Axius-VesselView-Smartcraft-Batteries

[gkuypers]

Since I splashed my 2008 330DA with Axius I have gotten Engine Sensor error codes, even though all the software has been updated. The dealer states this Engine code is due to the drives not being synced when trimmed all the way down (Had bellows replaced during White Glove Service). Most recently after a day on the lake (about 8 hours) I tried to start the port motor, but I had to use the emergency start because the batteries seemed dead. Once started I attempted to leave the lake for home but got steering error codes, port motors went into guardian mode and I had no steering. Luckily I've read how to reset axius, so I powered everything down and restarted and all the codes cleared. I took my boat to the local Sea Ray dealer who tested the batteries and said they all checkout fine, so I asked if this is true then why are my port batteries always dead after a day on the lake. The Service Manager said the cockpit fridge draws a lot of power and should be shutoff manually or I need to run my generator. Do you shutoff all your 12v switches when on the lake and only turn on the ones you want to use, because this makes no sense to me. I figured I should be able to have the batteries last for 8 hours oin the lake. I'm also attempting to get my DSM300 replaced by Raymarine, because my Depth Finder seems to work intermentently and trying to convience Sea Ray to upgrade my Skyhook like Formula did for it's customers.

 

[kaz911]

If battery voltage is too low - the steering will stop working until you have enough power. I had the same happening while I was towing a friends MasterCraft.... So I towed him with home with engine RPM steering only - so batteries could charge on the way. Once we was almost home - I shut everything down - so Axius "rebooted". And then I had my steering back.

But I had to be very careful and not use Axius when docking him - else the steering could have gone again since Axius is a power hog when you use it with joystick. My next project is to replace the 75Ah BlueTop Optima's with 125Ah Lifelines (all G31's) - that should solve all the issues. The Optima's does not have a lot of juice.

I have about 8-12 hours on my Optima's when I am out. The only reason I ran out of juice was my own stupid fault a few days before where I left the shore power switch in OFF position and left the batteries on for calibration of my Maretron Battery monitor. But due to Optimas being optimas - they charge slowly compared with LifeLine batteries. (20-30 Amp - where Lifeline I could get about full use of the Alternator charging - so 50-60 Ah)

And yes - fridges uses a lot of power...

What was upgraded on Skyhook that was not included in the White Glove update? I think Merc went from using Merc GPS100 to Merc GPS200 in the WhiteGlove (And Merc GPS300 = GPS200 with a software update - for Axius Gen 2 - same hardware just Maretron software 3.35SC). With the new N2K gateway it seems like there could be a way to get ANY NMEA 2000 GPS and heading sensor to feed Axius - but once I know more i'll report back But then you could use the better Garmin 19x or Simrad GS25 - both with GLONASS - to feed the Axius - and that should be much more precise than the current Maretron GPS200 old sensor.

Regarding sensors - you should not get a lot of engine sensor alarms if drives are not in sync trimwise. My SB trim is out of wack completely and I don't have any alarms - unless it gets SO far out of whack that axius thinks it is > 10 degrees trim height. But what sensor errors are you getting? I just got my Axius maintenance manual - so I might be able to look them up for you.

 

[mainstream]

I had to replace all of my batteries last year I could only get about 5 hrs out of them on the hook now I get over 10 hr on hook with 3 refrigerators and radio going with no battery alarm so I would think you need new batteries my old ones tested on bolts but amp draw was bad when we took them out I had bad cells in the batteries.

 

[gkuypers]

If battery voltage is too low - the steering will stop working until you have enough power. I had the same happening while I was towing a friends MasterCraft.... So I towed him with home with engine RPM steering only - so batteries could charge on the way. Once we was almost home - I shut everything down - so Axius "rebooted". And then I had my steering back.

But I had to be very careful and not use Axius when docking him - else the steering could have gone again since Axius is a power hog when you use it with joystick. My next project is to replace the 75Ah BlueTop Optima's with 125Ah Lifelines (all G31's) - that should solve all the issues. The Optima's does not have a lot of juice.

I have about 8-12 hours on my Optima's when I am out. The only reason I ran out of juice was my own stupid fault a few days before where I left the shore power switch in OFF position and left the batteries on for calibration of my Maretron Battery monitor. But due to Optimas being optimas - they charge slowly compared with LifeLine batteries. (20-30 Amp - where Lifeline I could get about full use of the Alternator charging - so 50-60 Ah)

And yes - fridges uses a lot of power...

What was upgraded on Skyhook that was not included in the White Glove update? I think Merc went from using Merc GPS100 to Merc GPS200 in the WhiteGlove (And Merc GPS300 = GPS200 with a software update - for Axius Gen 2 - same hardware just Maretron software 3.35SC). With the new N2K gateway it seems like there could be a way to get ANY NMEA 2000 GPS and heading sensor to feed Axius - but once I know more i'll report back But then you could use the better Garmin 19x or Simrad GS25 - both with GLONASS - to feed the Axius - and that should be much more precise than the current Maretron GPS200 old sensor.

Regarding sensors - you should not get a lot of engine sensor alarms if drives are not in sync trimwise. My SB trim is out of wack completely and I don't have any alarms - unless it gets SO far out of whack that axius thinks it is > 10 degrees trim height. But what sensor errors are you getting? I just got my Axius maintenance manual - so I might be able to look them up for you.

kaz911,

Thanks for the information. I've been reading a lot on batteries and it seems the Sears Platinum are the closest comparison to the Lifelines at 100Ah. These are also about $100 cheaper per battery and they get very good reviews.

Skyhook from Mercury was updated, however Sea Ray has components they have to supply (Horn, Track Pad...), but unlike Formula, Sea Ray wants the customer to pay the $1000 in order to make this work.

The sensor issue I get is just a generic Engine Sensor. The dealer claims that if they clear the codes, then raise the motor trim and then lower it, once it gets to the bottom of the trim, the Engine Sensor comes up.

 

[gkuypers]

Confused :smt101. I currently have Interstate 27B's (5 Total - 2 for Port, 2 for Starboard & 1 for Generator) on my boat which I have explained below show good, but only last about 2 hours on the lake while running my Cockpit Fridge, Stereo and Head. Thinking of switching to AGM's because I thought they would last longer, but I'm confused by the Amp Hours and Hrs at Amp load. If I read the charts below correctly the AGM should last 4 hrs if it was drawing 5 amps @ the 20 hour rate, but I'm not sure how this works for the Deep Cycle Hrs @ Amp Load? To me it looks like at 5 hrs at Amp Load the Deep Cycles should last the same amount of time. Maybe I'm missing something?

DieHard Platinum Marine Battery Group Size 31M Power Ratings:

• Cold Cranking Amps (CCA at 0 deg.F): 1150
  
• Reserve Capacity (RC): 205 min.
  
• Amp Hours at 20 Hour Rate: 100
  
• Capacity Amp Hours at 10 Hour Rating: 92
  
  Interstate Deep Cycle/Cranking - 12 Volt

BCI Grp #	Interstate Type	CCA	MCA	RC (Min.) 25A	Warranty (Mo.)	Hrs. at Ampere Load	Dimensions (in.) L | W | H	Weight (lbs)	Terminal
5	15	25
24M	SRM-24	550	690	140	30	16.4	4.6	2.3	11	6-7/8	9-1/2	46	Auto/Stud posts
24M	HD24-DP	405	505	100	30	11.6	3.2	1.7	11	6-7/8	9-1/2	41	Auto/Stud posts
27M	SRM-27	600	750	160	30	17	5.2	2.6	12-3/4	6-3/4	9-1/2	53	Auto/Stud posts
27M	SRM-27B	675	845	180	30	20.4	5.7	3.0	12-3/4	6-3/4	9-1/2	55	Auto/Stud posts

 

[kaz911]

The big difference between AGM and Lead Acid batteries is

1. you can discharge AGM's deeper (safe to 60-70% discharge) where LA batteries does not like < 40%. So a 100 Ah AGM gives you a usable 60 Ah - where the LA battery gives you usable 40Ah (without damaging the batteries or serverly reducing the expected life time of the batteries)
2. AGM's can charge quicker than LA - bringing you quicker back to fully charged
3. AGM's can be discharged many more cycles than LA batteries (so Lifeline is 1000-2000 cycles - where normal LA batteries are 300-600 cycles)
4. AGM's has lower self discharge profile - so Lifeline is max 2% pr month if not used - where LA batteries in general eat 10% of their own charge pr. month

And if you can get Lifeline 125Ah for only $100 more pr. battery than the Sears 100Ah - why not invest in the extra 100 Ah total? If you genny battery is in fine condition - just leave it in -if your shore power charger is not charging that.

But a 100Ah battery is a 100Ah battery - so you have 100 Ah "in storage" in total. The discharge figures they show is not to recommended minimum charge level - but they are too fully EMPTY state of 10.5 volt. And as written before - to fully discharge a battery will kill it quick. Some LA batteries will never recover from a fully discharged state - especially if they go below 10 volt.

So 100Ah/5 = 20 hours - on most 100Ah batteries (plus minus of course since the 100Ah capacity is measured at the 20 hour consumption rate) - so again - 100 Ah will ALWAYS be 100 Ah - but the "usable capacity" without damaging the battery is a lot less than 100Ah and is dependent on the battery chemistry.

So in short with 100Ah batteries - AGM's will give you about 60Ah usable capacity - vs the Lead Acid about 40Ah usable capacity - So 50% more usable power in AGM's. 125 Ah AGMs would get you an extra about 15+Ah usable capacity pr. battery.

 

[kaz911]

Question: Can you read the label on your Mercruiser GPS and tell me if it says GPS100 or GPS200? If it is a GPS 100 I have a GPS200 you can have for a cheap cheap price. The GPS200 was part of my PO's WhiteGlove upgrade - but I got a GPS300 and put on - so I have a spare GPS200.

 

[gkuypers]

Thanks again Kaz. I'll look at my GPS, but I believe they did upgrade this as part of the White Glove.

 

[kaz911]

Regarding the DSM 300, if it was a unit made in Mexico, send it back to Raymarine and they will send you a new one at no cost. They are doing this no questions asked at least until the end of the year.

Yes - they just released the CP300 as the replacement for the DSM300 - so fixing reputation AND getting rid of old stock - good plan.

 

[gkuypers]

Thanks. I just called the local Sea Ray dealer (they are currently working on my boat) and they are checking to see if my DSM300 is one from Mexico (I'm assuming it is).

 

[gkuypers]

One more question with regards to AGM batteries. I just purchased 4 Group 31 AGM's from West Marine (East Penn - Deka) and it looks like I have a ProTech 1220i charger. Since I'm not replacing the Generator Battery (Flooded-Group 27), my question is what is the best setting for the charger to be on? It has 2 setting which list AGM, User #1 says Flooded/AGM1 and User #2 says AGM2. It also has a setting for 1,2,3 or 4 Hour Absorption settings. Could someone with a similar setup tell me what setting you use? Thanks again in advance for the help, it's greatly appreciated.

 

[gkuypers]

One more question with regards to AGM batteries. I just purchased 4 Group 31 AGM's from West Marine (East Penn - Deka) and it looks like I have a ProTech 1220i charger. Since I'm not replacing the Generator Battery (Flooded-Group 27), my question is what is the best setting for the charger to be on? It has 2 setting which list AGM, User #1 says Flooded/AGM1 and User #2 says AGM2. It also has a setting for 1,2,3 or 4 Hour Absorption settings. Could someone with a similar setup tell me what setting you use? Thanks again in advance for the help, it's greatly appreciated.

Received the email below from ProMariner customer support with regards to the settings on my ProTech 1220i.

RE: Professional Mariner
Sent By:	"Support" <Support@pmariner.com> On: Jul 07/17/13 2:04 PM

You would want it on the flooded/AGM 1 setting and the 4 hours absorption time.

ProMariner Support
800-824-0524
www.pmariner.com

 

[kaz911]

To find the best setting for your batteries you need to find the tech spec sheet for the batteries. My standard SR charger's AGM profile is wrong for the AGM batteries I have in - so the Lead Acid setting is more appropriate for my battery settings. But the charger is "ready" for replacement to a more suitable one. A 20Ah charger is on the low side for 4 x G31 AGM batteries.

 

[Matthew Hinrichs]

Since I splashed my 2008 330DA with Axius I have gotten Engine Sensor error codes, even though all the software has been updated. The dealer states this Engine code is due to the drives not being synced when trimmed all the way down (Had bellows replaced during White Glove Service). Most recently after a day on the lake (about 8 hours) I tried to start the port motor, but I had to use the emergency start because the batteries seemed dead. Once started I attempted to leave the lake for home but got steering error codes, port motors went into guardian mode and I had no steering. Luckily I've read how to reset axius, so I powered everything down and restarted and all the codes cleared. I took my boat to the local Sea Ray dealer who tested the batteries and said they all checkout fine, so I asked if this is true then why are my port batteries always dead after a day on the lake. The Service Manager said the cockpit fridge draws a lot of power and should be shutoff manually or I need to run my generator. Do you shutoff all your 12v switches when on the lake and only turn on the ones you want to use, because this makes no sense to me. I figured I should be able to have the batteries last for 8 hours oin the lake. I'm also attempting to get my DSM300 replaced by Raymarine, because my Depth Finder seems to work intermentently and trying to convience Sea Ray to upgrade my Skyhook like Formula did for it's customers.

I am having trouble with my AXIUS system and need to reboot it. Can you explain how to reset axius which you mention above that you had read up on? Many Thanks