Battery Charger Question

I did not initially have the problem when i first changed the battery charger. Also, I never had the problem before...I got the boat in 2007 and the problem didn't show up until a few months ago. So, i disagree with people saying that we must turn off our battery chargers when running the boat, because it never happened before. I am hoping that the mariner you are buying the boat from finds the problem and fixes it? I have a guy going to check out mine tomorrow, if we happen to find the problem i will surely let you know!

ADD: yes Sydian, once i turn off the battery charger, everything works fine, no alarms, and my tach returns to normal.

I am only guessing that it is high voltage because Azimut did not install CAT displays but rather analog VDO and so i only get the battery light lighting and the alarm sounding, along with the tach going dead. So i only assume that it is a high voltage rather than low voltage. If i turn my battery charger off the problem corrects itself immediately, but again, this never happened before so i cannot see how it can be required to switch it off every time i run the boat? very confused haha.

Sorry, i haven't answered all your questions, i do not remember what the voltage was i willhave to double check tomorrow when i go down to the boat. Azimut's electrical diagram will have me at a table for quite a while, it is not the easiest to read!

Wait til you compare it to what's actually on the boat. Good luck.

Algae In the Fuel

Not good.

The primary and secondary filters stop it getting to the engines, but you have to clean the tanks to clean up the problem.

Get the tanks drained and cleaned, or treat the fuel and get all the fuel run through external filters. Its a pain, but there is no shortcut I have found.

Hi,

Given the issues you have discovered so far and the sueveyors willingness to issue a revised survey and to dismisss Algae in the fuel as being a Fuel Conditioner and Filter change away from repair I would echo the words of others here.

RUN AWAY Don't waste time walking leave your drink on the counter and run while you can.

This whole scenario reads like a shonky cover up deal to get the boat sold and the parties involved can all split the commission.

Algae in Fuel can cause a lot of damage to the whole fuel system, slug dosing with Conditioner/Boicide can and does cause as many problems as it cures in a heavily contaminated system.

There are great deals to be had currently from genuine people who have looked after thrir boats and now find they need to get out of them. Keep looking till you find a good one that has been looked after.

You could also do with changing your broker if he/she has been steering you towards this yacht and find an independent surveyor.

It sounds like when the voltage from the charger is above the alternator regulator voltage setting the alternator field excitation is removed and the system sees this as a failed alternator since there is no output.

When you turn the charger off the battery voltage drops back to within the regulated range and the regulator powers up the alternator field. The tach signal most likely comes from the alternator so it also "fails' when there is no alternator output.

Before freaking out about a dark bowl I would look at the filter element and take some fuel samples. Not all "dark" fuel is bad fuel and the surveyor has already shown himself to be a twit.

Racor bowls get dark with age and heat. Not everyone puts their bowl in the dishwasher when they change filters.

All old filter elements generally are dark, but you can't see the element from the bowl. Some people very rightly do not change filters that still work and if the filter isn't showing an unacceptable pressure drop across the element when running at full load, it doesn't need changing.

Would you consider that most likely the fault of the alternator, charger, gen, the wiring or how it's wired? I know you'd need to actually meter the whole system. Just asking about your best guess.

Well, there's a ringing endorsement.

And you don't see a conflict there with you as the odd man out?
A client of mine was just offered a great deal on a 50 Dancer. Pay just $1.00 and take over the payments. He was set to jump until I ran the comparables and saw that the guy was $100,000+ upside down on his note. Have you checked the comparables (Yachtworld, BUC) YOURSELF to see exactly how much of a "short sale" this really is. There are a lot of 38' to 46' boats on the market right now (and a 42 Azimut would not be anything close to my first choice). Their prices vary wildly and they're are all negotiating. A deal is not a deal just because someone says it is.

If you were dumb you wouldn't have checked on YF.

I would have to look at the as built schematic and the actual components installed, especially the make and model of the alternator and its regulator and the voltage settings and sensing location of the battery charger.

One thing I don't buy is that it is an alarm to remind you to turn off the charger when the generator is running. That is just downhome peculiar systems engineering. Especially since it cuts out the tachometer.

Who knows though? Maybe the tachometer going away is a visual cue for the hearing impaired operator. Do both tachs go away or just the one, will the alarm go away if the dead tach engine is secured while all this alarming stuff is occurring?

If there is algae in the fuel, bite the bullet. Use it till the fuel is low, then all fuel out of tank, dump, clean tanks and fuel lines, new filters. You can live with alot of problems on boats, dirty fuel is not one of them. It hurts, but mixing clean fuel with dirty fuel in the hope it dilutes it etc.. you probably know the outcome.

Just the port tach goes away,and it is the port engine alternator that alarms, this is on my azimut at least i don't know about sydian's. I know for a fact that my tach is powered from the alternator so no worries there. I had an electrician on the boat today and we basically went through everything.The battery charger is a Dolphin 12V 80A charger. It has LED lights indicating what it's doing, when the engines are started, it should automatically sense the alternator charging and switch to FLOAT. My charger is not doing thing, it is remaining on 'BOOST' when it should be switching to 'float'. This charger is brand new last year and i am worried that it is defective? Any thoughts on that one? Again, once i turn off the battery charger everything returns to normal.

Sydian, your mechanic is wrong. It may not be that he is trying to 'cheat' you and make money on the side, i think that he is probably just confused as to how the azimut is wired, as we all are i'm sure. When i first purchased my 46 there were NO alarms and the battery charger and alternators worked in sync. The battery charger did what it was supposed to do and switched to 'float' on starting the engines. Can you check to see if the battery charger installed in the 42 is not going to 'float' when the engines are started? If it remains on 'boost' then thats the problem. The alternator is sensing that the voltage is high and so it disabling. As a side effect, you loose tach on the engine, as it is run from the alternator. Turn off the battery charger and the alternator senses that it now needs to charge and turns back on, thus enabling the tach as a side effect once again. Hope this helps, although we both still haven't surely found the problem,i am guessing that on my 46 something is wrong with the battery charger.

Could it be that there is no sensor thereby turning it into a dumb charger?