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Post by westboating on Apr 5, 2020 4:10:34 GMT
Ok folks, I've checked the thruster battery in I think every possible state, boat on shore power with battery charger on, engines running, thruster on, thruster off, etc and non of them resulted in a change in voltage which is 11.34 volts. I didn't have time to chase wires today, but no matter where they go, nothing is providing power. My expectation is the battery should be getting charged from the battery charger or indirectly off the engines or maybe house battery.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks
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Post by rene460 on Apr 5, 2020 12:29:52 GMT
Hi Westboating, clearly there has to be a method of charging the battery even if it is only in long term storage, so there is a problem.
My personal feeling is that 11.3 is too low and needs a temporary charger hooked up while you are thinking about a better solution.
I don’t know how you are affected by movement restrictions in the current environment, but it would be a good idea to do something if allowable.
For the longer term, you need a solution that has the battery fully charged, or nearly so, when you need to use it. How you do this depends much on your usage, in particular when you need to use the thruster.
When you are on shore power, some chargers have provision to to charge separate battery banks, so this could handle properly charging the thruster battery being a bit different voltage from the other battery. However, shore power won’t be much help if you spend time at anchor, or like us, not allowed to leave shore power connected.
If you want to charge it from your house battery, you need a dc-dc converter to give a higher voltage (around 15 V) so you can fully charge the thruster from another battery which will soon be too low a voltage to fully charge the thruster battery. It is also required to make provision for the voltage drop in the wire from the source, particularly if it is at the other end of the boat. This is the same system as used on RV vehicles, to charge a battery at the back of the car or at the end of a long wire in the trailer, like your thruster battery to the main battery. Then, the system should be fine so long as your system has sufficient charging capacity to charge all batteries along with supplying and other loads. For me as a sailor, that means enough solar for the time I am off shore power. For you as a power boater, your alternator may be able to do the job, depending on just how you use your boat. I am not an expert on alternators, but I expect that it will do much better dealing with just one battery, and use a dc-dc converter properly connected up to charge the thruster battery which will appear just like any other load, such as lights or your fridge.
Whether you do it yourself or have a marine electrician do it will depend on your skills and confidence, but I hope that gives you a few ideas to think about so you can ask the right questions.
rene460
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Post by CruisingCascadia on Apr 5, 2020 18:14:24 GMT
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Post by westboating on Apr 6, 2020 3:23:36 GMT
Where's that little guy hiding on my boat?
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Post by CruisingCascadia on Apr 6, 2020 5:15:38 GMT
If you lift up the forward end of the master bed there is a hatch there. Once the hatch is open to the aft wall of the compartment if a wooden cover that pops off (you have to pull pretty hard). Your acr should be behind that cover along with some relays. On our boat the yellow ground wire was connected to the remote led connection. The yellow ground wire should have been connected to the ground. Easy fix if that is your problem too.
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Post by CruisingCascadia on Apr 6, 2020 5:19:35 GMT
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Post by fritz on Apr 7, 2020 1:51:36 GMT
On my 795 the ACR common (yellow wire) goes to a relay that is controlled by the bow thruster. Maybe it's wired the same?
When the bow truster is energized the circuit is closed and the ACR passes current/green light is on. I believe this is a mistake and it should always be connected to the common. The current configuration prevents the battery from being charged by the alternator or the battery charger.
The alternator charges the engine battery, then to an ACR that charges the house battery and then an ACR to the bow thruster battery.
The battery charger is connected to only the engine and house batteries. It has the capacity to be connected to the bow thruster as well but is not.
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Post by westboating on May 6, 2020 4:09:34 GMT
So back from the dealer and it was an installation error. The charging relay lacked a ground wire and as such she never charged a bit. Fortunately the 895 with a pair o 200's can dance quite well with no help from the hole in the bow. Sundance and Jared were great despite all the fear, anxiety, and discontent surrounding the current pandemonium.
Good luck folks
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Post by robert1 on Sept 16, 2020 12:18:45 GMT
WFCO WF-9855 appears to be working well after the install. The install itself is very simple and straight forward. This product is completely RF quiet, which was important to us since I operate sensitive radios for long-distance communication in the RV. This is the second WFCO product we have used. The previous one started giving signs of failure after about 5 years on the job operating on a daily basis 24/7. The first one was still working but started making a loud hissing noise. That was a sign that it was time to put it out to pasture and avoid a complete failure at the least opportune time. If this one lasts another 5 years, I'll feel like I got my money's worth...again.
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Post by sandbarbum on Oct 12, 2020 4:25:01 GMT
Ok folks, I've checked the thruster battery in I think every possible state, boat on shore power with battery charger on, engines running, thruster on, thruster off, etc and non of them resulted in a change in voltage which is 11.34 volts. I didn't have time to chase wires today, but no matter where they go, nothing is providing power. My expectation is the battery should be getting charged from the battery charger or indirectly off the engines or maybe house battery.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks
Hey...I just got my nc895 yesterday. Brand new....I brought it home and the bow thruster wasn’t working. When I turn it in and push the knob I hear a clicking but that’s it. I though maybe the battery wasn’t charged despite this being a brand new boat...so I left the shore power on overnight to charge the battery, but no improvement. Still just a click. Is this similar to the problem you had? Wondering if there’s a quick fix or something I need to haul back to the dealer for. Thanks!
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Post by Syrah on Oct 12, 2020 8:09:14 GMT
I believe our thruster battery charges only from the alternator.
It is connected via the battery isolator. (We had problems with our diode isolator and replaced it with a Victron FET isolator).
I’d look at your isolator as a first step. It should have an input connector from the alternator and three other connections: house, starter and auxiliary (which is for the thruster)
When the alternator is outputting current all three battery banks should be charging. When the input current stops, all three battery banks should be isolated.
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odetta
Junior Member
Posts: 14
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Post by odetta on Oct 12, 2020 14:09:55 GMT
My 795 had the same issue and I found that a black cable to the battery had been missed as it was "doubled-up" in the tubing that other wiring comes out of near the thruster battery and associated devices (tucked in this way probably to keep it from banging around during shipping). I charged up the battery with a portable charger, then attached the black "minus" cable to the battery. Now the thruster battery keeps its charge, both with alternator and with shore power. I also connected a cheap digital voltmeter to this battery so that I could easily confirm charging status.
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Post by sandbarbum on Oct 13, 2020 1:56:41 GMT
Wow, thanks for the quick reply! Love the family I joined! I’ll try this out tomorrow and report back. Thanks!
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Post by sandbarbum on Oct 16, 2020 18:23:35 GMT
My 795 had the same issue and I found that a black cable to the battery had been missed as it was "doubled-up" in the tubing that other wiring comes out of near the thruster battery and associated devices (tucked in this way probably to keep it from banging around during shipping). I charged up the battery with a portable charger, then attached the black "minus" cable to the battery. Now the thruster battery keeps its charge, both with alternator and with shore power. I also connected a cheap digital voltmeter to this battery so that I could easily confirm charging status. Unfortunately neither of these worked. The Pensacola dealership is working on it but they seemed stumped too. The battery charger showed the battery was fully charged. I left it on overnight charging anyway, but still nothing. I guess the battery isn’t the issue. For some reason, the motor just doesn’t turn on. I guess I’m stuck driving it into the dealer.
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Post by Capt’n Ron on Oct 16, 2020 20:54:42 GMT
Hi Sanbarbum, I’d put a voltage meter on the battery. Check it when it’s charging and you should see above 13v, and check it when it’s not charging. If it’s been on the charge overnight and it’s not above 12.2v then I’d bet your battery is bad. I know it’s a new boat, but a bad battery could have been installed.
Voltage measurement: 12.7v = fully charged 12.2v = 50% charged 11.9v = discharged battery
Good luck!
Ron
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Post by nc on Oct 17, 2020 1:05:29 GMT
It seems that that 895WE has a different set up for the Bowthruster compare to 895sport who use Dolphin 12V50a, bowthruster battery is wired when others batteries are over 13V.
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Post by fritz on Oct 20, 2020 15:31:21 GMT
Final 2020 NC 795 configuration (work done by Dave at Sundance) 1. Added the yellow common/negative wire from the ACR to the battery.(This was missing from the factory) 2. Green LED which means it's working! 3. Gray wire was disconnected (not sure where this was originally connected).
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Post by sandbarbum on Oct 20, 2020 21:39:57 GMT
Final 2020 NC 795 configuration (work done by Dave at Sundance) 1. Added the yellow common/negative wire from the ACR to the battery.(This was missing from the factory) 2. Green LED which means it's working! 3. Gray wire was disconnected (not sure where this was originally connected). I think this may be what I need to do...I found that the isolator has a reset button on top and when I push it, the thruster works.... but i have to do this every time.
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