[C320-list] FW: Battery charger/inverter

[Jeffrey Hare]

Hi,

  I'm entering my 6th season on my 4Ds.  They're still ok, but I haven't
decided what I'll replace them with next year.  It helps their life
substantially having them in parallel however.

Consider 6v golf batteries only if you're going to be nearly religious about
equalizing them every year, and keeping all the extra connections clean.  If
you don't, you'll be hard pressed to match the power output of a pair of
conventional parallelled 4Ds given that you'll have nearly double the
electrical connection losses.  :)   It does help reduce the equalization
requirements if you keep them on shore power charger and fully charged for
long periods of time.

-J



-----Original Message-----
From: Karl Mielenhausen _/) [mailto:kmielen at iwon.com] 
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 11:43 AM
To: C320-List at catalina320.com
Subject: [C320-list] FW: Battery charger/inverter


Paul,



Bert was right on with his recommendation for a 40 amp charger... you want
10% of your battery bank capacity in Amp-Hrs.

Here is something else to think about...Before you replace your marine,
lead/acid 4Ds (which a really a hybrid starting/deep cycle battery, at
approx 205 AH), consider switching to golf car batteries (220 AH). Others
have suggested going to AGM's but I found that a tad pricy.

Here is a link to some reference material...

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/boat_battery_basics.htm

A true (lead/acid) deep cycle battery can tolerate being discharged 80%
whereas the hybrid (lead/acid) batteries should only be discharged 50%. You
must be doing something right, however, having gotten 6 years of life on
your last pair!! 

Also, four golf car batteries are also easier to handle than the 2 4D's. Of
course, you may want to add a starting battery. This will give you the added
confidence to run the house bank way down and still be able to start the
engine.

There are several of these conversions photographed on the C320IA website...

http://www.catalina320.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=StartingBatt
Shelf

http://www.catalina320.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album86

http://www.catalina320.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=6-Volt-Batte
ries-and-Solar-Panel

http://www.catalina320.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album31

Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.



Karl Mielenhausen

2000 C320 Hull#690 "Silver Lining"

New Bern, NC

http://pages.suddenlink.net/kmielen/

From: PDCatalina320 at aol.com [mailto: PDCatalina320 at aol.com]

To: c320-list at catalina320.com

Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 01:58:55 EST

Subject: [C320-list] Battery charger/inverter



I am about to replace my 2 4D's since they are now 6 years old. I hear it
is also a good time to replace the 25 amp flyback charger.  A
inverter/charger like the xantrex Freedom 10 sounds nice but will my 4 awg
wires  to the batteries take the  50 amps charging that the freedom puts
out?  I don't want to pull larger wires. Or is it better to just get the
xantrex truecharge 20  and do the inverter seperate.  Any info will  help.
Thanks                                Paul,    850
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