[C320-list] AGM Batteries

[Charles Greenwell]

Sam,

 

I have the same setup.  I assume that you are not using your FM20
currently,  if so, I would be interested in how you set yours up. Here
are a couple of things I found out:

 

1.       The smart charger will kick out 100 amps.  On my boat, the
wires from the charger to the batteries were sized as AWG 4's, one to
each battery.  While this size wire can handle the amperage, the voltage
drop at the batteries is low for the tickle charge.  I changed them to
AWG 0.

2.       If you use the old wiring, there are fuses in line at the
batteries on the charge wires, They are rated at 30 amps.  They need to
be replaced. Otherwise they will blow the first time you charge your
batteries.  Additionally, if you put in higher rated fuses, the fuse
sockets will overheat, melt, and smell up the boat. Somewhere in this
list there is a discussion on replacing them with circuit breakers.

3.       The Freedom Marine 20 does not allow you to charge 2 isolated
banks.  It only has one bank and a trickle.  At least the one I have is
this way.  Therefore you will connect both battery charge lines to one
output and use the trickle for your starting battery.  I bought a
battery isolator (also discussed in this group recently) mounted it next
the charger to solve this problem but have since removed it after adding
a starting battery and related hardware.

4.       The inverter will suck your batteries dry under high loads,
like the microwave, hair dryer, ..... Get a Honda Generator to charge
them back up.

5.       By the Link2000 battery monitor.  It will help you tremendously
in monitoring the batteries.  It also allows you to limit the amount of
electricity the charger/inverter will draw and put out.  This was
important for me in the beginning, until I changed the wires and fuses.
It allowed me to limit the output of the charger and still use the
existing wires and 30 amp fuses.

 

Sorry for being long winded.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Randy