Hi Forum Peeps, I need some advice regarding a battery problem on the new boat I have joined. There are 3 battery banks in the engine room one for each generator and main engine. The two for the Generators are maintenance free. The one for the main engine is lead acid battery. They are setup as two 12v in series to provide 24v……….. They are all linked to a Lewco Battery Charger. The batteries are hooked up onto a monitoring system so that I can monitor the charge of the batteries at all time. I found that the battery for the Main Engine is constantly sitting at 30v on my monitoring screen, whereas the other 2 batteries cycle from 27v to 30v as they are on charging cycle I checked the battery compartment and felt for heat and there was none, I then checked the water levels and they were low and all cells on both batteries were low so I then proceeded to top them up, I still see no change……..after 2 days I have attached a picture from the monitoring screen so u can see the trend….. Why is this battery staying at 30v constanly, Battery Info Nominal Voltage 12v Each Cold Cranking Amps – 1100 Cranking Amps – 1230 Amp Hours – 200 Is this a problem? Should I replace the battery bank? Any further comments?
Batteries are a pain Globetrotter, Are there any loads on? Sensors? Any load will cause the charger to react. Unless the charger is designed to handle two different battery types, you have a problem there. are the maintenance free bateries, gell cells or AGM ? The charger must be set to the native voltage for each type of battery. As batteries age they will not be able to get up to full voltage and the charger may keep the voltage high, thinking they need a charge, when in reality the water is boiling off. How old are the batteries? Anything over three years is getting old. All the modern AC converters do is kill batteries. Have fun Carl
