Battery Issues: Please help

[julianj08]

Hi All...

I recently bought a 74 Hatteras 38 doubled cabin... it had been sitting for five years in a boat yard... The truck sized batteries were dead so I replaced them with the same type... also replaced obviously bad terminals going to the batteries...
My question is:

- when I checked the "battery condition" from the panel... it read very very low... despite it being brand new batteries... my question is why does it read low? Or what could cause it to have a low discharge from "new" batteries?


Thanks

John
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[madhatter1]

Check them with a meter right at the battery terminals. Every Hatteras 12V gauge I have had reads low on a healthy battery.

[julianj08]

Interesting.. that what I thought (that it might read low...)... it does read fully charge when I checked it.. ... so, do I not trust the gauge (battery condition) on the breaker panel??!!

[Pascal]

Indeed use a meter on the battery terminals. The analog meter on the panel is old and the wiring probably has resistance.

These old analog meters aren’t precise. So glad I replaced all that with new Blue Seas multi function meters

[jim rosenthal]

The Blue Seas meters are terrific, as said above. At the least, replace the old battery meter with a digital gauge.

[julianj08]

Replacing the meters is a great idea... will do!!!!

[jim rosenthal]

I just replaced the battery monitoring system, the Xantrex LinkLite finally packed it in after probably 12-15 years. Fortunately Victron make a similar system in size and shape, so no new holes in the helm console.

The Victron unit is very well designed. It uses a battery wire to each bank, plus a phone cable from what I'd call a smart shunt to the display. That's it. We pulled a LOT of old wiring out of the boat, because I'd had two previous battery monitors before this one.



For the starting bank, it displays voltage, which is all you need. For the house bank, it gives you all the other information, too- AH used, etc.

I also have the Blue Seas meters which monitor the two incoming AC 120v lines- current, voltage, frequency, on each.

I stopped buying Xantrex gear a while back, but I have to admit the StatPower charger is still working. But I have a spare unit.