just a note here.

Our boat is on the hard and we are doing a refit. A couple of days ago, I went to the boat and WOW, the battery voltage (3 Group 30 AGMs) was down to 3.8V! I do NOT know what drew down the batteries! At first I suspected the bilge pump ran, but I have no water down there.

The Link-10 was dark, no signs of life.

So, went to the boat this AM and took out old Morningstar PS-30 (second one) solar charge controller and put in our small backup. Started charging just fine. BUT I started to hear a rapid clicking sound from our radio area.

We use a Pactor IIex that connects to our Icom 706. It is in the “drying locker” with the body of our Icom and VHF radios, so I normally do not see it much.

It has an on/off switch, but in the on position, when connected to the Icom, it stays in the off condition. When the charge voltage went up to 12 +V, even with the Icom in the off condition the modem was cycling fast on and off making the clicking sound. I disconnected the Icom power lead and it did not stop the clicking. I then set the Pactor to off and the clicking stopped. I will check back after the batteries are fully charged to see if it works as normal, then.???

Moral of the story, if you put your boat into storage mode, for on the hard or shipment, don't forget to turn the Pactor off.

I am now looking at what the next controller will be. I am also about to rewire the Solar system with larger wire size and better connectors. For us, it's not a straight forward install as we add or remove panels as needed and only have one in a semi-permanent mount. AND, I have that one mounted in a way that is easy to removed for hurricane prep. We have done that 3 times so far. With only 2 direct hits on us.

Greg