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Post by Amun Ra on Sept 18, 2011 18:59:02 GMT
Hello,
On my 2005 43DS I have recently flattened 2 engine start batteries in short succession.
The most obvious culprit is, I think, the burglar alarm system. Fitted by the previous owner I am trying to work out how it is wired into the system, so that I can remove it. I believe it is the only system left live when everything else is switched off.
Surely there should be nothing else drawing power off the engine start battery?
Previous owner had the boat on mains power in a marina, whereas I do not, so wonder if the move to a swinging mooring has revealed the alarm system as a big drain on the battery.
Does anyone have an English pdf of the SO43's wiring system? I have a pdf in French (was an English version ever created?!)
I guess the alarm system is proprietary and not something fitted by Jeanneau, so I'm on my own with it! That said, if someone else has a Jeanneau fitted alarm system, I would be very interested to hear of any problems/solutions.
Best wishes
Julian
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Post by MartyB on Sept 18, 2011 21:42:12 GMT
Julian,
One the alarm should not be hooked up to the engine battery's, assuming burglar alarm.......
The other, if you have the original batteries from 05, they are now 7 yrs old.......frankly, no matter what the alarm is hooked up to, about ave age for starting batteries no matter what they are in before they are fried.
Marty
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Post by Amun Ra on Sept 19, 2011 7:39:50 GMT
Thanks Marty. Completely agree about the battery being old, which is why when the first one gave up shortly after I bought the boat in June I didn't worry too much.
Having put a brand new one on, and seen that die within 3-4 weeks, I have decided that there must be something else going on!
What I need to do is make sure I don't have anything else connected to the engine start battery. There are some other wires attached to the Engine battery switch and I need to identify them before pulling them off/switching them over to the House bank.
Best wishes
Julian
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Post by MartyB on Sept 19, 2011 13:59:29 GMT
Julian,
The first one if it was the original, I would agree, the 2nd......hmmmmm...something is drawing off that battery that should not be. OR, not likely, but possibility, the new one you got was bad from the get go too.
I would do as you are, figure out where those other wires are coming from etc, then if possible, move to the house bank. If that bank goes bad, no biggie, if the starting is bad, you need the motor to get out of a bad situation, that is BAD.
marty
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Post by Amun Ra on Sept 19, 2011 19:14:42 GMT
Yup, that's my problem!
I'm just a little apprehensive of switching wires away from the engine master switch without really knowing what they do. Deciphering a French wiring diagram is proving a little tricky!!
Thanks!
Julian
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Post by davidknell on Sept 24, 2011 7:04:12 GMT
Hi Julian,
As others have said, the alarm (if that's what it is) really has no place being fitted to the engine battery.
Two questions - if you turn off the engine battery isolator, does that kill power to the alarm? If not, how about the battery earth isolator?
--Dave
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Post by Amun Ra on Sept 24, 2011 14:43:40 GMT
Hi Dave,
Went back down and checked on the wiring again yesterday. The burglar alarm is indeed wired into the supply side of the engine start switch...and to the earth side of the negative switch, so short circuits the system to be on permanently. I guess it would have remained their unnoticed on a boat in a marina, with the shore power offsetting the draw. The fuse is out and the circuit shut down now. Ran the engine, charged the battery back up and all seems fine again. Phew!
Hopefully it is a warning to others with alarms fitted to check where they are drawing their current from - hopefully the house not engine battery!
Best wishes
Julian
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Post by davidknell on Sept 24, 2011 17:29:22 GMT
Hi Julian -
Glad you found it. We have a similarly-wired Eberspacher heater in ours (beautifully done, so why not from the house batteries?) which had me scratching my head for a bit to work out why the wiring didn't correspond to that in the book.
Next in line for a talking to on my boat electrics list is whoever thought the bilge pump should be on a breaker (just when, exactly, might you want to leave it off for an extended period?) with an LED (drawing maybe 10mA, or the best part of 2AHr a week) to show that the breaker's on?
Then there's the moron that didn't put wiring in as standard to allow the anchor windlass to be controlled from the cockpit - easy to do while the boat's being built, but a massive PITA to do neatly afterwards.
--Dave
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