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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Wed Sep 05 2001 - 11:15:01 EDT
In a message dated 09/04/2001 5:10:26 PM Atlantic Daylight Time,
writes:
> All batteries boiled dry, hot and bulged
> out. I realized that I had left the switch in the parallel position so
> both banks were connected. I'm guessing that one of the cells is/was
> weak (they all are now 8( ) and the charger was trying it's heart (pun
> intended) out to get it to come up to charge.
I presume you have a good 3-stage charger. These start by charging at a
"bulk" voltage with all the current the charger can produce flowing through
the battery. When the battery voltage rises to the "bulk" voltage, the
charger continues to charge at that voltage for a set amount of time, then
switches to the "float" voltage which is somewhat lower than the "bulk"
voltage. At least this is how my Trace does it.
It sounds like your batteries never got up to the "bulk" voltage to trigger
the charger to switch to the "trickle" voltage level. My best guess is that
the batteries may have been at the end of their life or already low on water.
> Lesson learned. Don't leave the charger on.
Good idea. But be aware that undercharging is the biggest shortener of
battery life.
> If the bilge pump kills
> 200+ amp hour battery bank, I've either got to get to the boat more
> often and/or I've got lots bigger problems. I've got a float only
> charger I'll take down the next time.
>
Also good idea. Unless you have a leaky wooden boat, the bilge pump should
be just about comatose.
> He introduced
> himself and apologized for the damage and asked if the insurance company
> was taking care of me. I assured him it was, but didn't bore him with
> the history, since it worked out OK. We talked a bit and finally he
> called to his wife to come on over.
Good news.
> Engine temp was running a bit high. I had cleaned the strainer before I
> left so that wasn't the problem. It did have a fish in it. First time
> I've caught a fish from that boat. 8) When I got back, I stuck my
> finger in the heat exchanger and it came up brown, but not from
> antifreeze, but sludge. I had the marina flush the cooling system and
> replace the antifreeze before leaving Florida. Either they didn't do a
> good job, it crudded up again or they didn't bother doing it at all
> (most likely, considering the other work they charged me for and didn't
> do).
Like my Momma always said: "If you want it done right, do it yourself!"
> I put in perhaps a couple of quarts of coolant. I don't know if
> that was enough to cause the problem or not.
Sounds like it's time for a flush.
> Maybe the water intake is
> plugged with critters. I'll have to borrow a tank and take a look.
I hope you don't have an outside strainer. Very inconvenient to clear. What
I do in this situation is to close the seacock and remove the hose connector.
Then I take a piece of PVC pipe with one end capped, stick it in the seacock
with a rag wrapped around the gap between the two, then open the seacock and
ram the pipe through several times cleaning out the opening.
> Life is getting better. The project list is not growing as fast as it
> was, in fact if this keeps up, the project list will actually start
> shrinking in May of 2005.
Ha, ha, ha, ha... That's a good one...
> I'd planned to make up new battery cables, since some of mine are not in
> the greatest shape, until I went to the store. If I replace just one of
> the 4 cables it will cost about $100. The wire I need is priced at $7 a
> foot. Think I'll back off of the decision to use marine wire. I'll
> just do a real good job of sealing the connectors.
There has been an ongoing debate in the pages of Home Power for some time now
about using welding cable for battery cables. The reports from the field say
welding cable works fine as long as you seal the connectors well. I would
use Vaseline/Baking Soda mixture on the wire, a wrap with electrical tape to
hold it in, clean thoroughly, then an overall seal with shrink tubing with
glue inside.
> Life is good..
>
> Regards and apologies to those who were bored.
> Jim.
> PS, earlier today I send an email to the list asking for assistance in
> finding something to use to ty down the holding tank. I've not seen
> that request pop up here. Did I miss it or didn't it get to the list?
> It's in my "Sent" folder, so I know I wasn't dreaming.
My 55 gallon rectangular holding tank sits on a piece of carpet on an
aluminum saloon deck and is held in place by two pieces of angle iron across
the top held down by pieces of threaded rod at each end of the angle iron
down through the deck.
Norm
S/V Bandersnatch
Lying Rockland ME
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