[C320-list] Re: [catalina320] starter battery

[Jeff Church]

Darrell,

It sounds like you probably missed this part of the discussion relative to 
your starter battery problem.

JeffC


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Hare" <Catalina at thehares.com>
To: "C320-List" <C320-List at catalina320.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2005 10:13 AM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Re: [catalina320] starter battery


> Hi Guys,
>
>     I'm not certain I understand the problem here, but if Bob was unsure 
> if paralleled
> batteries would be sensed correctly by the charger, then he's either not 
> paying attention
> to the question or doesn't really understand electronics.
>
> It is not electrically possible to tell whether you have two batteries in 
> parallel or
> one big battery.   You simply have a plus and minus terminal and it makes 
> no
> difference (in this application) whether you attach one charger wire to 
> the Plus
> post of each paralleled battery, or both to the same postitive post. 
> They're electrically
> the same point and will see identical characteristics.
>
> Also, regarding the overcharging,  it may be possible to overcharge the 
> starting
> battery, but this situation is more likely to happen if you run your main 
> house
> batteries down low on a regular basis, because the charger will remain in 
> bulk
> charge mode longer than the starting battery needs.  If this happens from 
> time
> to time, there shouldn't be any real damage other than the starting 
> battery might
> not last quite as long as it could.  Batteries are kind of self regulating 
> when charging
> in that they will only accept as much current as they need, so it's not 
> like the starting
> battery will be accepting the same amount of charge current as the large 
> bank.
>
> If you're very concerned about overcharging your starting battery because 
> you regularly
> discharge your house bank, then just move the shore power charger leg back 
> over to
> one of the house batteries, and install the Blue Sea ACR to trickle charge 
> the starting
> battery.  I think it's like $80 and seems like a pretty cool unit.  (I 
> bought one but haven't
> installed it yet).
>
> -JeffH
>
>
> At 01:51 AM 11/5/2005, you wrote:
>>Darrell,
>>
>>I spoke with Bob at ProMariner again. As expected, his suggestion for 
>>using the third post on the charger was wrong. He suggests that you test 
>>the charger and if it is defective they will sell you a rebuilt unit. In 
>>any case, I think it might be advisable to buy a Xantrex.
>>
>>I guess I'll hold off on adding a starter battery until I'm ready to 
>>upgrade the charger.
>>
>>JeffC
>>