[C320-list] FW: Re: Starting Battery Question

[T. Scott Thompson]

Maybe Orlando is thinking of "The 12-Volt Bible for Boats" which is by 
Miner K. Brotherton and Edwin R. Sherman and often recommended. 

I have the second edition of Nigel Calder's "Boatowner's Mechanical and 
Electrical Manual" which is a terrific book with lots of good info about 
12V systems.  (Does anyone know what's new in the 3rd edition?)  I'm not 
aware of any Nigel Calder books on 12v systems specifically, and also 
could not find one on Amazon.

I notice that in Nigel Calder's recent articles in Sail he has been 
touting the virtues of highly sophisticated high voltage DC systems, and 
is in fact building a new boat with such a system.  This would 
presumably go hand in hand with a hybrid propulsion system.

Scott Thompson

crashley at gte.net wrote:
> Orlando,
>
> Do you know the exact name of the book? I looked on Amazon and there 
> seem to be a few books by Nigel on electrical systems but nothing with 
> "12V" in the name.
>
> Thanks,
> CRA
> Rosebud #882
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: <Orlando.Duran at AveryDennison.com>
> To: "Catalina 320 List" <C320-List at catalina320.com>
> Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2006 9:07 AM
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] FW: Re: Starting Battery Question
>
>
> Chris,
>
> When I said to get the book I meant in a positive way....there are so 
> many 'opinions' out there about battery charging and parallel vs 
> in-line, etc that you can get totaly confused.
>
> When I got my 320 back in 1994 that was one of the first books a read, 
> it was a great eye-opener when it came to solving fact vs myth about 
> 12V ops...
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From:  [crashley at gte.net]
> Sent: 07/16/2006 07:23 AM
> To: <kmielen at iwon.com>;"C320-List" <C320-List at catalina320.com>
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] FW: Re:  Starting Battery Question
>
> Karl,
>
> Good point. I have two bilge pumps right now, one on each battery. (The
> previous owner installed a quieter Rule pump in the bilge so I added a
> second battery connection, fuse and floatswitch and use the original 
> Jabsco
> "loud" one as a backup. Call me paranoid.) I guess I could keep the
> arrangement the same since, as Pete points out, the starter battery would
> always be charging in the slip, which is where the boat is most of the 
> time.
> And since I installed a dripless prop seal, there is very little bilge 
> pump
> activity anyway.
>
> So it sounds like having the starting battery in the 2 position is a good
> way to go. The only time they would paralleled is during the very brief
> period when turning the battery switch from 1 to 2 in the event that the
> house battery (1) was unable to start the engine.
>
> I may pick up the book that Orlando recommends too.
>
> Thanks, everyone.
>
> Chris Ashley (aka CRA)
> Rosebud #882
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karl Mielenhausen _/) " 
> <kmielen at iwon.com>
> To: <C320-List at catalina320.com>
> Sent: Saturday, July 15, 2006 4:10 PM
> Subject: [C320-list] FW: Re: Starting Battery Question
>
>
>>
>> Pete,
>>
>> I agree with your approach, but I would caution CRA to determine 
>> which circuit that his bilge pump is wired to. I would want that 
>> connected to the house bank, not the starting battery. In my case, I 
>> made "1" the house bank. I generally keep the switch on "1" and keep 
>> the starting battery in reserve in case the house bank can't start 
>> the engine.
>>
>> An alternative would be to use the starting battery to start the 
>> engine, let the alternator charge it for 5 minutes, then switch to 
>> the house bank. I found it too easy to forget to switch at the 
>> appropriate time and gave up on that approach.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Karl Mielenhausen
>>
>> 2000 C320 Hull#690 "Silver Lining"
>>
>> New Bern, NC
>>
>> http://members.cox.net/mielen/
>>
>> From: peteherron at adelphia.net [mailto: peteherron at adelphia.net]
>>
>> To: C320-List at catalina320.com
>>
>> Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2006 15:38:05 -0700
>>
>> Subject: Re: [C320-list] Starting Battery Question
>>
>>
>>
>> CRA,<br><br>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.<br><br>Check out my boat at KH G9 sometime if you'd 
>> like.<br><br>Pete<br>Dreamtime, #329<br><br><br>---- crashley at gte.net 
>> wrote: <br>> 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?<br>> <br>> 
>> CRA<br>> Rosebud #882<br><br><br>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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