When you start your engine.....

[Rick R.]

....do any of your electronics beep or restart?

We have dedicated house and start battery with the 1, 2, both, off switch.

When I start the engine, I turn the selector to batt 1 (my start battery). Engine cranks just fine but I noticed the other day that the VHF beeps when I do this. (The chartplotter and AP do not do this. )

Started me wondering about if this is common when you all start your Universal M25?

 

[ref_123]

Hi Rick,

Used to be the case before wiring replacement. Bad contacts were primary suspects, but we may never know now .

I'd check the voltage on the beeping instrument when it's on. If it's considerably lower than the one at the battery, you probably have a bad connection somewhere. If not, you have a weak or shorted battery...

Regards,
Stan

 

[Tom Metzger]

....do any of your electronics beep or restart?

We have dedicated house and start battery with the 1, 2, both, off switch.

When I start the engine, I turn the selector to batt 1 (my start battery). Engine cranks just fine but I noticed the other day that the VHF beeps when I do this. (The chartplotter and AP do not do this. )

Started me wondering about if this is common when you all start your Universal M25?

Oh sure, wait until I get home before posting. I could have milked another week in FL out of this one.

Probably the VHF is just more sensitive to voltage fluctuations. As long as the chartplotter and AP don't have a problem I wouldn't get concerned. Does it happen when you start on the house bank?

Most of us normally start on the house bank and occasionally start on the reserve bank after being off of the charger for a few days to test it. It's too much effort to go below to throw the switch every time we start the engine.

One last thought: maybe it's time to think about retiring the old lawn mower batteries.

 

[Christian Williams]

My circuit breakers are all off when I start the engine. Otherwise the Ray wheel pilot and sometimes the chartplotter act funny.

 

[Tom Metzger]

My circuit breakers are all off when I start the engine. Otherwise the Ray wheel pilot and sometimes the chartplotter act funny.

I would look into this situation as I wouldn't want to lose the AP & chartplotter when I hurriedly fired up the engine while in a tight spot. Picture the scene where you are sailing in a narrow channel and you wineskin slips overboard.

 

[Loren Beach]

Voltage Drop questions

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoex...?10446-Installing-a-dedicated-starter-battery

Interesting thread that touches on this topic.

Loren

 

[Shelman]

Background:
I have a main bank of four 6v golf cart style batterys set up in series and parallel drawing positive and negative from opposite corners which gives me about 420ah at 12v. Both banks are fused at the positive battery post for safety.
I use the main bank for everything, both starting and house use, and I have a emergency use group 24 deep cycle Trojan for a backup.
Both banks positive cables are run to my standard "one two all" switch and the negative cables are led to the engine. The electrical panel also pulls its negative lead off the engine block for a common ground. All connections are clean and all cables are in good condition. my little Westerbeke w-10 two starts easily off of either bank. I don't have a battery combiner. My shore power charger has two leads one to each bank to keep them both topped off and happy. My engine alternator runs through the "one two all" battery switch so that I can direct the charging power to which ever bank I chose.

Experience:
My chart plotter often powers off and then back on when I start the engine and it often does the same thing about 20 seconds after I shut off the engine. It didn't seem to have this issue before I added the spare battery bank. It only seems to have the issue when I have my reserve battery negative wire tied in to the electrical system. I haven't been able to wrap my brain around the reason for that one yet. some kind of back-flow equalization through the negative lead between the two banks I guess, but it just doesn't seem possible with the positive cables separated by the "one two all" battery switch. I never use the all position on the switch so my theory is that the battery banks are somehow equalizing after the alternator charge is started or stopped through just the negative lead.
The only way I have been able to solve the problem is to disconnect the reserve battery negative wire, which is not really the answer I am looking for. I thought of adding a separate switch for the negative wire on my reserve bank but I'm not sure If that's my best solution either. I even tried running an extra negative ground cable directly between the two battery banks to see if that would balance or equalize the two banks more directly and prevent my problem. It actually did help but I still get the anomaly about 75% of the time. Its actually a relief to hear that I'm not the only one with the funny quirk in my system.

 

[Tom Metzger]

Shelmen - Physically remove the positive lead from the charger to the reserve battery and try it. The charger is the only tie between banks if the batteries are connected the way you think they are.

The problem is not the ground leads. Removing the ground lead opens the circuit and isolates the problem, it's a clue, not a cause.

 

[Rick R.]

Habits like smoking, speeding and

always starting your engine on the "starter battery" are hard to break. Today, at the request of the recent NY escapee from the Sunshine State, i started my engine on the house bank and you know what? It started!

I know that when I have a new starting battery, none of my electronics beep or cycle when I hit the start button.

Whenever you start your car, the stereo goes out momentarily as well so maybe this is not a real problem.

 

[Shelman]

Thanks Tom I'll try that!

 

[Shelman]

Shelmen - Physically remove the positive lead from the charger to the reserve battery and try it. The charger is the only tie between banks if the batteries are connected the way you think they are.

The problem is not the ground leads. Removing the ground lead opens the circuit and isolates the problem, it's a clue, not a cause.

Tom you were right!
Disconnecting the battery charger positive lead from my spare battery stopped the power interruptions that were interfering with my chart plotter. I think I will install a simple switch so I can still keep the spare battery charged up when needed but I won't have to worry about the power interruptions.
Thank you.