Polarity light blinking-gctid363134

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the polarity light on the dash panel, on the 12 volt side the bottom light is flashing. I have noticed whenever we run the hot water the Xantrex charger turns on. i ran my house batteries down to low water, almost dry recently and they are 4 years old. My question is, is the bulb going bad ( i suspect it is not) or is it time to replace the house batteries? or is their something else going on.. I posted a quick video of the light blinking this morning and the link is below. Any advice or opinions would be appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3L8y...aLOiHnfvwAFHs=

[mmichellich in memorium Find all posts View Profile Close mmichellich]

Suspect bad bulb, polarity does not change like that. I have replaced several of the lights. Are you running the hot water tank off the inverter? If so, why?

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mmichellich wrote:
Suspect bad bulb, polarity does not change like that. I have replaced several of the lights. Are you running the hot water tank off the inverter? If so, why?

I do not have an inverter yet.. Just a xantrex charger and my Westerbeek Genset.. I do have have a little 400W Inverter that I use to charge phones/laptops but it is portable and only used while on the hook..

[mmichellich in memorium Find all posts View Profile Close mmichellich]

For the battery charger to kick on when you start the hot water tank, you have to be starting to use a 12 volt load at same time. Are you running water so pump turns on?

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mmichellich wrote:
For the battery charger to kick on when you start the hot water tank, you have to be starting to use a 12 volt load at same time. Are you running water so pump turns on?

yes. For example, washing dishes, turn on hot water, pump starts battery charger kicks in... Funny thing is, it does not kick on every-time but a majority of the time it does kick on and.. I just ran some hot water in the sink for a few minutes and this time it did not kick on however as soon as I shut the water off the lights on the charger started moving around..

[boatworkfl Supporting Member Find all posts View Profile Close boatworkfl]

I would suspect your batteries, they should handle any small load with-out rhe charger turning on.

After 4 years I do not trust batteries, especially when they have been let go until nearly dry.

Check the temp of the batteries while the charger is on and see if one is hot, also you can open the battery caps and see if one cell in any of the batteries is bubbling more than the others or not at all.

Personal opinion is: Buy new batteries, they are the life blood of you boat.

Since your charger is of the new type, I suspect a bad cell in at least one battery, 1 bad cell can cook all the batteries, I know, glad I was not in the engine room when that battery exploded.

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OK, I will go down and check the cells.. I suspect you are right about changing the house batteries... Thank you for the advise.

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mmichellich wrote:
For the battery charger to kick on when you start the hot water tank, you have to be starting to use a 12 volt load at same time. Are you running water so pump turns on?

Thank you for the advise. Do you know where I can purchase a new bulb? It appears I will need to replace both bulbs or the whole piece on the 12volt side. It does not look like I can get it open to replace just the bulb?

[mmichellich in memorium Find all posts View Profile Close mmichellich]

Nothing wrong with checking batteries, but when the batteries are fully charged, it does not take hardly any use to remove the surface charge and drop the voltage enough to restart an auto battery charger. The real issue is over night and other longer term usage are batteries dead or needing to be fully charged if not left on shore power overnight. If you can go about 24 hours with no charge with normal usage, your batteries are darn good. Heck many times with big freezer loads in the summer, my batteries will be down to 50% after 8 hours during the heat of the day. Time to start the gen set then.

[boatworkfl Supporting Member Find all posts View Profile Close boatworkfl]

mmichellich wrote:
Nothing wrong with checking batteries, but when the batteries are fully charged, it does not take hardly any use to remove the surface charge and drop the voltage enough to restart an auto battery charger. The real issue is over night and other longer term usage are batteries dead or needing to be fully charged if not left on shore power overnight. If you can go about 24 hours with no charge with normal usage, your batteries are darn good. Heck many times with big freezer loads in the summer, my batteries will be down to 50% after 8 hours during the heat of the day. Time to start the gen set then.

I agree here, the only proper way is to fully charge them then have them load tested, if you have 8D's it would be to heavy to remove them for testing, but there are portable testers that can do this, follow the advice above before buying batteries.

[seaclusion Frequent Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close seaclusion]

the only way to go is agm glass mat batteries , it hard to over charge them with a smart charger and they will not spill leak or give off any gases .........totally sealed units ...check out a lifeline batteries suplier .........a bit pricey but if you look after them well you will get 8 to 10 years out of them .... i bought 3 8ds for the house system they cost about 675.00 each and weight of 162 lbs each .....good luck in fact the navy and military all use them here in canada .

[mmichellich in memorium Find all posts View Profile Close mmichellich]

seaclusion wrote:
the only way to go is agm glass mat batteries , it hard to over charge them with a smart charger and they will not spill leak or give off any gases .........totally sealed units ...check out a lifeline batteries suplier .........a bit pricey but if you look after them well you will get 8 to 10 years out of them .... i bought 3 8ds for the house system they cost about 675.00 each and weight of 162 lbs each .....good luck in fact the navy and military all use them here in canada .

The only way to go, lets see, costs three times as much and lasts twice as long. Must be the new math.

Are you going to keep your boat ten years?