David;
I have an Admiral Panel for my Universal M35B. The panel is wired so that turning on the key energizes the 12v wire to the preheat pushbutton. When the button is pushed low current flows to the Glow plug relay and closes it, allowing high current from the battery to heat the glow plugs. Pushing the preheat pushbutton also energizes the 12v wire supplying the starting pushbutton. Ag ain pushing the starter button energizes the starter relay and battery current flows through the relay to the starter. On my boat you cannot crank the engine unless you push the Glowplug button first. During the earlier discussion of your starting problem, IIRC, we determined that the instructions for Universal and Westerbeke engines tell you to hold the preheat button closed until the engine starts and the oil pressure alarm goes off. That implies you should be able to power the glow plugs while cranking the engine, and after the engine starts. I can't ever recall doing that on my boat, I release the preheat button when I release the sterter button, but those are the instructions. My first thought was that someone had tinkered with the wiring of the buttons on your engine panel? Do you have 12v power supply wires running in parallel from the key switch to the preheat and start buttons? The wiring diagram I have shows that they should be wired in series as I have described above. Low voltage at the panel could be causing the problem you describe. What you said about your GPS may be an indicator of the same condition. According to the manual, my M35B draws about 175 amps for normal cranking. The glow plus probably draw another 20 or 30. If the start relay is closed the voltage from your battery will drop, and perhaps it is dropping below the voltage required to close the glow plug relay. It isn't uncommon for a relay to need higher voltage to close initially that it needs to stay energized once it closes. I was diagnosing another problem back in May, and had occasion to put a meter on my engine panel to check voltages. When the glow plugs and the starter are activated, the voltage at the panel will drop from a normal 12.5-12.6 to something like 10.5-11 volts. Perhaps your voltage drop when cranking is large enough that the glow plug relay will not pull in? I have 2 Garmin plotters on my boat. The one at the Nav station is wired to 12v power through the breaker panel. It does not shut off when the engine is cranked. But the one at the helm gets 12v power from a connection on the back of the engine panel. This second GPS will shut down each time I crank the engine, apparently because the supply voltage drops. If your GPS is wired through the engine panel (or the 12v supply from the engine harness), you might try changing the wiring so power is supplied from the breaker panel. Changing the wiring of my helm GPS is one of the projects I hope to get finished this weekend, because restarting the GPS a couple of ties a day is a general PITA. I can't really comment on the problem with your AGM battery, except to say that having been involved in marketing batteries and electric vehicles for about 30 years I've never been a fan of them. But it sounds like you probably have a bad battery and should probably get a new one under the warranty. Rick Brass Washington, NC From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of David Knecht Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013 10:05 AM To: CnC CnC discussion list Subject: Stus-List Drained AGM battery I am beginning to feel that I have bad karma with my new boat. First the good news: based on all the advice I received, the Universal starting issue seems definitely fixed- since I cleaned the ground connection, it has started smoothly every time. The only strange thing is that all the directions I have read say that you should continue to push the glow plug button while pushing the start button. However, on mine, the engine will not turn over unless I release the glow plug button. Also, the GPS restarts each time I start the engine, which may mean there is still some electrical issue, but neither is a serious problem at this point. Also, the black smoke etc. is largely gone since I cleaned the bottom and prop as best I could. The shaft and prop were completely crusted with barnacles, so clearly my Pettit zinc coat did not do its job. I may try Velox next spring based on the advice of a local old timer. So yesterday I go went to the boat and found that my #1 battery is completely dead. This is the battery that is wired for the auto-bilge pump switch and propane fume alarm (that is all I know of). The batteries are 2 month old Power-tech AGM group 27's. I could not get much of any charge after a day of running the engine for a few hours totals. Questions: 1. do new batteries fail at some rate? 2. Will an AGM charge from the alternator if fully discharged? If so, roughly how long would it take? I brought it home and tried to use my smart charger and that is not charging it at all (the charging light does not come on). Perhaps related- I twice was on the boat briefly during the week and found the Xintex propane fume alarm going. Both times I checked the propane system and the tank shutoff was closed and all switches were off. So I don't believe there were really propane fumes in the cabin. So could the sensor have failed? Could the alarm going for many many hours drain the battery (I don't think the bilge pump is doing it). David Knecht Aries 1990 C&C 34+ New London, CT
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