Waveney Pegasus - The Strangest Design Ever?

[750XL]

If all goes to plan we're going to head up to the North Broads and then back over the week, so plenty of cruising with no excuse for those batteries not to be charged.

Plus, the fuel is free so we may as well get our moneys worth 

[Broads01]

I've just hired from Barnes and although it was an older boat with a conventional galley, one of the features I really liked was a battery meter that gave the percentage of power remaining in the domestic batteries. I assume the batteries were in good nick because it would show 100% after a few hours cruising. Overnight it never dropped below 80%.

[750XL]

13 minutes ago, Broads01 said:

I've just hired from Barnes and although it was an older boat with a conventional galley, one of the features I really liked was a battery meter that gave the percentage of power remaining in the domestic batteries. I assume the batteries were in good nick because it would show 100% after a few hours cruising. Overnight it never dropped below 80%.

 

I hired Brinks Duet last year which had iirc 2 battery gauges, both remained very high throughout the whole trip despite charging phones, laptop, lights turned on etc! Only issue we had was the heating would only come on for 5 minutes or so and then cut off/trip out so it was absolutely freezing at night being unable to use the heating despite the batteries being at 97%+.

Did call them out twice at the start of the week to look into it but was just told the batteries 'probably needed charging more' which they didn't. Bit of an annoyance but we didn't want to waste anymore time trying to find moorings etc the engineer could come out to every day so we just made do with the extra duvet at night. We were the first hire of the season (April) so probably just teething problems.

[oldgregg]

The problem is that battery monitors do need calibrating for the batteries they're being used with otherwise they're useless.

Also, the usable capacity with conventional batteries is only realistically 50% of the rated capacity otherwise they'll be ruined.

I have experienced the issue in syndicate with the monitor showing something like 80% charge when the batteries are clearly flat (heating not starting and then lights dimming when the water pump runs etc). Naturally, I started the engine.

I think Barnes do tend to put a 50hp lump in some of their newer boats and whack a pair of big alternators on in order to ensure the batteries get a decent amount of charge even if not much running is done.

Our owners used to insist they were doing 'plenty' of running and weren't responsible for the flat batteries, but the 600 engine hours a year on a 48-week boat (averaging out to just 12.5 hours a week) proved that to be complete rubbish.

[Vaughan]

18 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

Our owners used to insist they were doing 'plenty' of running and weren't responsible for the flat batteries, but the 600 engine hours a year on a 48-week boat (averaging out to just 12.5 hours a week) proved that to be complete rubbish.

It's amazing how much you learn about a boat when you wire a simple 12V hour meter to the ignition key. A very useful instrument.

[750XL]

We've just returned from our week on board Pegasus and unfortunately came home feeling quite disappointed. The all electric galley/appliances proved to be a nightmare with the batteries as some had predicted on here.

Still awaiting a reply to my email from WRC so I'll hold off posting a full and honest boat review until then, as it's only fair they're given the opportunity to 'put things right' imo! 

 

[ChrisB]

Many battery monitors need to have the temperature of where the batteries are mounted programmed in.

If it is 5C in the battery locker and the instrument thinks it is 20C (considered optimum) you will get a completely wrong set of readings.

[MrBlueSky]

I had looked into booking this boat for next May a couple of weeks ago but the recent reviews of people who had booked the boat all flagged up battery issues. 

[750XL]

2 hours ago, MrBlueSky said:

I had looked into booking this boat for next May a couple of weeks ago but the recent reviews of people who had booked the boat all flagged up battery issues. 

I’ll hold out on a full review until Waveney River Centre have responded to my email.

But in short, the batteries wouldn’t charge properly via the inverter which meant we couldn’t use the oven/hob/microwave/kettle/toaster for almost half the holiday - presumably the point where the shore power charged batteries finally went flat. Disappointing for a £900 boat, along with the additional costs of having to eat out + half a fridge of wasted food. 
 

Looking at previous reviews of this boat dating back to August on Hoseasons, it doesn’t seem like an isolated one off issue like we were led to believe...! Disappointing.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

1 minute ago, 750XL said:

I’ll hold out on a full review until Waveney River Centre have responded to my email.

But in short, the batteries wouldn’t charge properly via the inverter which meant we couldn’t use the oven/hob/microwave/kettle/toaster for almost half the holiday - presumably the point where the shore power charged batteries finally went flat. Disappointing for a £900 boat, along with the additional costs of having to eat out + half a fridge of wasted food. 
 

Looking at previous reviews of this boat dating back to August on Hoseasons, it doesn’t seem like an isolated one off issue like we were led to believe...! Disappointing.

Did you call them out to attend to the problems?

[750XL]

8 minutes ago, OldBerkshireBoy said:

Did you call them out to attend to the problems?

Yes we did, also took the boat into the yard as the toilet stopped working for the last 2 days - which they assumed was linked to the batteries.
 

Unfortunately no luck getting either problem sorted despite the guys best efforts in the boatyard. Who, may I add, are an absolute credit to Waveney River Centre and tried their best for us in the time we were there but shy of pulling the boat apart couldn’t fix it.

Connecting to shore power was the ‘fix’ but finding a space anywhere with shore power proved impossible.

[Smoggy]

I never did understand the "all electric" idea, gas has worked so well for so long and you can run out of power and still get a cuppa and hot food, as for electric loos my old RM69 has never blocked or run out of power, if you can't use a simple hand pump loo you probably should not be in charge of a boat.

I don't know if it's to get shot the landlords cert bit or just a bid to claim green kudos, either way it just don't seem to work.

[CambridgeCabby]

We have an electric loo , the bonus is it also has a macerator so less chance of blocking, not that we put anything other than two ply and “doings” down it 

[Vaughan]

56 minutes ago, CambridgeCabby said:

We have an electric loo , the bonus is it also has a macerator so less chance of blocking,

Not on hire boats, I am sorry to say!

When someone has dropped the knob off the Morse control down the toilet, there is not a lot left of the macerator afterwards. You may not believe me - but I have known it happen twice!

[JennyMorgan]

8 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

When someone has dropped the knob off the Morse control down the toilet,

Dropping knobs down the bog is surely some sort of social comment!

[Cal]

12 hours ago, 750XL said:

I’ll hold out on a full review until Waveney River Centre have responded to my email.

But in short, the batteries wouldn’t charge properly via the inverter which meant we couldn’t use the oven/hob/microwave/kettle/toaster for almost half the holiday - presumably the point where the shore power charged batteries finally went flat. Disappointing for a £900 boat, along with the additional costs of having to eat out + half a fridge of wasted food. 
 

Looking at previous reviews of this boat dating back to August on Hoseasons, it doesn’t seem like an isolated one off issue like we were led to believe...! Disappointing.

Batteries are not meant to charge via the inverter!

 

The inverter changes 12v power from the batteries to 240v power. You can not charge the batteries via the inverter as that is just taking power from the batteries not adding it!!

[Smoggy]

37 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Dropping knobs down the bog is surely some sort of social comment!

And certainly never to be done with a macerator...

[750XL]

24 minutes ago, Cal said:

Batteries are not meant to charge via the inverter!

 

The inverter changes 12v power from the batteries to 240v power. You can not charge the batteries via the inverter as that is just taking power from the batteries not adding it!!

My apologies, my technical knowledge isn’t that good (as you can tell).

 

Either way, the batteries wouldn’t charge despite cruising with the engine 6+ hours a day

[Cal]

5 minutes ago, 750XL said:

My apologies, my technical knowledge isn’t that good (as you can tell).

 

Either way, the batteries wouldn’t charge despite cruising with the engine 6+ hours a day

Sounds like an alternator problem in that case.

[MrBlueSky]

Reading the previews for the boat, WRC knew or should of known about this problem before they gave you the boat.

[annv]

Hi if the boat has shore power i would expect it to have a charger combined inverter system which if alternator was working,  very easy to check,  the problem would be dodgy batteries which is not easy to check when they are discharged, (were the contacts greased i wonder) John

[Cal]

1 hour ago, Cal said:

Sounds like an alternator problem in that case.

Just thought about this further. If you had the inverter switched on and the battery charger switched on then depending on how the boat was wired it could well have been trying to charge the batteries from themselves which would explain why the alternator couldn't charge the batteries quickly enough and why they were flat even after cruising.

 

If that is the case then the boat isn't really set up for novice hirers who would not understand the boats electrical systems!

[OldBerkshireBoy]

6 minutes ago, Cal said:

Just thought about this further. If you had the inverter switched on and the battery charger switched on then depending on how the boat was wired it could well have been trying to charge the batteries from themselves which would explain why the alternator couldn't charge the batteries quickly enough and why they were flat even after cruising.

 

If that is the case then the boat isn't really set up for novice hirers who would not understand the boats electrical systems!

Would expect the engineeers to notice that and when in doubt I would expect the yard to swop out the batteries as well or am I expecting too much with the last point.

Sometimes when faced with a head scratcher situation I get the customer to show me how they use the unit as often this shows up the problem straight away and saves me hours of fault finding time.

[750XL]

The boat worked well and as it should do on shore power, as the gentleman at Brooms kindly let us plug in for 30 minutes whilst we topped up with water which allowed us to cook a breakfast on one of the days. However, attempting to use anything off battery power (even with engine running at high RPM) from day 3 onwards just switched all the electric off after a minute or so. Eventually after a few attempts, the batteries were drained completely. I suspect the batteries were fully charged off shore power when we picked up the boat and eventually ran flat on day 3/4. We tried getting power at Rockland St Marys but the post was inoperative, and the day after when we reached Beccles the office was closed for their electricity cards. Either way, I don't think reliance on shore power for such an expensive boat (considering over 6 hours cruising a day was done) is acceptable.

Photo attached for anyone interested (not showing anything on the LCD display, as it was dead). Inverter would also flash 'Low Battery' even though we'd cruised 8 hours from North to South

When cruising:             Inverter > ON - Battery Charger > OFF
On Shore Power:         Inverter > OFF - Battery Charger > ON

 

[750XL]

23 minutes ago, Cal said:

Just thought about this further. If you had the inverter switched on and the battery charger switched on then depending on how the boat was wired it could well have been trying to charge the batteries from themselves which would explain why the alternator couldn't charge the batteries quickly enough and why they were flat even after cruising.

 

If that is the case then the boat isn't really set up for novice hirers who would not understand the boats electrical systems!

Seems I replied as you were typing your reply, so see my above comment which may be of interest to you.

We were definitely configured correctly (inverter ON, battery charger OFF) but the batteries just wouldn't charge other than from shore power for some reason.

Still awaiting a response to my email from WRC