Clicking problem with new electrics on shorepower

[Doryman]

Over the winter I had EQ install a whole new house electrical system (2 starting Optima batteries completely independent of the house system, a 240 Amp/Hr battery with Xantrex inverter). While I was hooked up to shore power in Friday Harbor there was a constant, steady clicking and dimming of the house lights. A red LED to port of the switch was synchronized to the clicking/dimming. David McK. took a look at it and was able to briefly get it stopped, at which time the LED glowed steady and another LED to starboard of the switch also glowed steady. But the symptom returned so I ended up disconnecting from shore power and running on house battery overnight. The house battery seems to charge up fine when hooked to shore power at my slip. Any ideas for me to check out before I go back to EQ with this?

Thanks,
Warren

[Notayot]

Warren,

I'm not sure what brand of combiner relays you have, but the Honda unit I have will do the same thing during charging if the house battery is quite low on charge. If you watch the starting battery voltage while charging you will probably see a rising and falling voltage corresponding to the "clicking" sound. The issue is probably asking too much out of the shore power charger. As the charge is increased in the batteries the "clicking" should be less frequent and eventually the charger will be able to sustain the voltage as less charging is needed. This same issue can occur while charging from the engine alternator, which is when I notice the same issue. I don't use any electronics until the charging is stabilized just to avoid the spikes that occur on the house battery bus during the relay operation. It is the combining relay that you are hearing, and the LED's are showing which batteries are combined (or not combined when the LED's are off). Hope this helps.

[flapbreaker]

If the starting battery is isolated from the house what is the switch for? I assume you don't have a Voltage sensitive relay hooked up since that would be for charging between both battery banks but that's the only thing I can think of is a VSR constantly opening and closing the charging curcuit. Need more info about this switch and what it does.

[westward]

I have a similar battery/VSR system installed but without shorepower. Q: Is it safe to charge the respective batteries using a plug-in (automotive type) charger without first disconnecting the battery cables from the battery posts? Sorry if this question seems absurdly basic but I have almost no knowledge of 12V electrical systems and don't want to fry mine. Thanks, Mike.

[tom&shan]

I had a what sounds like a similar problem with my electrical system - two optimax batteries (House / Starter) with a VSR switch. The switch would "clack" back and forth at times - usually while running at low idle. Eventually the starter battery died but the house battery stayed charged. I replaced the switch ($150.) and the clacking stopped, but the abuse to the starter battery significantly shortened its life. Also once I replaced the switch the random extended bursts of static I was getting on my VHF radio went away.
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