[C320-list] Starting Battery Question

[peteherron at adelphia.net]

CRA,

Wire the two 4Ds to the "2" position, and the one starting battery to the "1" position.  Then just leave the switch on "2" all the time.  The 4Ds will start your engine and power your other needs, and the engine will charge only the 4Ds.  Depending on your power usage, you can easily do a Fri/Sat/Sun weekend at the island without charging the 4Ds - and the benefit is that you don't have to listen to the engine (we get 3 days on the 4Ds before they drop to 12v, but your use may differ).  The starter battery gets charged when you are back at the dock and plugged in to 120v.  You never really need the starter battery, but it's there if you do.  You'd have to be off shore power for weeks before it self discharges.

Check out my boat at KH G9 sometime if you'd like.

Pete
Dreamtime, #329


---- crashley at gte.net wrote: 
> I've read a lot about adding a third, smaller starting battery and combining the two existing 4D's into a single large house battery. This sounds attractive and I may want to do this someday, but I have a basic question. If you use the existing battery combiner switch it will parallel the 4Ds and the new smaller starting battery (in the "all" position) for charging from the alternator but I thought I've read that you never want to parallel different size and/or aged batteries. How do you get around this? Is there any way to avoid paralleling the house and starting batteries and charge both batteries from the alternator? The shore charger is easy to configure since it has two separate outputs already. Any advice?
> 
> CRA
> Rosebud #882