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

Sun Jul 16 10:49:58 PDT 2006

That's the one!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeffrey Hare" [catalina at thehares.com]
Sent: 07/16/2006 10:10 AM
To: "'C320-List'" <C320-List at catalina320.com>
Subject: Re: [C320-list] FW: Re:  Starting Battery Question

"Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual'"  is most likely what he's
referring to.  Haven't read it so I can't comment.

-JeffH

PS:

I particularly like the "Ample Power" guys for explaining electrical stuff.
The entertaining article from their website titled:  "Amp Hours and Beer" is
one of my favorites for explaining battery capacity in terms of pouring a
cold brewski.  

Now, that's an explanation that I can relate to.  :)

"
Pouring a few bottles of beer will yield an intuitive feel for [Battery
capacity] ... For the first experiment, leave a glass upright and pour the
beer quickly into the center of the glass. After pouring you'll find just a
small amount of liquid in the bottom of the glass, with lots of foam on top.
For the second experiment, tilt the glass and pour the beer slowly down the
side. This time, you should have lots of liquid and only a small amount of
foam.

In the beer experiment, the liquid in the bottom of the glass represents the
capacity, C,available for use. The faster you pour, the less the capacity.
If you pour slowly, there is more beer to drink.  == good.. :)

The beer experiment also demonstrates another battery phenomena ...recovery.
A battery that has been discharged at a high rate can be rested, and
additional capacity recovered. Just as beer foam will eventually settle into
liquid, battery capacity recovers as electrolyte diffuses through the
plates.
"

http://www.amplepower.com/pwrnews/beer/index.html

-JeffH

-----Original Message-----
From: crashley at gte.net [mailto:crashley at gte.net] 
Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2006 12:19 PM
To: C320-List
Subject: Re: [C320-list] FW: Re: Starting Battery Question

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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