A Quick Post Mortem on the Battery Issue

Editors Note:  This post is for my future self to remember and read the next time I arrive at a dead boat.

First, for context, our previous boat, Seas The Day (315), was set up to be on a mooring ball.  So I rarely used the plug in charger (maybe once or twice a season).  She had a small flexible solar panel that kept up with the daily battery drain and all her systems were usually kept "off" when we weren't using her.  As a result, her battery switch was usually kept in the 1+2 position so that the alternator would charge both batteries when she was under power.

Seas The Day (425) has two banks of batteries, a generator and of course shore power, so her electrical system is a lot more complex.  Here are some photos...

The battery switches are located in one of the starboard hatches.
Note the little circuit breaker between the circular switches.
(It feeds the power to the main panel.)

The main panel in the Salon.
Battery and bilge are at the left.
DC section in the center and AC section at the right.

The battery charger showing output voltage and current
(This was reading 0 and 0.)

The Problem:  

I'm guessing I had left the boat with the battery charger switched off.  (Editor's note, we have since had the dock pedestal looked at... we're pretty sure there was a bad connection in one outlet that probably caused a breaker to trip.)  The refrigerator and freezer were running, which drained the batteries.  Once the batteries drained below a safe point, the panel breaker between the circular switches tripped shutting off power to the DC distribution panel.  At that point, the batteries were below the voltage where they would be recognized by the charger.

Of special note is the fact that the charger manual DOES NOT MENTION this possibility... I probably would have returned the charger or purchased another one if not for the Facebook 42/425 group and Andy's response.

Solutions:

My solution (after some internet research) was to power cycle the charger and quickly (by pressing the up arrow within 7 seconds) put the charger in PS (power supply) mode.  This outputs power to the system (intended to power the boat without any batteries installed) but DOES NOT MONITOR BATTERY CHARGING.  I left it in that mode for 30 min to put some voltage into the system.  With the voltage up above 11 V, I switched it back to BC (battery charger) mode and resumed charging.  Note that it took overnight to reach full charge from this state.

An alternate solution would be to remove the house battery hatch and using a portable (book-style) jumper pack, jump the batteries so that the charger sees a usable voltage... then power cycle the charger and leave the jumper pack on the battery for the first hour or so.  

From the Owner Manual:

For quick and easy reference next time this happens, here are some diagrams from the owner manual that pertain to Seas The Day (425).  Note that we do not have the dedicated starting battery option, but we do have the generator.  Note that there's a difference between system drawings and schematics.

Discussion:

Some key points...

The output of the charger is independent of the battery switch position!  The output of the charger always is available to both battery banks.

Battery switch position 1 feeds the forward (single) battery bank to the distribution panel.

Battery switch position 2 feeds the house (double) battery bank to the distribution panel.

The battery switch position DOES determine which batteries are charged by the alternator while underway.  For that reason, NEVER run the engine with the main battery switch in the OFF position.

Watch for the little circuit breaker between the circular switches... if the main panel is off, this is the likely culprit.

The bow thruster and windlass are independent of ALL switches in the salon... they are only controlled via the small panel under the right edge of the forward berth.

My Thoughts on Best Practice:

Leave the battery switch in position 2 while at the dock.  If you end up with a discharge, you can switch to position 1 and still go sailing with use of bow thruster, etc.

Switch to position 1+2 while underway... that way the alternator keeps the forward battery full and ready for the bow thruster and windless.

A Weekend Lost to Electrical Troubleshooting

 Editor's note:  The following is about the experience of this past weekend.  I gathered all my technical thoughts for future reference in this subsequent post. 

First, a quick note... Vicky has safely made it back to China and is doing her time in quarantine.

I had great plans for this weekend.  I was all packed for a 3-day stay with plans to do some boat projects and try my hand at single handing again.  I finished up work and left right at the end of the day to make it there just after sunset.  And what a sunset it was... as I was driving southwest into Rock Hall, the sky just LIT with the sun illuminating what seemed like the entire sky.  I was in a great mood as I walked out on the dock.

I went below and started to switch on the lights... and nothing.  Nothing would light.  There was no voltage displayed on the electrical panel.  Just a little green LED saying that the AC power was OK (but no voltage shown).

But hey, I had recording studio technology class in college and that remains the best course I ever had since it taught me a very logical approach to troubleshooting a system.  I went out (several times, it turned out), and started at the dock pedestal... breakers on...  blue lights on the smart cables... LEDs on in the cockpit locker where the electric enters... and of course the green LED saying AC power is OK on the main panel.  But nothing would power up.  

The photo below was taken with the iPhone flash and makes it look much brighter.  I did have the LED candle going but nothing else.  

After a few trips through it all I noticed that the battery charger was on and showing 0 volts and 0 current going out to the batteries.  The breaker for the main panel was also tripped.  Clearly the batteries were dead.

I heard a voice outside and it turned out Captain Gary was on Simple Pleasures II (across the dock) and stopped by to help troubleshoot.  I was a little bummed he couldn't get it started right away. (But also kind of glad he didn't just walk in and fix it - personal pride, etc., etc.,)

I finally decided that the most prudent course of action was to just go home.  No DC power on a boat means no water pressure, no flushing of the electric toilets, and no lights.  With it only being an hour or so drive, that's what I did.

But first, in a stroke of genius (if I do say so myself)... I posted the issue to the Facebook "Catalina 42/425 Yacht Owner's group".  Then I started driving.  An hour's drive gives one time to mull things over and I realized that the zeros on the battery charger probably were key.  And sure enough, the Facebook group came through (it was actually Captain Andy who gave me the lead).  The battery charger must have reset because the batteries were too low and there wasn't a simple reset button on the charger to restart it.

Overnight, I read and researched on the Net... in the morning when it was light out, I hightailed it down to Rock Hall and switched the charger to "Power Supply" mode.  This put voltage into the batteries (and turned on all the boat systems), but it doesn't do any monitoring of the charging process.  I left it like that for 30 minutes which brought the battery voltage up a bit while not being long enough to cause any issues, then switched it back to "Battery Charger" mode.  Now it was outputting the expected voltage and current.

My new batteries are AGMs and so it took a slow approach to bringing them up to charge.  

I passed the time during the morning by filling in the screw holes for our hatch support (discovered to be very loose during our last day trip) with marine epoxy putty.

I couldn't go out as by early afternoon it was only up to 25% charge... not enough to guarantee I could start the engine.  

So I took a nap.  A few dock mates commented on their ability to hear me take a nap (I left the CPAP packed).

I turned off all the systems and returned home to let it charge overnight.

I came back down to Rock Hall on Sunday afternoon to check it.  The battery voltage was up to 13.3 V and the charger current was in the auto maintain mode.  

I left it sit like that for 20 minutes (to get a stable reading) and quickly took out the drone for an early fall color session...

That was the weekend... no going out, no overnight, but a chance to learn a lot about my electrical and  battery system.

The Thousand Dollar Nap??

No photos this weekend.

In fact, not much of anything.

Vicky is heading back to China Monday evening and this weekend was spent helping her get ready for the trip.  We did manage to get down to Seas The Day, but that was primarily to pick up some things she wanted to take back to China.  We went down, packed up a few bins of stuff (I was glad she helped with off-loading some of the liquids), and then ended up taking a nice long nap.

I don't have full costs for the season yet, but with mortgage and everything, I expect they will be significantly north of a grand per weekend of the season (more on that will come later).  

So this was a thousand-dollar nap!

Just a Quick and Simple Day-Trip

 

This weekend was another quick and simple day-trip.  Friday was my birthday and we had some friends over so after lounging around Saturday morning, we left late and arrived at Seas The Day just in time to eat lunch.  Lunch required a nap and we headed out mid-afternoon.  

Weather was cloudy with nice winds in the 12 - 15 kts. range.  

The photos pretty much tell the story... motored down to the #3 buoy and then sailed in some circles to keep us in practice with sail trim.  We arrived back a little before sunset, tied up and headed home.

Avoiding crab traps.

As close to wing-on-wing as you can get with a self-tacking jib.

There were a lot of places on the bay where the fish (and therefore birds) were very active.

I'm clearly the luckiest guy!

And... there's still some issues cropping up.  This is yet another place where fasteners are pulling out of the fiberglass.  Never Never Never buy a stock boat that's been used heavily in a showroom for a year. 

Traveling Up the Chester River to Chestertown

The second trip of our Mid-Autumn Festival vacation was to travel up the Chester River to Chestertown.  The Chester river is this large "arm" of water that sticks off the body of the Chesapeake Bay is just south of Rock Hall and Swan Creek.  We had read that it's a nice trip and since there wasn't supposed to be good wind on Sunday, we decided to use the day on a river trip.

The route is to head south from Rock Hall, then enter the mouth of the Chester River just east of Love point.  Navionics predicted a 5 hour trip, but with the current against us going upriver, we allowed for 6 hours.  (It's interesting to know that the trip between Chestertown and Rock Hall is maybe 15 minutes by car.)

Again, I'll let most of the photos tell the story... 

There was no wind and the bay was absolutely flat. It was cold, though, so after a few selfies, Vicky found a perch inside the dodger that was warmer since the engine was running.

In the southern portion of the Chester River, we encountered a number of other boats under sail.

As we progressed up the river, the banks got closer and closer so we could begin to see some sights.

And what sights!  This is Northwest Point... an impressive new compound.

Yoga or nap??

Yoga!

Vicky's photo

Chestertown Marina has recently been refurbished.

We actually broke our norm and went to the 98 Cannon restaurant.  It was right in front of our dock, it was clear that there were not many patrons (at 4:30 PM) and the breeze was blowing in off the river.

I mentioned earlier that Vicky gave me a drone for my birthday... 
I had to give it a try this evening.

After a nice nite at the marina, we headed back down on Monday.  It was simply the same trip in reverse.  We enjoyed the river scenery, though it was very cold (especially with more wind).

As Noon approached, this incredible smell started coming out of the cabin.  I looked down to find this scene of Vicky making "Souped Up Ramen" (this time enhanced with tomato egg).

After lunch, we continued down the river.

As we rounded towards Love Point and exited the river, the wind was right and Vicky wanted to sail.  

I should have said no... I was very tired and cold, but out of love, we tried.  The wind was strong and on our nose, so we had to tack close-hauled to get from the mouth of of the Chester to the entrance to Swan Creek.  We only lasted a tack or two... I was too cold to keep it up.  But it was a wild ride for 40 minutes or so.

Vicky's photo

Vicky's photo

Vicky's photo
(I swear we were heeling much more than this shows.)

After putting the sails away, we motored up past Rock Hall harbor and up to the entrance to Swan Creek.

We finished with an extremely difficult pump out (wind was blowing us off the dock) and a fun time trying to get back to our slip in 14 kts. of wind.

In the evening, we were both tired and both dinner and breakfast Tuesday morning were "things found in the food lockers" (that's a regular meal on-board).  After a lazy morning, we packed up and headed back home.