Beneteau 40 & 43

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Comment by Mike Brown on September 21, 2009 at 10:04am

Just a heads up. Saturday night we were set to anchor out at one of our favorite spots. I hit the down button on the windlass and nothing happened, just some clicking from the solenoid. Dropped the anchor by hand and went about troubleshooting the problem, which had escalated to a point where we only had 9V output from the house battery bank and all the DC devices were non functional. Beneteau now places a small but mighty fuse on the positive terminal post of the main house battery. It's part of the yacht council's standards for boat wiring. I found that I had 12.9V on the battery post but only 9V on the output of the fuse. I removed the fuse and found oxidation between the bottom and the battery post. Cleaned all the surfaces and now had a full 12.9V, a working windlass and full house power, especially the toilets. If need be I was going to remove the fuse for the weekend since it's a duplicate system anyway. I'll pick a rainy weekend and remove all the DC battery cables, then clean and treat them with a dialectric grease to prevent future oxidation. It pays to have a multimeter on board :)

Comment by Mike Brown on August 24, 2009 at 6:06pm

Thanks guys.

Comment by CAN DRAC on August 24, 2009 at 5:08pm

Mike is the B43 guru! No wonder his is hull NUMBER 1!

Comment by Michael Cioffi on August 24, 2009 at 3:36pm

Franc- does mike know his stuff or what.
Mikey- hats off

Comment by Mike Brown on August 24, 2009 at 12:24pm

Franc, glad to hear they're taking care of you. That's one of the nice things about Beneteaus, you can get spare parts any where. Enjoy your trip.

Comment by CAN DRAC on August 24, 2009 at 11:18am

Thanks Mike. Vitrifrigo America (excellent service!) helped us troubleshoot the problem over the phone and we were able to solve the issue. We accidentally damaged our thermostat so we are having it replaced.

Comment by Mike Brown on August 23, 2009 at 6:04pm

Franc check the circuit board on the compressor for an automotive type fuse. Also Check and make sure the condensor coils are clean. If they're blocked the units will act like they died. You may have to take the grill covers off to get to them. Good luck.
Mike

Comment by CAN DRAC on August 23, 2009 at 2:55pm

Our freezer/fridge died two days ago (3 cabin version). Anyone know where all the related fuses are located??

Comment by Michael Cioffi on June 29, 2009 at 4:08pm

the fridge is tricky mike. we load it with frozen food and dont try to freeze anything in the freezer comp. this helps alot with food you may eat in a few days or so.
thanks on he battery sugestions

Comment by Mike Brown on June 29, 2009 at 11:24am

I agree 4 hrs is too short a time period. We added a 2nd 4D which should give us somewhere in the 370 amp hr range. Unfortunately the boat is an energy hog. Every thing you touch is electric. I just ordered a Victron power monitor from Jamestown Distributers in an effort to help understand our energy usage. I'm also keeping an eye on the fridge and freezer as the fridge compressor seems to run 75% of the time, the single biggest source of drain on the batteries. I bought a thermometer and so far don't seem to be able to get the temp below 40. I'll play with the temp control more this weekend. I want to make sure the unit is capable of reaching the temps we need to keep food fresh without running constantly. I've already checked the fridge door to see if it's leaking air like some do. Our's checks out fine. I think this is going to require a methodical review of all the eletrical systems and then come up with the best long term solution whatever it may be.

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