[garpwacker]

The 50w (or at least the ones I have) are grounded to the housing interior and so if mounted to the boat...grounded to the boat. If you have any other conflicting ground on your boat that is 12v...you are going to WAY increase your resistance which in turn drains your system much faster. Also, when you have the batts tied up in one chain like that...all it takes is one bad cell in one battery to screw up your run time in that circuit.

Not to mention can cause a possible bad electrolysis issue which can eat up an aluminum boat.Nothing DC volt should be grounded to boat or chassis,always back to battery is what I've been told....

 

[new wave archery]

Yea everything OS grounded to the battery only no grounds on the boat that's not somthing i would do. One nick in a positive wire and bad things could happen.

 

[jsmith.ownagegar]

Your whole setup is wrong because you are running LED's instead of HPS. You guys switching to LED's is tripping me out. You have 19 total lights on your boat (thats ridiculous). 4 400w hps lights on an inverter generator has way more light output that your 19 lights and its super quiet. You have to worry about charging your batteries all the time and by the way batteries don't last all that long anyway (2 years probably if you use them a lot). Just fill the generator up with gas and go to it man.

i probably agree with your comment more than you do!! haha

 

[Istickem]

Are the jumpers to make 24v sized right?
Are you running a troller off these as well?
One bad battery or cell in the system will drag them all down.
How are you charging all these batteries?

 

[kuger]

i probably agree with your comment more than you do!! haha

....and your probably the reason folks get shot at on your home lake

 

[new wave archery]

Are the jumpers to make 24v sized right?
Are you running a troller off these as well?
One bad battery or cell in the system will drag them all down.
How are you charging all these batteries?

They are jumped with a welding ground wire its huge. No troller on the boat. They are charged by a brand new 24v alternator off the fan. I was thinking of adding a new two bank charger one on one set and one on the other to charge them equally. What yall think.

 

[jsmith.ownagegar]

....and your probably the reason folks get shot at on your home lake

dude i fish my home lake 3-5 times a week all year round, aint got shot at a single time. you really dont have a clue what your talkin about.

 

[new wave archery]

Alright let's keep it on point please. Thanks mike

 

[dedi]

Over simplified 12V comparison...................................

4 batteries @ 114 AH @ 80% draw = 365 AH available

Hourly draw = 14 27s @ 1.8 & 5 50s @ 4.23 = 46.35 AH

365 / 46.35 = 7.8 hours

Why not eliminate parallel setup & run 2 24V systems to isolate your problem?

FYI - Onboard chargers require a bank per battery

Ok I'm running the 4 battery setup on the left of the diagram. Yes ing they are 27s I belive deep cell batteries. They are all running on one set of 6 gushed wires up to Oight center. I was thinking I should get around 6-7 hrs but I'm not. Still don't know what's wrong. Mike

 

[Old Bald Guy]

I see 3 possible problems-
May or may not be deep cycle batteries
Batteries may or may not be fully charged
Unknown/unchecked actual d/c amp draw of the load

1. Make sure the batteries are deep cycle cause it does make a difference.
2. Fully charge each battery individually with a good charger.
3. Find/buy/borrow a good d/c amp clamp and check to see what your actual load is.

 

[Istickem]

They are jumped with a welding ground wire its huge. No troller on the boat. They are charged by a brand new 24v alternator off the fan. I was thinking of adding a new two bank charger one on one set and one on the other to charge them equally. What yall think.

How many amps does the alt put out? If one bad battery is in there, it will never charge fully, then the parallel battery will get sucked down effecting both series banks.
Alt might not be getting them full, especially if your using them then shut off lights and fan. You might have discharged them 100% which will shorten battery life(ability to store charge) to the point they are ruined. Could try a strong desulphating charge to try and recover the battery.

 

[new wave archery]

The alternator is a 24v 35amp. It seems to work cuz as long as the fan is running the lights are bright. But turn it off and it dosent last long. I'm taking back the batteries today and exchanging them for new ones and then doing load test on the system. Something is wrong and I'm tired of chasing problems.

 

[new wave archery]

Over simplified 12V comparison...................................

4 batteries @ 114 AH @ 80% draw = 365 AH available

Hourly draw = 14 27s @ 1.8 & 5 50s @ 4.23 = 46.35 AH

365 / 46.35 = 7.8 hours

Why not eliminate parallel setup & run 2 24V systems to isolate your problem?

FYI - Onboard chargersquire a bank per battery

So a two bank onboard charger won't charge botth sets of 12 v btatteris. One bank fotr batteries a1-a2 and one bank for batteris b1-b2

 

[Istickem]

Get the exact battery info.

 

[Gargod]

So a two bank onboard charger won't charge botth sets of 12 v btatteris. One bank fotr batteries a1-a2 and one bank for batteris b1-b2

Correct me if I'm wrong,but I'm pretty sure that 2 bank means 2 batteries.

 

[Nasty_Habits]

Correct me if I'm wrong,but I'm pretty sure that 2 bank means 2 batteries.

Yes, that is correct.


I dont get it....

4 batteries, an alternator added to the fan, all them little LED lights... thats got to cost a GOOD BIT more than most of the common lighting systems you can run off of a eu2000 generator, which will be plenty quiet, run longer, and put off just as much or more light.

to each is their own I suppose.

 

[AimLowRobin]

So a two bank onboard charger won't charge botth sets of 12 v btatteris. One bank fotr batteries a1-a2 and one bank for batteris b1-b2

Yes it will. Obviously it would take longer than if you were using a 4 bank charger.

 

[AimLowRobin]

Yea everything OS grounded to the battery only no grounds on the boat that's not somthing i would do. One nick in a positive wire and bad things could happen.

A couple ideas based on everything you have said. First...I get that you didn't ground anything to the boat. But...there could be one or more grounds that you don't know about, either by a bare wire/connection or something like your big motor being internally grounded to the boat (some/many are). I promise you if there is a boat ground, there is an issue, and running the lights 12v would eliminate that.

Second...not sure I understand "charging" with the fan. I sounds like the alt is putting enough out to run the lights, but that doesn't mean it is actually charging the batts. Are you actually ever running the fan long enough to fully charge all the batteries? For sure, if me, I'd get some kind of charger(s), either on board or portable and make sure you start each trip completely charged.

 

[AimLowRobin]

FYI - Onboard chargers require a bank per battery

Not true. A bank can be used to charge batteries in both parallel and in series if connected properly. Just takes more time. I have a 4 bank charger now that I use one bank to each of my 3 troller batts and one bank to my 2 lights batts in parallel. I actually have not had an issue with time of charge yet.

 

[fowlplay]

Second...not sure I understand "charging" with the fan. I sounds like the alt is putting enough out to run the lights, but that doesn't mean it is actually charging the batts. Are you actually ever running the fan long enough to fully charge all the batteries? For sure, if me, I'd get some kind of charger(s), either on board or portable and make sure you start each trip completely charged.

This answer gets my vote. Your alternator is powering the lights, but not keeping the batteries charged.