House Battery / Blower

[kgower]

My house battery (17 months old) has been draining faster than normal the last two times out. It dropped to 11v in about 3 hours, and an alarm sounded. I also discovered that the blower is connected to the house battery is that normal? 24 222SE.

Getting a new battery this week.

 

[tdonoughue]

In a 2 battery system, generally the starter is connected to the start battery and everything else to the house (including blowers, stereo, lights, etc.). So I would say blower on house battery is normal.

17 months on a battery is not that old. Has it been regularly maintained (like on a charger)? Water levels good?

When you go to get a new battery, take the old one in and have them load test it first. It may not be bad if you have something draining the battery. Get a multimeter with a clamp sensor on it for measuring amps. That has been one of my best tools for trying to trace battery drains. You can basically put it on any wire & see what the amps (flow) are. So you can put it on your stereo and see its draw, your amp, see its draw, etc. Or you can start at the battery and see total draw from the battery.

 

[kgower]

In a 2 battery system, generally the starter is connected to the start battery and everything else to the house (including blowers, stereo, lights, etc.). So I would say blower on house battery is normal.

17 months on a battery is not that old. Has it been regularly maintained (like on a charger)? Water levels good?

When you go to get a new battery, take the old one in and have them load test it first. It may not be bad if you have something draining the battery. Get a multimeter with a clamp sensor on it for measuring amps. That has been one of my best tools for trying to trace battery drains. You can basically put it on any wire & see what the amps (flow) are. So you can put it on your stereo and see its draw, your amp, see its draw, etc. Or you can start at the battery and see total draw from the battery.

When its not on the water it is always connected to the Nocco charger.
I thought 17 months was a little soon as well.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

In a 2 battery system, generally the starter is connected to the start battery and everything else to the house (including blowers, stereo, lights, etc.). So I would say blower on house battery is normal.

17 months on a battery is not that old. Has it been regularly maintained (like on a charger)? Water levels good?

When you go to get a new battery, take the old one in and have them load test it first. It may not be bad if you have something draining the battery. Get a multimeter with a clamp sensor on it for measuring amps. That has been one of my best tools for trying to trace battery drains. You can basically put it on any wire & see what the amps (flow) are. So you can put it on your stereo and see its draw, your amp, see its draw, etc. Or you can start at the battery and see total draw from the battery.

That’s a great suggestion! But, you have to make sure the clamp on ammeter is for DC to. be accurate. AC and DC inductive ammeters are different.

 

[kgower]

The set up hasn't changed as i haven't added any accessories to the battery in over a year. If not the battery and something is draining it, any thoughts to what it might be?

 

[TommyMcK]

I'm assuming that you are operating off of the house battery for three hours with the engines off. With the engines running you should see 13.6 to 14.3 depending on state of charge.

In any case, I'm not sure what you had running off of the house battery for three hours, but it's not crazy that a good battery would drop below 11V after three hours while actively sourcing current.

 

[kgower]

I'm assuming that you are operating off of the house battery for three hours with the engines off. With the engines running you should see 13.6 to 14.3 depending on state of charge.

In any case, I'm not sure what you had running off of the house battery for three hours, but it's not crazy that a good battery would drop below 11V after three hours while actively sourcing current.

I am getting that voltage while running. Last time out running was 14.1 start battery 14.3. House battery was 12.7 I think when we anchored. Only the audio system was on while anchored. Up until recently we could run the tunes for 4.5 hours +/- and it would only drop to 11.8 or 11.7.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Get the battery tested sounds like a bad battery

 

[tdonoughue]

Yep. Next step: load test the battery at the store and get a new one if bad...

 

[Cambo]

Are you taking the voltage readings from the gauge or measuring the battery terminals. Im not sure on your model but my 2017 242xe had an issue with the factory wiring that both factory volt gauges on the dash read the same battery after the work around wiring them correctly the voltage gauge had an inaccurate calibration or voltage drop from the wiring. Measuring the battery it was off .4v to .6v that was enough to keep setting off the low voltage alarm very annoying. My solution was adding Lipo batteries that are higher voltage no more lead acid

Used these with the Bluetooth monitoring

Amazon.com

 

[kgower]

Battery has a 1/24 date code. Took the battery to Advance Auto, load tested good.
Not what I wanted to hear.

 

[tdonoughue]

Beats buying a new battery and having the same problem...

So, now I think you are down to measuring the draw on the battery when you think everything is off.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Battery has a 1/24 date code. Took the battery to Advance Auto, load tested good.
Not what I wanted to hear.

And what was the voltage when they tested the battery? Did they use the toaster style battery tester ? Or the multimeter style?

@Cambo asked about where you are getting your volt reads from. My connext screen reads low, sometimes.5-.7. Take a volt meter with you next time out and verify voltages.

Also, did you check to make sure your dvsr is functioning normally?

It’s also possible your NOCO charger is bad.

 

[kgower]

And what was the voltage when they tested the battery? Did they use the toaster style battery tester ? Or the multimeter style?

@Cambo asked about where you are getting your volt reads from. My connext screen reads low, sometimes.5-.7. Take a volt meter with you next time out and verify voltages.

Also, did you check to make sure your dvsr is functioning normally?

It’s also possible your NOCO charger is bad.

Not sure the voltage, toaster style. The cca was 825 (battery is labeled 800). I brought it to the house hooked it up on the battery tender and it read as charged in no time.
I have been getting the reads off the connext screen.
I'm not sure how to test the dvsr, nut can research.
Will get a multi meter to test at the battery.
@tdonoughue I bought a new battery a couple of days ogo and installed it yesterday before testing the old one. Now I'm going to try and track it down. My mechanic skills a limited.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Not sure the voltage, toaster style. The cca was 825 (battery is labeled 800). I brought it to the house hooked it up on the battery tender and it read as charged in no time.
I have been getting the reads off the connext screen.
I'm not sure how to test the dvsr, nut can research.
Will get a multi meter to test at the battery.
@tdonoughue I bought a new battery a couple of days ogo and installed it yesterday before testing the old one. Now I'm going to try and track it down. My mechanic skills a limited.

Just look for the little red light to come on, on the face of the dvsr module. Unless you’ve done any of the dvsr mods it will come on when charging on shore or on the water after the engines have been running for a bit and voltage has come up to 13.4.

Since you’ve got a fresh battery in there, a faulty battery will be out of the equation.

Get a quality multimeter..FLUKE’s are the best but a Klein is also good.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Here’s a decently priced FLUKE

Amazon.com

I’ve had my FLUKE 77 since 1992 and have used it extensively and it’s still spot on.

If you use the amp measurement just be sure it’s not on loads above 10A.

 

[TommyMcK]

Observing voltage readings while the battery is connected can be informative from a comparative perspective, but the measurement aren't particularly meaningful in terms of battery state of health. Even when the battery is fully charged, the higher the current draw, the lower the voltage will be at the terminals. The internal resistance of an AGM battery is something like 40 mOhm, which is pretty low, but say for example that you have an extra 350 mOhms between the battery and where the measurement is made by the boat. Then a 5A draw results in a drop of 1.8V for the reading off a charged battery (12.8V). Crank the tunes for a couple of hours and you could have the reading drop below 11.1 easy as displayed on the Connext.

The only part of this whole story that is indicative of an issue is that you noticed a change in the amount of time you can run off of the house battery while anchored. Whether it's 4 hours or an hour and a half, I'm not surprised in either case that the house battery is drawn down to the point that you are getting the alarm depending on load. Are you sure that there has been no change in what you are doing while anchored? Tunes cranked louder? Lights on?