battery problem

Mike Jr and I spent a nice weekend at Catalina thinking about Roger, who should have been with us. We had a battery problem that I would like to ask the group for ideas on. I put one of those "smart chargers" in the boat when I rewired it. We have three batteries, two in parallel for "house" and one for starting. When we started the engine Friday, I was a bit concerned that the #1 battery seemed low. When we were at Catalina, I discovered that all three batteries were dry. I've never seen this before. I hadn't checked the water in a long time because I've not seen a modern battery go dry. I'm wondering if that smart charger has been cooking them. I'm going to have to replace them all. I'm also thinking I had better replace the charger, too. The batteries were new from the PO and looked in good shape. This is the third season and we had no trouble at all last summer. Suggestions ? Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96

Very unusual for the batteries to go dry I agree. I've had several varieties of smart chargers over the years and never had a problem with them. There are probably others more knowledgeable on this list, but it sounds like a "not smart" charger. These things are supposed to monitor battery voltage and temperature and adjust the charge rate accordingly, but if that circuitry is faulty then the whole concept goes out the window. If you have some kind of amp hour meter you could monitor the charge rate and see if it drops once the batteries are about 80-90% charged. Older chargers didn't monitor anything and frequently did cook batteries. On some of these chargers there are settings for different types of batteries, but even if that were wrong, cooking the batteries dry is pretty extreme. What variety of charger was this? Bob Andrew CAL 39 Nereid On 6/9/08, Michael Kennedy <mt… [at] cox.net> wrote: > > Mike Jr and I spent a nice weekend at Catalina thinking about Roger, > who should have been with us. We had a battery problem that I would > like to ask the group for ideas on. I put one of those "smart > chargers" in the boat when I rewired it. We have three batteries, two > in parallel for "house" and one for starting. When we started the > engine Friday, I was a bit concerned that the #1 battery seemed low. > When we were at Catalina, I discovered that all three batteries were > dry. I've never seen this before. I hadn't checked the water in a long > time because I've not seen a modern battery go dry. > > I'm wondering if that smart charger has been cooking them. I'm going > to have to replace them all. I'm also thinking I had better replace > the charger, too. The batteries were new from the PO and looked in > good shape. This is the third season and we had no trouble at all last > summer. > > Suggestions ? > > Mike Kennedy > Conquest Cal 40 # 96 > >

I have had this issue on Freewind. Smart Chargers, depending on the brand will boil out batteries. The best one I've tried to date, is the 70amp Xantrex Inverter with a Link 2000 panel, which is superior. This is on the Cal 40. I do not have room for this on the Cal 9.2 so have selected: PROTECH 4 1220 20 AMP CHARGER I have also had extremely poor luck with Rolls batteries, which are supposed to be the best. They had a quality issue, with the shop foreman or welder craftsman being a crack head. there was a run of batteries, that I had three sets of, where a bad weld caused the batteries to fail with months of installation. The poor charger tried to keep up with the line loss, and eventually fried all battery sets. To Rolls credit, the batteries have been replaced free of charge, I am on my 4th set. The Guest Smart Chargers and maybe all small smart chargers; will destroy batteries if they are undersized: To Guests credit, they sent me "free of charge" the larger unit, which I sold on EBAY to get the PROTECH 4. From: Lessley, Timm/IDC/PDX [mailto:Ti… [at] idc-ch2m.com <mailto:Ti… [at] idc-ch2m.com> ] Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 3:35 PM To: Te… [at] guestco.com <mailto:Te… [at] guestco.com> Subject: Contact Us Form Submission The unit I have is the Guest 2608, the single battery bank 6amp waterproof charger with hardwire connections. The boat had no DC draw (except the milliamps of the battery Meter) during the "boil-out". The boat was unused, at the dock, of my house. I was in Taiwan on Business and am the only user. The Battery Charger was installed New in April 2004. The charger failed in October or November of 2004. I discovered the event, upon my return from Taiwan late November. Timm Hi Timm, I have been going over your situation with the charger with my supervisor. Now that I have all of your information regarding your application and the charger, I have the following conclusion: The 2608 charger is rated for a maximum battery size of 150 amp hours for charging and 300 amp hours for maintenance only. Your combined battery bank of 395 amp hours far exceeds this maximum rating. The self discharge rate of the four batteries alone would probably result in enough current draw to keep the charger in absorption, which is a higher voltage output. If left in this state for prolonged periods of time without monitoring or maintaining the batteries, this combination could result in overcharging. You stated "Looking at the West Marine Website, under Reviews, I have now discovered this Is a "common" problem with these units." The chargers mentioned on the West Advisor are 2611 chargers, not the 2608 which you currently have. Guest sells approximately 15,000 2611 chargers a year. Reports of 4 failures to the Advisor over a 2 year timeframe is not surprising or alarming. I would recommend that you upgrade your charger from a model 2608 to a model 2633 The 2633 is a 2 bank charger which would provide 20 amps to your house bank and 10 amps to your start bank. If you would like to make the upgrade I will credit you for the purchase of the 2608. The cost to upgrade to the 2633 would then be $224.00 and there would be no charge for shipping. If you wish to purchase the charger or if you have any questions, you may call me at Guest toll free at 1-888-483-7865 ext 135 Monday through Friday between 8 AM and 4:30 PM EST. Regards, Sue DeLelys Technical Support Manager From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Michael Kennedy Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 7:57 AM To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Subject: [Cal_Boats] battery problem Mike Jr and I spent a nice weekend at Catalina thinking about Roger, who should have been with us. We had a battery problem that I would like to ask the group for ideas on. I put one of those "smart chargers" in the boat when I rewired it. We have three batteries, two in parallel for "house" and one for starting. When we started the engine Friday, I was a bit concerned that the #1 battery seemed low. When we were at Catalina, I discovered that all three batteries were dry. I've never seen this before. I hadn't checked the water in a long time because I've not seen a modern battery go dry. I'm wondering if that smart charger has been cooking them. I'm going to have to replace them all. I'm also thinking I had better replace the charger, too. The batteries were new from the PO and looked in good shape. This is the third season and we had no trouble at all last summer. Suggestions ? Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96

The Cal 39 I just bought has 2- 6 volt batteries I assume?for the house and 2 -12 volt (I assume again) starting batteries.? I have no idea how long they've been on the boat but is there a way to tell if you have the bad batch?before frying them? I am just getting into "big boat" systems and am frustratingly ignorant of charging systems, batteries etc.? Are you saying your inverter and Link 2000 panel are used to charge your batteries or am I missing something? Thanks - Paul From: ti… [at] ch2m.com To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 10:24 am Subject: RE: [Cal_Boats] battery problem I have had this issue on Freewind. Smart Chargers, depending on the brand will boil out batteries. ? The best one I've tried to date, is the 70amp Xantrex Inverter with a?Link 2000 panel,?which is superior. This is on the Cal 40. ? I do not have room for this on the Cal 9.2 so have selected: ? PROTECH 4 1220 20 AMP CHARGER ? I have also had extremely poor luck with Rolls batteries, which are supposed to be the best. They had a quality issue, with the shop foreman or welder craftsman being a crack head. there was a run of batteries, that I had?three sets of, where a bad weld caused the batteries to fail with months of installation. The poor charger tried to keep up with the line loss, and eventually fried all battery sets. To Rolls credit, the batteries have been replaced free of charge, I am on my 4th set. ? The Guest Smart Chargers and maybe all small smart chargers; will destroy batteries if they are undersized:? To Guests credit, they sent me "free of charge" the larger unit, which I sold on EBAY to get the PROTECH 4. ? From: Lessley, Timm/IDC/PDX [mailto:Ti… [at] idc-ch2m.com] Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 3:35 PM To: Te… [at] guestco.com Subject: Contact Us Form Submission The unit I have is the Guest 2608, the single battery bank 6amp waterproof charger with hardwire connections. The boat had no DC draw (except the milliamps of the battery Meter) during the "boil-out". The boat was unused, at the dock, of my house. I was in Taiwan on Business and am the only user. The Battery Charger was installed New in April 2004. The charger failed in October or November of 2004. I discovered the event, upon my return from Taiwan late November. Timm ? Hi Timm, I have been going over your situation with the charger with my supervisor. Now that I have all of your information regarding your application and the charger, I have the following conclusion: The 2608 charger is rated for a maximum battery size of 150 amp hours for charging and 300 amp hours for maintenance only. Your combined battery bank of 395 amp hours far exceeds this maximum rating. The self discharge rate of the four batteries alone would probably result in enough current draw to keep the charger in absorption, which is a higher voltage output. If left in this state for prolonged periods of time without monitoring or maintaining the batteries, this combination could result in overcharging. You stated "Looking at the West Marine Website, under Reviews, I have now discovered this Is a "common" problem with these units." The chargers mentioned on the West Advisor are 2611 chargers, not the 2608 which you currently have. Guest sells approximately 15,000 2611 chargers a year. Reports of 4 failures to the Advisor over a 2 year timeframe is not surprising or alarming. I would recommend that you upgrade your charger from a model 2608 to a model 2633 The 2633 is a 2 bank charger which would provide 20 amps to your house bank and 10 amps to your start bank. If you would like to make the upgrade I will credit you for the purchase of the 2608. The cost to upgrade to the 2633 would then be $224.00 and there would be no charge for shipping. If you wish to purchase the charger or if you have any questions, you may call me at Guest toll free at 1-888-483-7865 ext 135 Monday through Friday between 8 AM and 4:30 PM EST. Regards, Sue DeLelys Technical Support Manager ? ? From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Michael Kennedy Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 7:57 AM To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Subject: [Cal_Boats] battery problem Mike Jr and I spent a nice weekend at Catalina thinking about Roger, who should have been with us. We had a battery problem that I would like to ask the group for ideas on. I put one of those "smart chargers" in the boat when I rewired it. We have three batteries, two in parallel for "house" and one for starting. When we started the engine Friday, I was a bit concerned that the #1 battery seemed low. When we were at Catalina, I discovered that all three batteries were dry. I've never seen this before. I hadn't checked the water in a long time because I've not seen a modern battery go dry. I'm wondering if that smart charger has been cooking them. I'm going to have to replace them all. I'm also thinking I had better replace the charger, too. The batteries were new from the PO and looked in good shape. This is the third season and we had no trouble at all last summer. Suggestions ? Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96

If you have Rolls batteries, then call their office or a local distributor to see if you have the bad series.. if everything fails, then call my electrician at southwest Marine, in Oregon. The Xantrex 12 or 1500 amp Inverter has a built in 70 amp charger, that keeps batteries up to snuff, while plugged into shore power. Off the engine we have a Balmar 110 amphour tied into a Max 12 regulator into a westmarine combiner. Cheers Timm From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of pw… [at] aol.com Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 8:37 AM To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] battery problem The Cal 39 I just bought has 2- 6 volt batteries I assume for the house and 2 -12 volt (I assume again) starting batteries. I have no idea how long they've been on the boat but is there a way to tell if you have the bad batch before frying them? I am just getting into "big boat" systems and am frustratingly ignorant of charging systems, batteries etc. Are you saying your inverter and Link 2000 panel are used to charge your batteries or am I missing something? Thanks - Paul From: ti… [at] ch2m.com To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 10:24 am Subject: RE: [Cal_Boats] battery problem I have had this issue on Freewind. Smart Chargers, depending on the brand will boil out batteries. The best one I've tried to date, is the 70amp Xantrex Inverter with a Link 2000 panel, which is superior. This is on the Cal 40. I do not have room for this on the Cal 9.2 so have selected: PROTECH 4 1220 20 AMP CHARGER I have also had extremely poor luck with Rolls batteries, which are supposed to be the best. They had a quality issue, with the shop foreman or welder craftsman being a crack head. there was a run of batteries, that I had three sets of, where a bad weld caused the batteries to fail with months of installation. The poor charger tried to keep up with the line loss, and eventually fried all battery sets. To Rolls credit, the batteries have been replaced free of charge, I am on my 4th set. The Guest Smart Chargers and maybe all small smart chargers; will destroy batteries if they are undersized: To Guests credit, they sent me "free of charge" the larger unit, which I sold on EBAY to get the PROTECH 4. From: Lessley, Timm/IDC/PDX [mailto:Ti… [at] idc-ch2m.com <mailto:Ti… [at] idc-ch2m.com> ] Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 3:35 PM To: Te… [at] guestco.com <mailto:Te… [at] guestco.com> Subject: Contact Us Form Submission The unit I have is the Guest 2608, the single battery bank 6amp waterproof charger with hardwire connections. The boat had no DC draw (except the milliamps of the battery Meter) during the "boil-out". The boat was unused, at the dock, of my house. I was in Taiwan on Business and am the only user. The Battery Charger was installed New in April 2004. The charger failed in October or November of 2004. I discovered the event, upon my return from Taiwan late November. Timm Hi Timm, I have been going over your situation with the charger with my supervisor. Now that I have all of your information regarding your application and the charger, I have the following conclusion: The 2608 charger is rated for a maximum battery size of 150 amp hours for charging and 300 amp hours for maintenance only. Your combined battery bank of 395 amp hours far exceeds this maximum rating. The self discharge rate of the four batteries alone would probably result in enough current draw to keep the charger in absorption, which is a higher voltage output. If left in this state for prolonged periods of time without monitoring or maintaining the batteries, this combination could result in overcharging. You stated "Looking at the West Marine Website, under Reviews, I have now discovered this Is a "common" problem with these units." The chargers mentioned on the West Advisor are 2611 chargers, not the 2608 which you currently have. Guest sells approximately 15,000 2611 chargers a year. Reports of 4 failures to the Advisor over a 2 year timeframe is not surprising or alarming. I would recommend that you upgrade your charger from a model 2608 to a model 2633 The 2633 is a 2 bank charger which would provide 20 amps to your house bank and 10 amps to your start bank. If you would like to make the upgrade I will credit you for the purchase of the 2608. The cost to upgrade to the 2633 would then be $224.00 and there would be no charge for shipping. If you wish to purchase the charger or if you have any questions, you may call me at Guest toll free at 1-888-483-7865 ext 135 Monday through Friday between 8 AM and 4:30 PM EST. Regards, Sue DeLelys Technical Support Manager From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Cal_ <mailto:Cal_?> Bo… [at] yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Michael Kennedy Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 7:57 AM To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Subject: [Cal_Boats] battery problem Mike Jr and I spent a nice weekend at Catalina thinking about Roger, who should have been with us. We had a battery problem that I would like to ask the group for ideas on. I put one of those "smart chargers" in the boat when I rewired it. We have three batteries, two in parallel for "house" and one for starting. When we started the engine Friday, I was a bit concerned that the #1 battery seemed low. When we were at Catalina, I discovered that all three batteries were dry. I've never seen this before. I hadn't checked the water in a long time because I've not seen a modern battery go dry. I'm wondering if that smart charger has been cooking them. I'm going to have to replace them all. I'm also thinking I had better replace the charger, too. The batteries were new from the PO and looked in good shape. This is the third season and we had no trouble at all last summer. Suggestions ? Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96 Stay informed, get connected and more with AOL on your phone <http://mobile.aol.com/productOverview.jsp?productOverview=aol-mobile-ov erview&?&ncid=aolmbd00030000000139> .

On Jun 9, 2008, at 7:24 AM, <ti… [at] ch2m.com> wrote: > > I have had this issue on Freewind. Smart Chargers, depending on the > brand will boil out batteries. > > The best one I've tried to date, is the 70amp Xantrex Inverter with > a Link 2000 panel, which is superior. This is on the Cal 40. I'm using the smart charger only on shore power. I think Practical Sailor had an article on the smart chargers recently and I'm going to look. This one is Guest from West Marine and I'm going to ask them although most of the people there don't know much. > > I do not have room for this on the Cal 9.2 so have selected: > > PROTECH 4 1220 20 AMP CHARGER Is this run by shore power ? > > I have also had extremely poor luck with Rolls batteries, which are > supposed to be the best. They had a quality issue, with the shop > foreman or welder craftsman being a crack head. there was a run of > batteries, that I had three sets of, where a bad weld caused the > batteries to fail with months of installation. The poor charger > tried to keep up with the line loss, and eventually fried all > battery sets. To Rolls credit, the batteries have been replaced free > of charge, I am on my 4th set. > > The Guest Smart Chargers and maybe all small smart chargers; will > destroy batteries if they are undersized: To Guests credit, they > sent me "free of charge" the larger unit, which I sold on EBAY to > get the PROTECH 4. Interesting. That has to be the culprit. We had another adventure coming home. We had turned into the last channel at Cabrillo and were slowing down for the slip. Mike was driving and I was on the bow ready to jump on the dock. He suddenly called to me that he could not get it into reverse. I ran back and couldn't either. The linkage was gone, disconnected or broken cable. We were headed down the channel at about 4 knots with an idiot woman screaming "Slow Down !" The sea wall was about 8 boat lengths in front of us. This is the point that the kid says "What happened next ?" and the grandpa says "I was killed, you idiot !" Anyway we survived. Mike skimmed the sterns along our starboard side and did a tight turn in a channel that is only about five feet wider than the boat is long. We broke off our flag staff from the stern turning. We did get slowed down because we were into the wind which was pretty strong just then. It was one reason we were going so fast the other way. One scratch on the hull seems to be the damage. We had no warning of the shift problem until we were 200 feet from the slip and going too fast. It will be a busy weekend coming up. The shift linkage is inside the engine box and not very accessible in a hurry. The throttle cable broke once and I wonder if this is what happened. Only shifting cable this time. Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96 > > -----Original Message----- > From: Lessley, Timm/IDC/PDX [mailto:Ti… [at] idc-ch2m.com] > Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 3:35 PM > To: Te… [at] guestco.com > Subject: Contact Us Form Submission > > > The unit I have is the Guest 2608, the single battery bank > 6amp waterproof charger with hardwire connections. > > The boat had no DC draw (except the milliamps of the battery > Meter) during the "boil-out". The boat was unused, at the dock, > of my house. I was in Taiwan on Business and am the only user. > > The Battery Charger was installed New in April 2004. > > The charger failed in October or November of 2004. > I discovered the event, upon my return from Taiwan > late November. > > Timm > > Hi Timm, > > I have been going over your situation with the charger with my > supervisor. > Now that I have all of your information regarding your application > and the > charger, I have the following conclusion: > > The 2608 charger is rated for a maximum battery size of 150 amp > hours for > charging and 300 amp hours for maintenance only. Your combined > battery bank > of 395 amp hours far exceeds this maximum rating. > > The self discharge rate of the four batteries alone would probably > result in > enough current draw to keep the charger in absorption, which is a > higher > voltage output. If left in this state for prolonged periods of time > without > monitoring or maintaining the batteries, this combination could > result in > overcharging. > > You stated "Looking at the West Marine Website, under Reviews, I > have now > discovered > this Is a "common" problem with these units." The chargers mentioned > on the > West Advisor are 2611 chargers, not the 2608 which you currently > have. Guest > sells approximately 15,000 2611 chargers a year. Reports of 4 > failures to > the Advisor over a 2 year timeframe is not surprising or alarming. > > I would recommend that you upgrade your charger from a model 2608 to a > model 2633 The 2633 is a 2 bank charger which would provide 20 amps > to your > house bank and 10 amps to your start bank. If you would like to make > the > upgrade I will credit you for the purchase of the 2608. The cost to > upgrade > to the 2633 would then be $224.00 and there would be no charge for > shipping. > > If you wish to purchase the charger or if you have any questions, > you may > call me at Guest toll free at 1-888-483-7865 ext 135 Monday through > Friday > between 8 AM and 4:30 PM EST. > > Regards, > > Sue DeLelys > Technical Support Manager > > > > From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com] > On Behalf Of Michael Kennedy > Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 7:57 AM > To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com > Subject: [Cal_Boats] battery problem > > Mike Jr and I spent a nice weekend at Catalina thinking about Roger, > who should have been with us. We had a battery problem that I would > like to ask the group for ideas on. I put one of those "smart > chargers" in the boat when I rewired it. We have three batteries, two > in parallel for "house" and one for starting. When we started the > engine Friday, I was a bit concerned that the #1 battery seemed low. > When we were at Catalina, I discovered that all three batteries were > dry. I've never seen this before. I hadn't checked the water in a long > time because I've not seen a modern battery go dry. > > I'm wondering if that smart charger has been cooking them. I'm going > to have to replace them all. I'm also thinking I had better replace > the charger, too. The batteries were new from the PO and looked in > good shape. This is the third season and we had no trouble at all last > summer. > > Suggestions ? > > Mike Kennedy > Conquest Cal 40 # 96 > > >

I just had the engine surveyed on my Cal 39 and the kill cable had frozen.? The surveyor taught me a trick worth repeating.? He told me that when I replace the cable to take it apart before I install it and coat it with "Never Seize".? He said that will make it last 10 years and run freely as opposed to the normal 2-3 years. Paul From: Michael Kennedy <mt… [at] cox.net> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 11:08 am Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] battery problem On Jun 9, 2008, at 7:24 AM, <ti… [at] ch2m.com> wrote: > > I have had this issue on Freewind. Smart Chargers, depending on the > brand will boil out batteries. > > The best one I've tried to date, is the 70amp Xantrex Inverter with > a Link 2000 panel, which is superior. This is on the Cal 40. I'm using the smart charger only on shore power. I think Practical Sailor had an article on the smart chargers recently and I'm going to look. This one is Guest from West Marine and I'm going to ask them although most of the people there don't know much. > > I do not have room for this on the Cal 9.2 so have selected: > > PROTECH 4 1220 20 AMP CHARGER Is this run by shore power ? > > I have also had extremely poor luck with Rolls batteries, which are > supposed to be the best. They had a quality issue, with the shop > foreman or welder craftsman being a crack head. there was a run of > batteries, that I had three sets of, where a bad weld caused the > batteries to fail with months of installation. The poor charger > tried to keep up with the line loss, and eventually fried all > battery sets. To Rolls credit, the batteries have been replaced free > of charge, I am on my 4th set. > > The Guest Smart Chargers and maybe all small smart chargers; will > destroy batteries if they are undersized: To Guests credit, they > sent me "free of charge" the larger unit, which I sold on EBAY to > get the PROTECH 4. Interesting. That has to be the culprit. We had another adventure coming home. We had turned into the last channel at Cabrillo and were slowing down for the slip. Mike was driving and I was on the bow ready to jump on the dock. He suddenly called to me that he could not get it into reverse. I ran back and couldn't either. The linkage was gone, disconnected or broken cable. We were headed down the channel at about 4 knots with an idiot woman screaming "Slow Down !" The sea wall was about 8 boat lengths in front of us. This is the point that the kid says "What happened next ?" and the grandpa says "I was killed, you idiot !" Anyway we survived. Mike skimmed the sterns along our starboard side and did a tight turn in a channel that is only about five feet wider than the boat is long. We broke off our flag staff from the stern turning. We did get slowed down because we were into the wind which was pretty strong just then. It was one reason we were going so fast the other way. One scratch on the hull seems to be the damage. We had no warning of the shift problem until we were 200 feet from the slip and going too fast. It will be a busy weekend coming up. The shift linkage is inside the engine box and not very accessible in a hurry. The throttle cable broke once and I wonder if this is what happened. Only shifting cable this time. Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96 > > -----Original Message----- > From: Lessley, Timm/IDC/PDX [mailto:Ti… [at] idc-ch2m.com] > Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 3:35 PM > To: Te… [at] guestco.com > Subject: Contact Us Form Submission > > > The unit I have is the Guest 2608, the single battery bank > 6amp waterproof charger with hardwire connections. > > The boat had no DC draw (except the milliamps of the battery > Meter) during the "boil-out". The boat was unused, at the dock, > of my house. I was in Taiwan on Business and am the only user. > > The Battery Charger was installed New in April 2004. > > The charger failed in October or November of 2004. > I discovered the event, upon my return from Taiwan > late November. > > Timm > > Hi Timm, > > I have been going over your situation with the charger with my > supervisor. > Now that I have all of your information regarding your application > and the > charger, I have the following conclusion: > > The 2608 charger is rated for a maximum battery size of 150 amp > hours for > charging and 300 amp hours for maintenance only. Your combined > battery bank > of 395 amp hours far exceeds this maximum rating. > > The self discharge rate of the four batteries alone would probably > result in > enough current draw to keep the charger in absorption, which is a > higher > voltage output. If left in this state for prolonged periods of time > without > monitoring or maintaining the batteries, this combination could > result in > overcharging. > > You stated "Looking at the West Marine Website, under Reviews, I > have now > discovered > this Is a "common" problem with these units." The chargers mentioned > on the > West Advisor are 2611 chargers, not the 2608 which you currently > have. Guest > sells approximately 15,000 2611 chargers a year. Reports of 4 > failures to > the Advisor over a 2 year timeframe is not surprising or alarming. > > I would recommend that you upgrade your charger from a model 2608 to a > model 2633 The 2633 is a 2 bank charger which would provide 20 amps > to your > house bank and 10 amps to your start bank. If you would like to make > the > upgrade I will credit you for the purchase of the 2608. The cost to > upgrade > to the 2633 would then be $224.00 and there would be no charge for > shipping. > > If you wish to purchase the charger or if you have any questions, > you may > call me at Guest toll free at 1-888-483-7865 ext 135 Monday through > Friday > between 8 AM and 4:30 PM EST. > > Regards, > > Sue DeLelys > Technical Support Manager > > > > From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com] > On Behalf Of Michael Kennedy > Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 7:57 AM > To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com > Subject: [Cal_Boats] battery problem > > Mike Jr and I spent a nice weekend at Catalina thinking about Roger, > who should have been with us. We had a battery problem that I would > like to ask the group for ideas on. I put one of those "smart > chargers" in the boat when I rewired it. We have three batteries, two > in parallel for "house" and one for starting. When we started the > engine Friday, I was a bit concerned that the #1 battery seemed low. > When we were at Catalina, I discovered that all three batteries were > dry. I've never seen this before. I hadn't checked the water in a long > time because I've not seen a modern battery go dry. > > I'm wondering if that smart charger has been cooking them. I'm going > to have to replace them all. I'm also thinking I had better replace > the charger, too. The batteries were new from the PO and looked in > good shape. This is the third season and we had no trouble at all last > summer. > > Suggestions ? > > Mike Kennedy > Conquest Cal 40 # 96 > > > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links

Don't ya just love it? :-0 Michael Kennedy wrote: > We were headed down the channel at about 4 knots with an idiot woman > screaming "Slow Down !" > -- Marsh Wise Webmaster: -reenactor.Net: <http://www.reenactor.net/> Read my Blog (bore yourself): <http://www.reenactor.net/rnet_admin/marsh/marshblog.html> -Foresthill.US: <http://www.foresthill.us/> -1./Infanterie-Regiment 23 <http://www.ir23.org> -Legio IX Hispana Penna: http://www.reenactor.net/units/legio_ix_penna/ - 17. Luftwaffe Feld-Division <http://www.reenactor.net/units/17lwfd/> Assistant Webmaster: -VAQ-33 Squadron site: <http://www.reenactor.net/vaq-33/> Netscape Aim/AOL screen name: Sturmkatze Yahoo Messenger screen name: sturmkatze Alteris renumera duplum de quoquo tibi numeraverunt Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress.... But then I repeat myself. ~Mark Twain *Last: Hey Dammit! Have you visited the reenactor.Net FORvMS? If not, WHY NOT? Gett your butt over to: <http://www.reenactor.net/forums/index.php> right now!

Michael Kennedy wrote: > He suddenly > called to me that he could not get it into reverse. I ran back and > couldn't either. The linkage was gone, disconnected or broken cable. > > We had > no warning of the shift problem until we were 200 feet from the slip > and going too fast. > > You're lucky. The weakest link between my transmission and my brain falls somewhere between the brain and my hand. Last summer I had slightly misjudged my speed in reverse, so I shifted from neutral to forward to slow me down. That didn't have much effect so I goosed it. Unfortunately, it was in reverse, which is why it had no useful effect. Now I was proceeding with considerable velocity toward the boats behind me. The picture was not pretty. And the boats behind are all power boats, naturally, and those that weren't targets of my stern are all snickering. My only defense was that this was outboard power with one of those combined throttle/shift arms, and remembering which way to twist it while looking ahead can be a challenge. Or so I will contend until I think of another excuse. It's one reason to prefer sailing to motoring. Chris Campbell