Losing Battle to Fill My Batteries

[VVD]

I seem to fight a battle to fill my batteries with AMPS both by Alternator and Genset (which is currently broken). My linked 10 probably needs to be calibrated after having added a battery for my bow truster but I have no clue if that is what will help me. When I run my main engine the AMP level (+adding) drops rather quickly from +60AMPs to +16AMPs after two hours running while my LINKED 10 still reads -220AMPS (what is what I used since the batteries where full). Does anybody have a good suggestion as to why this is and how can I win this battle? Voltage is good. Thank you in advance. Vincent sv MAKAI

[JayH]

The amps dropping from 60 to 16 probably indicates that the batteries are coming up to charge. As they do, the rate at which they'll accept current drops. If the Link amp-hour reading doesn't change while this is happening it may be broken. Or maybe the shunt has been bypassed.

[DeepFrz]

Check your link 10 and shunt installation.

[sailingaway221]

http://www.asmomarine.com/2005/asmo_...om_Xantrex.pdf

I'm pretty sure you have to reset your Link when you add batteries to the bank...... heres the link to the manual...also if you have a large bank it may take more than two or three hours of running the engine to fully charge the batteries...it is possible that the last 10 or 15% of your battery charge to be completely full may take that long alone...of course depending on the size of your alternator and how discharged and old you existing batteries are....it's not a good idea to put new batteries as an add on to an existing battery bank....the old batteries drag the new one down all the time....and reduce overall efficiency.

[Rick]

Inspect your battery bank negative leads for "sneaker wire" connections. There should be only bank interconnect cables with one and only one cable to the shunt. ALL other wires, regardless of where they originate, need to be on the non-battery bank side of the shunt.

Also I suspect that your charge source is not reaching 14.4V or more in the acceptance mode. If not, your batteries will never recover loss of capacity in a deep dischage cycle.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by VfvanDoorn

I seem to fight a battle to fill my batteries with AMPS both by Alternator and Genset (which is currently broken). My linked 10 probably needs to be calibrated after having added a battery for my bow truster but I have no clue if that is what will help me. When I run my main engine the AMP level (+adding) drops rather quickly from +60AMPs to +16AMPs after two hours running while my LINKED 10 still reads -220AMPS (what is what I used since the batteries where full). Does anybody have a good suggestion as to why this is and how can I win this battle? Voltage is good. Thank you in advance. Vincent sv MAKAI

- - There is nothing wrong with your batteries or your charging system. Read the Link10 manual and you will find out about the technique used to compute AH used. The formula is complex and cannot compute completely accurate AH used. Periodically - about a month or two, after the batteries are charged indicated by very low charging amps and high voltage readings you have to "reset" the AH meter. This is done by pressing and holding the SET button for 5 seconds - then depress the SEL button until the indicator lights cycle to the end and AH appears on the little LED screen. Then depress and hold the SET button until ALL appears on the screen and release the buttons. Now your AH will be reset to zero and you are ready to go again.

[VVD]

Checked all connections and did a load test. One of my three batteries (AMG 200 Amp) had a loose connection. I also reset the Link 10 after refilling the batteries so I think I will be in good shape going forward. Thanks

[btrayfors]

Originally Posted by VfvanDoorn

Checked all connections and did a load test. One of my three batteries (AMG 200 Amp) had a loose connection. I also reset the Link 10 after refilling the batteries so I think I will be in good shape going forward. Thanks

Glad you found the problem.

JUST A REMINDER TO ALL: WING NUTS are a NO-NO on boats, since at least 2006. I find LOTS of them on customer's boats, and almost all are either very loose or not tight enough.

All wing nuts should be replaced with either standard hex nuts w/lockwashers or nylock nuts.

West Marine has an excellent explanation of the ABYC requirement, and the reasoning for this: The West Advisor: Wing Nut Battery Terminals

Please note that all nuts should be tightened to at least 10 foot pounds of torque. I find most nuts on boats I see to be no where near tight enough.

Bill

[cfarrar]

Orisisail is spot on. Additionally, your Link 10 monitor should auto reset the amp-hours count, if it's not accurate, whenever you fully top off your batteries in float mode.

This brings up another point, however. When you're charging your batteries and your charging rate drops from 60 amps to 16amps, that's b/c you've entered acceptance mode. The charge rate will drop even further (a couple of amps) when you enter float mode. So it will take a long time, and you will rack up many engine hours, if you want to fully top off your batteries using only your alternator. If you don't get your genset fixed, you might consider a small solar panel to fully complete the charging process.

My practice is to shut down the engine as soon as the alternator charge rate drops below about 20 amps (acceptance mode) and let the solar panels take care of the rest.

Sorry if the above is kind of obvious, but I thought it might help.