Annoying (Not Charging) Bleep

[ICENI]

I seem to be posting topics for help quite a bit lately!   I hope it is assisting in keeping the forum interesting!

Last year I became the proud owner of a 2002 Bavaria 32 sailboat.

Last Sunday, I completed the initial passage from Cornwall to my mooring on the East Coast of the UK.

During the passage we got intermittent bleeping from the engine control panel, often occurring when we needed to concentrate!   It was very distracting.

When it first occurred, I immediately checked the meter on the panel 424 to find a good voltage potential indicated.   I also checked the voltage across the service battery terminals to find them both well over 13 volts.

During the passage I used my Waeco coolbox as a freezer and it was quite satisfactory, - solid ice for our G & Ts!


I thought it might be a poor connection due to corrosion so I have been over all the engine control unit connections with contact cleaner.

Often there is no warning light or bleep.   Other times there is.

It is obvious that there is no problem with the alternator output voltage.   The alternator belt is tight and I would welcome any insight as to what might be the problem please?

[IslandAlchemy]

Alternator brushes?

[sunshine]

Belt slipping? Check it for condition and tension, and look around the engine compartment for black dust.

[Rampage]

Is the charging light coming on at the same time as the sound alarm?  Do check that, as you may be getting an intermittent oil pressure or high temperature warning.
If it is definitely the charging light, then check the connections of the alternator wiring.  Maybe a lose connection there is a causing the problem.
Another thing to check is that the alternator regulator is working properly: if you’re in any doubt about it, replace the regulator.  It’s a pretty simple job on most of the common alternators and not expensive.

[ICENI]

Yes, both the charging light and the sound alarm.my mooring in Suffolk I checked all

Before setting off on our initial voyage from the yard in Cornwall to

[ICENI]

Yes, the warning light illuminates and pulses when the  bleep comes on.

Before setting off on the initial voyage from the yard in Cornwall to my mooring in Suffolk, I checked the  alternator belt for tightness (no black dust) and also checked the alternator connections.

From these helpful posts it seems I have some intermittency in the charging, BUT as I mentioned in my initial help post, the alternator output voltage which, when tested was as one would suspect and the two service batteries were running the numerous navigation equipment and freezing my Waeco coolbox.

Does anyone know where the monitoring for the warning light and bleep come from.   I find the German wiring diagram print difficult to read in my manual and the online one is no different! 

[Rampage]

What you need is the Volvo Penta wiring diagram for your engine rather than the Bavaria wiring diagram (which is unlikely to show what’s there on an 18 year old boat).  If you search Google for your engine wiring diagram, it’ll take you to a load of images of the diagrams: there’ll be one for the engine itself, showing which wires go where and one for the panel.
There’s also a multi-way cable between the engine and the panel: it connects to a multi-way plug on the engine wiring box and another plug at the panel end.  Check that both of those plugs are properly tightened and that they haven’t worked loose in any way and that the wires into them are secure.
Recheck the security of the wires into the back of the alternator, especially those connecting via spade type terminals.  It may be worth nipping the female connectors up slightly with some long nose pliers to make sure they’re not making an intermittent connection.
Other than that, can’t think of anything more to suggest.

[Lyra]

Assuming original engine, check this manual (from the downloads area in this site) - http://bavariayacht.org/downloads/engine/Volvo%20Owners_Manual-MD2010-20-30-40%207738231-5.pdf
look at pages 39-42
Although there are several operation panels, most signals on the multi wire connector are common. 
Seems to me that the wire marked as brown (BN) - pin 5 on the multi wire connector - sends the alternator voltage from the engine to the operation panel (pin 3 seems to be the excitation which typically goes to the oil pressure lamp and pin 13 seems to be the tachometer).
With a boat of that year corrosion in the wires could be a possible cause since Bavaria did not use tinned wires back then (I found that nipping the end of the wire is typically useless as the corrosion goes deep in, sometimes throughout the whole length of the wire)

[ICENI]

Thanks to Rampage & Lyra for the latest posts.

I have been over the engine control panel connections with contact cleaner but I take the point about corrosion along the wires.

As the boat did not have a Binnacle cover (On my to do list) is is very likely the boat being open to the elements for the life of the boat is the problem.   Next time I am at the boat, I will investigate further. 

[Salty]

In all of the foregoing comments, they all revolve around a possible electrical fault, and while that may well be part of the problem, there are other areas which the alarm panel covers, not least of which is engine temperature. Unfortunately my engine manual is onboard my boat this week, so I’m trying to brush away some of the dust in my mind to remember what else would cause an alarm to sound.
Apart from
1. low output from the alternator, there is also
2. Low Oil pressure
3. High engine temperature,
and of course there may be an intermittent electrical supply to the alarm panel which presumably might cause the odd bleep from the alarm system.
Some years ago I had a high temperature alarm which was also somewhat intermittent where I thought there was a fault with the alarm panel itself such that I bought a replacement panel from “Coastal Rides” in Dover, and that seemed to work rather better than the original panel. However it also told me that I had a problem with the raw water cooling system. I had bought the boat second hand, and each year I had changed the raw water pump impeller. Each of the old impellers that I took off I had inspected and thought “well there’s nothing obviously wrong with it, but hey ho its out now so bung in a new one and close up the pump and we are ready to go again.” But I had also noticed that the exhaust overboard was showing something which I wasn't sure whether it was smoke or steam. Then I did get a high temperature alarm, and during investigations I removed the rubber elbow at the cooling water inlet to the heat exchanger and found several pieces of broken off impeller vane plus bits of barnacle shell which must have passed through the water filter, through the pump and were caught at the entrance to the heat exchanger tube nest, and thereby resulting in the engine high temperature alarm. Once all of those bits were removed, I guessed they must have prevented water from flowing freely through some 80% of the tubes, the high temperature alarm did not sound off any more, and the vapour from the engine overboard exhaust was now clear and indicated that what I had seen previously had been steam.
So my point is that the entrance to the tube nest for the cooling water is another area to check to make sure the tubes are not blocked.

[ICENI]

Thankyou Salty.

Since owning the boat, I regularly check the output from the exhaust for on my 'to do ' list is to check/clean the heat exchanger and also the exhaust elbow.   

[Symphony]

Also worth checking the sender units for temperature and oil for loose connection or even a failing unit.

[ICENI]

A new engine battery was fitted a few weeks ago and after replacing both 140 ampere hours service batteries as well bleep was still present.

My next step was to remove and clean all the alternator connections.   Then I once again removed the engine panel and went over again all the connections, spraying them as well with contact cleaner/lubricant.

Problem now totally resolved!

Once more years of the effects of the salkine atmosphere causing problems!