[C320-list] FW: Battery charger/inverter

[Darrell]

Hi Jeff,

My 4D's have been paralleled as a house bank for a couple years now and I 
have a good 3 stage charger. When I check the fluid level in the batteries 
about every 2 months, I find three cells on one battery lower than the rest 
( never dangerously low) Both batteries were replaced at the same time. The 
battery that is a little lower is the one wired to the charger. Could that 
be the reason it looses more fluid?

Darrell


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeffrey Hare" <Catalina at thehares.com>
To: <kmielen at iwon.com>; "'C320-List'" <c320-list at catalina320.com>
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] FW: Battery charger/inverter


>
> 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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