DS 42 12v electric problems

[johnnyboy]

I am having a problem with the 12v electrical system on my 2010 42DS. Wondering if anyone else is having a similar problem. I am having a .5 volt drop between the batteries and the control panel, and another .5 volt drop between the panel and refrig. Not sure why just yet. I need to pay someone to inspect, but the connections at the battery are all fine.

i discovered this because the refrig was shutting itself down when the batteries were only at 12.2 or 12.3 volts. at first i thought it was a battery problem, but they have tested fine with a load test and specific gravity test.

any ideas would be appreciated.

[tedp]

There may be some ideas here: jeanneau.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=2139.

I would say look at the earth link between various components of the electrical system. But I'm only guessing blind.

[rene460]

Hi johnnyboy, Two likely causes, dirty or loose connection (most likely), or too small a wire. Voltage loss will vary with load, I assume your losses quoted are with fridge running, make measurements with fridge running. Expect smaller losses with lower load, eg some cabin lighs with no fridge, or higher with everything running.
Start diagnosis with a digital volt meter (if you don't have one, buy one, they are not expensive and necessary for all electrical issues). First use a range that covers 12 volts, (say 20 V DC) red terminal on battery plus, and black terminal applied to each connection in the positive line all the way to the panel. Readings should be near zero. With luck you will find your .5 V at one location. Clean terminal contacting faces, tighten loose connections or whatever. When you find something, a more sensitive check on the smallest range usually about 2 Volts. If nothing in the positive, work back along the negative lead, black on battery negative terminal red probe to each connection on the black line back to the panel negative bar. If it is within a wire, replace the wire with large diameter, depending on your equipment you may need someone to make up a new wire for you, should not be expensive.

Hope this helps,
Rene460

[cpetku]

First, Look at Sailblue's frige troubleshooting guide and others to enable the diagnostic features of the frigo fridge.

You might also use the same Digital Volt meter to take a current measurement of the line connected to the fridge (and only the fridge). Looking at the location of the panel and the fridge I'm guessing that there is the same amount of wire in both runs. If so then I would expect the same voltage drop in each line. This seems to be borne out by each having 0.5v drop. Whats not clear is the guage of the wire in each case which could indicate higher current between the battery and the main panel.

So the final question I have is is there too much current being drawn by the fridge or other accessories. Turn off all breakers but the fridge and see if the measurement at the panel changes. Turn off the fridge, does it come up 0.5V at the panel?

[johnnyboy]

thanks guys, this is helpful

[johnnyboy]

well, turns out the the batteries have gone bad. its been only 1 1/2 seasons and the tudors are done. i got 7 years out of the batteries in the hunter i owned previously and had purchased new, so i don't think i have abused them.

[Mistroma]

I had a similar V drop yesterday on my 2009 42DS and dug out a meter. Didn't take long to find that the problem was with the main Battery switches. I'm on an extended cruise and haven't touched these for 3-4 months.

I flicked them on/off several times and the V drop went from 0.4V down to 0.1V. Seems OK now but I'll see if I can dismantle & clean the switches in near future.

I had also had the Tudor batteries fade after 3 seasons when previous boats have had 7-8 years life. As I was going to be on the boat for several months I bit the bullet and bought 4 x Trojan T-105s. They weren't that much more than 4 x 110Ah leisure type. I think ~£120 each to give 450Ah. Seems to have worked well so far.

Only drawback was having to modify the batt. box to take them. A bit of a pain but actually not as bad as I'd feared.

[Xlnt]

Having similar problem, took out the PCB from the switchboard (the one from Schreiber) took a Voltmeter and put it beside the PCB and hooked it to a 12v source. The PCB meassures 0.3V lower than my voltmeter @ 20 degrees C. Double checked with another voltmeter just to be sure. And it seems to be worse the higher the temperatur gets. Did the same meassure in the boat at 5 degree C. then I got only 0.1 Volt difference. I have now sendt my PCB to Schreiber and still waiting for a response from them.

Xlnt

[johnnyboy]

what is the 'pcb"?

[Don Reaves]

PCB is an acronym for printed circuit board.

It's a piece of epoxy board with wiring etched on its surface (and sometimes on layers inside) with components soldered to it. In this case, probably switches, lights, and relays.

[sailbleu]

I'm sure most of you guys have read the hint and tips section with regards to the Danfoss/frigoboat fridge problems.
In that article one of the experst ' Kohlmann ' states that the major prob with these fridges is the wiring. Regardless the occasional bad or loose contacts.
That convinced me to see it big and install a Jumbo supply.

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It's hard to see but the yellow circle indicates a protection tube with inside a (fused) direct supply comming from the batteries.
The wires are close to about thickness of a pencil.
I've recently installed an extra fridge ( I still owe Malcolm that article) and I toke the opportunity to upgrade the wiring.
A heavy duty relay commands the passage of the current to the compressors.
Each fridge has its own relay of course.
They take about 40 mA/relay which is negligible , and they are only active when the tempcontroller tells them to.

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Nicely tucked away in a box .

Regards

[Xlnt]

Just got my panel back from scheiber in France. They fixed it free of charge, even included the shipping cost Super service!!
Before, I had a voltage difference of 0.3Volt. Now it shows exactly the same as my volt meter

[leecondell]

The Schreiber's aren't very accurate, but I know that the fridge thermostat turns off at 11.4 volts from experience having been involved with Jeanneau's for 10 years. Bad connections are usually the issue with voltage drops. It's a good exercise to go around every connection and make sure they are secure.

[Vivacité]

xlnt, did you have any interface with a dealer and / or Jeanneau America (BGM as they're called now) when researching this problem?

Any input would be helpful...as a number of brand new boats have been having similar issues here in the Pacific Northwest, US...we are trying to collect data to assemble a "common denominator" to the issues with low/stray/irregular voltage readouts and other Electrical Panel anomalies. Thanks!

[Xlnt]

I did call the local Jeanneau dealer and talked with them about the voltage difference readout and alarm going off way too early. The dealer recomended me to buy a new panel at $750 US dollar. I took out the panel and started to investigate the PCB and found the producers name and with a bit of google I located this page www.scheiber.fr/index.php/en/services/after-sales-department.html
Sent them the panel, even without asking first, just boxed it and shipped it. A couple of weeks later I receved an e-mail telling med my panel was repaired and shipped back to me. Totally free of charge :-) I have now tested the panel and it is quite accurate.
I am located in Norway

-Xlnt

[Xantia]

Thanks Xint

Our SO42DS has shown 0.5 V low on the battery voltage meter since new. The battery alarm fires off on the anchor winch even with the engine running. I always just ignored it but getting it fixed may be a good idea. Great post.

Cheers

Ian

[Xlnt]

Yes it is very anoying listening to the alarm all the time. And if you have all 3 battery banks on at the same time you will get an alarm for each bank as well I mounted the panel back in the boat this weekend and it was quite accurate. I could see that they had soldered on some of the components on the PCB
I think the previous owner have had this problem also since the boat was new. He tried to compensate the low voltage alarm with more batteries, there is 10 of them in my boat.

-Xlnt