[C320-list] Calling all Electrical Experts !!

[Tim]

Ok, one of my original batteries (vintage 99) has just bite the dust and I expect the second one to fail by the end of the season (hopefully holds out that long). So over the winter I am planning to upgrade the entire system (battery, charging, inverter). I've heard lots of good things about the gel cell batteries so looking for brand suggestions as well as sources for best price. On the charger side, original owner had replaced the factory unit with a Guest 10 amp unit that I believe is capable of handling the gel batteries, but I was reading up on the Xantrex units that are both charger and inverter. Anyone have experience here? For background, my boat is on a mooring and most of the battery charging is done while under power in/out of the harbor. Most trips are weekend plus 1 or 2 days tops so having some AC power would be nice while on the hook hence the inverter need. I also looked into the heart interface units to give me a better indication of battery stage and power
 consumption so again, is that the preferred route or have others found better solutions. And lastly, since most of my charging is done via the alternator, should I consider an upgrade there as well, not having issues but while I am tearing things apart...why not?
   
  Thanks !!

 		
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