Dynastart - boiling battery
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2017 10:14 am
Hi
Ever since we bought our Ballad, last year, there have been a bad smell when we're using the engine. Actually I hadn't made the connection about "when we're using the engine" until yesterday. We've always thought the smell came from the holding tank. So during the winter and spring I took out the tank and cleaned it, made a larger hole for ventilation, installed a air filter and connected a hose to the deck, so that we can empty it from there too and replaced all the hoses.
Yesterday we came home from a week long trip and on our way home the smell got worse and worse. Until the point where I started to become scared that something actually were wrong with the engine. So we stopped and drifter while I opened the engine compartment and checked everywhere. But the smell came from the v-birth. I opened the hatch to the batteries and the smell became worse and I found the source. The starter battery were boiling! It's a brand new 60Ah MultiMarine AGM battery (link in swedish below). I bought it just because of the recommendation of not having a larger battery due to the charging "mechanism" of the Dynastart. (Constant voltage and "floating" current depending on the battery's internal resistance and if you use a large battery the current could go above 11 amp and damage/break the dynastart or the charging relay. Please correct me if I got it wrong.)
Luckily the battery didn't catch fire or anything and nothing leaked, except smelly gases. We used one of our batteries from the "consumption" battery bank and connected as the starter battery. Then when the engine started, we disconnected that battery. The engine worked as expected but the electrical system in the boat behaved a little strange. Lamps flickering and one of the engine warning lamps lit now and then for just a second or two. But we made the trip of about 10nm home. The wind was only about 1-2m/s so sailing would have taken forever.
So, the questions is..
Is the dynastart-charging-relay broken/not working as expected?
Shouldn't I use a AGM-battery?
Battery:
https://www.hjertmans.se/produkter/el-b ... i-60ah-12v
Ever since we bought our Ballad, last year, there have been a bad smell when we're using the engine. Actually I hadn't made the connection about "when we're using the engine" until yesterday. We've always thought the smell came from the holding tank. So during the winter and spring I took out the tank and cleaned it, made a larger hole for ventilation, installed a air filter and connected a hose to the deck, so that we can empty it from there too and replaced all the hoses.
Yesterday we came home from a week long trip and on our way home the smell got worse and worse. Until the point where I started to become scared that something actually were wrong with the engine. So we stopped and drifter while I opened the engine compartment and checked everywhere. But the smell came from the v-birth. I opened the hatch to the batteries and the smell became worse and I found the source. The starter battery were boiling! It's a brand new 60Ah MultiMarine AGM battery (link in swedish below). I bought it just because of the recommendation of not having a larger battery due to the charging "mechanism" of the Dynastart. (Constant voltage and "floating" current depending on the battery's internal resistance and if you use a large battery the current could go above 11 amp and damage/break the dynastart or the charging relay. Please correct me if I got it wrong.)
Luckily the battery didn't catch fire or anything and nothing leaked, except smelly gases. We used one of our batteries from the "consumption" battery bank and connected as the starter battery. Then when the engine started, we disconnected that battery. The engine worked as expected but the electrical system in the boat behaved a little strange. Lamps flickering and one of the engine warning lamps lit now and then for just a second or two. But we made the trip of about 10nm home. The wind was only about 1-2m/s so sailing would have taken forever.
So, the questions is..
Is the dynastart-charging-relay broken/not working as expected?
Shouldn't I use a AGM-battery?
Battery:
https://www.hjertmans.se/produkter/el-b ... i-60ah-12v