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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Battery/Solar Panel Problem?

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Captain Bill
Navigator

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USA
148 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/22/2007 : 19:25:18

About 5 or 6 weeks ago I decided to charge my battery by using the electrical charger from the Honda engine. I let my motor run at idle for about 20-25 minutes. The needle on my electrical panel had moved up from 75% to about 100%.

This week when I checked my battery strength it was down to 0%. That's like in zero percent. My battery is now charged up but I haven't installeld it on the boat and not sure how long it will last. I should say that my battery is a Marine Starting M-24, 1000 MCA, 800 CCA, 115 RC. It is four years old and is seldom used for any lighting purpose or other use. None of the electrical switches had been left on. Only one cell was a little low in fluid and it did have some slight corrosion on a plate. It seems to have charged up well.

I read here using the search function that running the engine charger with a solar panel hooked up can ruin or FRY the solar panel. Well, I have a 5 watt solar panel which I used to trickel charge the battery. That's another reason I'm surprised to find out my battery was so run down.

So, could the fried solar panel have shorted my battery or have I ruined my solar panel, or battery or both?

1989 C25 TR WK, Sail No. 5914

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 08/22/2007 : 20:27:19

I leave my solar panel hooked up all the time, including when running the outboard. Your outboard should not have any effect on your solar panel. Most solar panels have built in diodes which is like a "check valve", current runs one way. Therefore the current coming from your outboard charging will not reach your solar panel. Even if it did reach the panel, I don't think it would cause it any damage.

When your battery showed 0% did you try any electrical stuff like turning on lights or starting your motor? You did mention in your post that there was corrosion. Perhaps the corrosion prevented you from getting a good reading on the gage. I would clean the connections real good, hook the charged battery back up and use a multi-meter to see if your solar panel is charging. You can also use the multi-meter to check and see if you have a short somewhere which could have a draw on your battery.

If your solar panel is charging and you show no short, and if the battery goes dead again. It might be time to replace the 4 year old battery.

Edited by - Tom Potter on 08/22/2007 20:47:43

Bubba
Admiral

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USA
542 Posts

Response Posted - 08/22/2007 : 20:40:29

Do you have a multi-meter you can use to check the panel? Check the voltage and amperage in good sunlight. My first suspicion is the 4-year old battery.

Edited by - Bubba on 08/22/2007 20:41:04

Captain Bill
Navigator

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USA
148 Posts

Response Posted - 08/22/2007 : 22:44:01

OK, I'll get a multimeter and see what that indicates. Are they simple to use?

Thanks, Bill

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3466 Posts

Response Posted - 08/23/2007 : 05:07:15

I agree that it is unlikely anything to do with your solar panel unless wiring on it or wires elsewhere shorted out but then a fuse or circuit breaker would have blown. I have a solar controller that prevents current drain back out thru the panel at night or on cludy days. Probably with a 5 watt panel, you do not have a controller but as what was previously said, many panels have built-in diodes to prevent leak out thru the panel. Even so, the panel would not leak out that much daily and it would trickle charge during the day. Even if the panel was not working properly, depending on whether it is summer or winter, the battery is going to lose about .25-.4 amps a day and considering that drain, it is doubtful the battery would go down to 0 in 5-6 weeks of sitting around. My riding mower battery will usually have negligible effects sitting around for 3 months...but i sometimes do charge it up.

The likely offender is a drain elsewhere, battery deterioration after 4 years and/or combo with a bad cell. You probably have to check and see if you have anything draining the system and that may not be easy to determine even with a multimeter. Perhaps a cabin light is not completely off and you are getting some drain that way. It could be a bad cell......may want to bring the battery into a place that can do a check on it. Just checking it with a multimeter will not do the trick...I think they load the battery up when they check it and see how it holds it's amps.

Larry

Edited by - on

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 08/23/2007 : 07:46:09

Like Bubba said, 4 is OLD for a battery, that's probably the culprit. But even a cd/radio with presets can suck a battery dry after a few weeks. So it doesn't take to big of a drain to take it's toll after a bit of time. In the winter I have to disconnect my radio because I have a cheap solar charger that won't get the job done in weaker sunlight situations.

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 08/23/2007 : 08:35:50

... and it is a starting battery instead of a deep cycle which will shorten the life as well. You should use a deep cycle on a sailboat with an outboard, starting batteries are for inboards.

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Captain Bill
Navigator

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USA
148 Posts

Response Posted - 08/23/2007 : 09:12:52

Yesterday in West Marine's flier they have a sale on batteries. I think it was the Sea-volt brand. Has anyone had experience with their brand?

I'll have my battery checked before I return to the marina. It's beginning to sound like it is my battery nearing the end of its useful life. Like I said it did have one cell that was low on fluid and in that cell I could see the plates with come corrosion near the top.

Thanks for all your suggestions,

Bill

Edited by - on

Captain Bill
Navigator

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USA
148 Posts

Response Posted - 08/27/2007 : 16:44:40

You guys were right on. My battery seemed to take a charge but when tested it quickly dropped back to almost zero. New deep cycle battery installed Saturday. All OK.

Thanks for you suggestions,

Bill

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3466 Posts

Response Posted - 08/27/2007 : 18:51:37

Great that you found out that it likely was the battery !

Dave Robbins also mentioned a battery drain not often thought about but does happen ! Radios sometimes are not completely off either by design or something inherently wrong whereby it drains the battery but you would not know it was from the radio.

This is an example of just my experience with a portable radio but...nonetheless an example:

I bought a small GE Boom Box for $50 or less. Plays very good for my purposes and is compact enough to place in the cockpit or storing in the cabin. It uses 6 "C" Cells. I bought rechargeables for it. I found that after just a week or two of limited use, the batteries would go dead. I made sure it was off...and still this was happening. The radio does not have a clock built into it and the LCD panel was off...but something inside was draining the battery. So, I decided that when not using the radio, I would try storing it with one battery removed to ensure the circuit was open. That solved the problem !

Edited by - on

Tradewind
Admiral

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USA
531 Posts

Response Posted - 08/28/2007 : 11:33:49

Must be an epidemic, my battery also died this week. I'm looking at WM but that's probably $15 worth of gas to drive there. Anyone tried a Walmart marine deep cycle group 24?

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John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 08/28/2007 : 12:07:49

Steve,
The labels change but, with the exception of the very high priced ones, they probably are about equal since they probably all are made by a handful of manufacturers. I don't know for certainty but, I have a feeling that there are relatively few manufacturers of deep cycle batteries in the world. I'd buy the Walmart one and be happy.

Not based on science, just cynicism.

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 08/28/2007 : 12:45:56

I buy my deep cycles from Sam's Club (StowAway) and it was indeed made by Exide.

Edited by - on

Tradewind
Admiral

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USA
531 Posts

Response Posted - 08/28/2007 : 13:23:56

Thanks John and dlucier, a trip to Walmart it is!

Edited by - on

Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 09/01/2007 : 14:33:33

Speaking of buying new flooded cell batteries, just a quick reminder about something I think I mentioned here before. It's very important to battery life for the cells to be topped up with electrolyte (not water) when the battery is first put into service. Many suppliers give the dry batties' cells one quick fill, and never look back. After the plates and seperators have soaked up their fill, the final level ends up much lower than it should be. When the customer gets around to checking the level some time later, they dutifully add distilled water or something similar. The resulting diluted electrolyte can never reach the designer's intended specific gravity. Because of this, the cells can never quite reach their nominal peak voltage. As a result, a voltage regulator will never 'finish' charging the battery, and will end up cooking off electrolyte while trying.

For the past couple of years, whenever I bought boat or car batteries, I've been also buying a separate container of electrlyte from the local auto parts store. I use it to top up the (always low) cells before installing the batteries. Since starting this practice, I have almost never needed to add fluid to any of those batteries -- a big improvement from adding up to 1/2 gallon to the three boat batteries every few months.

-- Leon S.

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