing that for the battery, but with the boat running the voltage is not indicative of the battery state of charge.

Your house battery was indeed very low. Use the boat more so it charges more

If you think the battery is suspect you can charge it fully at home and then have it load tested for free at an auto parts store. The load testing while fully charged is the best test. Voltage alone tells you state of charge of a good battery, but it can hide issues (if a cell is dead the voltage could show low, but you are missing 1/6 of the battery, or worse if the battery can't handle a good load,, voltage looks great, but when you put a load on the battery the power disappears. Both will be visible on a load test. Nothing urgent. If voltage returns to normal after charge you can measure again and decide next steps, which may include doing nothing else at this time.

 

[tabbibus]

Ok, so I will tell my wife that we have no choice. We have to go out and use the boat more.

 

[tabbibus]

12.7= fully charged. 12.0= 10%

14v is a charging voltage... The boat was doing that for the battery, but with the boat running the voltage is not indicative of the battery state of charge.

Your house battery was indeed very low. Use the boat more so it charges more

If you think the battery is suspect you can charge it fully at home and then have it load tested for free at an auto parts store. The load testing while fully charged is the best test. Voltage alone tells you state of charge of a good battery, but it can hide issues (if a cell is dead the voltage could show low, but you are missing 1/6 of the battery, or worse if the battery can't handle a good load,, voltage looks great, but when you put a load on the battery the power disappears. Both will be visible on a load test. Nothing urgent. If voltage returns to normal after charge you can measure again and decide next steps, which may include doing nothing else at this time.

Welp, something is wrong. My starter battery is reading mid 12s. But house battery was showing 10.9 when I powered up this past weekend. Boat cranked just fine (starting battery being ok and all) and I was able to listen to music when in float mode with engines off, but that house battery has me really worried. These are supposed to be new batteries. Sticker says March 2019. When cruising, the "charging voltage" for house was in the low 13s sometimes even just high 12s.

When you say, charge it at home, how do I do that? Is there a recommended charger at home based on forum consensus?

This battery issue hasn't hindered me at all yet but when weather gets really good and I want float and listen to music for longer periods of time, I am worried I will run into trouble.

Interestingly, I've yet to get a low voltage alert from connext.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Welp, something is wrong. My starter battery is reading mid 12s. But house battery was showing 10.9 when I powered up this past weekend. Boat cranked just fine (starting battery being ok and all) and I was able to listen to music when in float mode with engines off, but that house battery has me really worried. These are supposed to be new batteries. Sticker says March 2019. When cruising, the "charging voltage" for house was in the low 13s sometimes even just high 12s.

When you say, charge it at home, how do I do that? Is there a recommended charger at home based on forum consensus?

This battery issue hasn't hindered me at all yet but when weather gets really good and I want float and listen to music for longer periods of time, I am worried I will run into trouble.

Interestingly, I've yet to get a low voltage alert from connext.

Probably not the same issue but I had a solar charging issue with my boat when it was new. They were wired backwards so it would drain my battery instead of charge. One side could be wired up correctly and the other side wired up wrong?

https://jetboaters.net/threads/2017-242x-solar-panels-not-working.15194/

 

[tabbibus]

Probably not the same issue but I had a solar charging issue with my boat when it was new. They were wired backwards so it would drain my battery instead of charge. One side could be wired up correctly and the other side wired up wrong?

https://jetboaters.net/threads/2017-242x-solar-panels-not-working.15194/

Thanks! I've been pouring over that thread for a while. You mind if I pick your brain? When you measured the negative voltage, what did you have your multi meter leads on? The battery? If so, which one?

Where should I place my leads when trying to figure out if the solar panel is actually sending juice to the battery?

 

[Evil Sports]

Until you figure this out Get a $99 jump box off Amazon and have fun out there

 

[jcyamaharider]

Thanks! I've been pouring over that thread for a while. You mind if I pick your brain? When you measured the negative voltage, what did you have your multi meter leads on? The battery? If so, which one?

Where should I place my leads when trying to figure out if the solar panel is actually sending juice to the battery?

I disconnected the solar panel wires from the battery and was only testing the output of the solar panels. I wanted to take everything out of the equation and focus on one thing at a time. Each side has there own wire for the solar panel I do believe. I can reconfirm tonight but I think there was a SP1 and a SP2. Grounds should be tied together and the Sp wires should go to positive side.

 

[Beachbummer]

When you say, charge it at home, how do I do that? Is there a recommended charger at home based on forum consensus?

My experience with ocasional battery charging is that any charger will work for occasional use. You can spend 25-40 for a cheap one and it will do just fine for occasional use. If you want to permanently mount one to the boat, it can be a little more fancy and expensive. I think a 8 amp charger costs around $40 and should be in every home. This charger on the battery for a few hours should bring you up to full charge.

Once it's charged you can have it tested.

This looks nice

Amazon.com: Schumacher SC1280 6/12V Rapid Battery Charger and 15A Maintainer: Gateway

Buy Schumacher SC1280 6/12V Rapid Battery Charger and 15A Maintainer: Automotive - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

You can probably find a cheaper one at auto parts store or Walmart.

 

[tabbibus]

My experience with ocasional battery charging is that any charger will work for occasional use. You can spend 25-40 for a cheap one and it will do just fine for occasional use. If you want to permanently mount one to the boat, it can be a little more fancy and expensive. I think a 8 amp charger costs around $40 and should be in every home. This charger on the battery for a few hours should bring you up to full charge.

Once it's charged you can have it tested.

Thanks, I dry stack my boat with no access to power, so onboard permanent charger is not an option. Will look into the cheapo home option.

 

[tabbibus]

I disconnected the solar panel wires from the battery and was only testing the output of the solar panels. I wanted to take everything out of the equation and focus on one thing at a time. Each side has there own wire for the solar panel I do believe. I can reconfirm tonight but I think there was a SP1 and a SP2. Grounds should be ties together and the Sp wires should go to positive side.

Thanks!

Treat me like I'm 5 years old. So the 2018 only has one solar panel. If I understand correctly, you found the wires coming from the panel(s) to the battery, disconnected them, then put your MM leads directly on the end of those wires?

If it helps, these are pictures I took a few days ago. I can get more specific pictures later if needed.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Thanks!

Treat me like I'm 5 years old. So the 2018 only has one solar panel. If I understand correctly, you found the wires coming from the panel(s) to the battery, disconnected them, then put your MM leads directly on the end of those wires?

If it helps, these are pictures I took a few days ago. I can get more specific pictures later if needed.

View attachment 94200 View attachment 94201

That is correct. Now I can't remember if the wires ( sp) went to the switches or directly to the batteries. I will double check that tonight also. One panel or 2 panels wired in parallel, it shouldn't matter.


*edit* Now that I am recalling more about this I think there might only be one SP1 wire going to the switches. Then the DVSR will take over from there and apply voltage to the correct battery. If you starter battery is full and it switches to the house battery and there is an issue with the panels being reverse wired, this would drain your house battery exactly like my situation.

 

[Mainah]

I am now doing something I have recommended against many times before. With all of my upgrades my house battery gets abused running 3 amps, ballast pumps, kegerator, built in tube blower, etc. With the stereo alone I am over 50 amps rms draw at crusing volume. Once I would turn on ballast pumps the voltage would drop as low as 12.1v on the house battery. I decided the lesser of two evils given my draw level would be to run my two group 31 AGM as a single bank with the combine switch always on. This splits the draw between the two but with both battery switches off the charger still charges them as separate cells. Ideally I should buy another battery to run two as a house bank and one as a start but with 150lbs between the two batteries already I have decided this is best for me. While the service life will be lesser, I will be less likely to completely kill the house from excessive draw. I now don't see voltage drops below 12.5v. I also keep a good jump pack on board. This is not something I would recommend for everyone but as something for those with very high draw to consider if two new batteries of same size and type.

Based on recent experience I also have a quick way to load test a car battery. Turn engine off, turn on the headlights and watch how fast the voltage drops on a dmm.

 

[tabbibus]

That is correct. Now I can't remember if the wires ( sp) went to the switches or directly to the batteries. I will double check that tonight also. One panel or 2 panels wired in parallel, it shouldn't matter.


*edit* Now that I am recalling more about this I think there might only be one SP1 wire going to the switches. Then the DVSR will take over from there and apply voltage to the correct battery. If you starter battery is full and it switches to the house battery and there is an issue with the panels being reverse wired, this would drain your house battery exactly like my situation.

oh. that makes lots of sense!!! So next time I'm out there I'll check the SP1 wire to see if the voltage is saying positive or negative. maybe it will be that easy. I've never opened up the DVSR, here's hoping I don't mess anything up

 

[jcyamaharider]

I did get back in my boat last night and snapped a pic. My solar panel wire does go to the switch so you will have to take apart that to disconnect @tabbibus . The wire is actually labeled Sp + and is only one wire.

 

[tabbibus]

@jcyamaharider you da man!!! What about the ground wire from the panel? Does that go to battery or switch? In your post you have a picture with a G1 wire. Is that it?

 

[jcyamaharider]

@jcyamaharider you da man!!! What about the ground wire from the panel? Does that go to battery or switch? In your post you have a picture with a G1 wire. Is that it?

That is on the battery.

 

[Mohamed Z Sherif]

This is the back of my solar panel. Looks to be some kind of a controller.
After my battery died few times i decided to test the solar. I only measure .46 volts.