[C320-list] Battery Bank - how to go from 2 to 1

[Jeanne DeLaCruz]

Hi Bruce,

Sounds like you have a similar charging system to mine.  I had a 20 amp Promariner charger which cooked my one year old flooded 4D batteries.  After dealing with the mess of the flooded batteries, I decided to go for the AGMs but first I had to make some decisions about a new designed charging system.

This is my final system which I have just completed.  It was expensive and first class. $$ well spent.

1. 80 amp Hitachi alternator Which bolts on to the Yanmar with no problem.  Replaced 55 amp Hitachi.  

2. Balmar Max Charger MC612H with harness
Alternator temp sensor

3. Balmar Digital Duo Charger
Battery temp sensor

4. Xantrex Linklite Battery Monitor

5. Lewco 40 amp shore charger

6. West marine  2 4D AGM House and 1 group 31 AGM start.  All fitted under starboard settee. 


 Jeanne
#846
Cuttin' Curves
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bruce Heyman<mailto:bruceheyman at cox.net> 
  To: C320-List at Catalina320.com<mailto:C320-List at Catalina320.com> 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 6:05 PM
  Subject: Re: [C320-list] Battery Bank - how to go from 2 to 1


  Alan,
  On hull 671 the two house batteries and one emergency start battery are all
  under the starboard settee.  We have the two batteries in parallel via the
  one two both switch and the emergency start battery is isolated and with a
  separate Blue Sea ON/OFF switch.

  If you have a bunch of upgrade projects already that you are working on I
  would recommend that you punt until you are ready to tackle it.  It tends to
  be a slippery slope.  First you decide to put in larger batteries for the
  house bank and then you decide to add an emergency start battery.  Well that
  means that you probably need a larger alternator which means you will want
  an external smart regulator.  Probably will need an upgraded AC charger
  (though you may want to fire the Pro Mariner battery terminator now).  For
  the ultimate you will want something like a Link 10 or Link 20 so that you
  can measure and count all of the coulombs going into and out of the battery.
  For now, drop back 15 yards and punt, IMHO.
  Bruce
  Somerset #671 SoCal

  -----Original Message-----
  From: c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com<mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com>
  [mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com] On Behalf Of Alan Goodman
  Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 3:18 PM
  To: c320-list at lists.catalina320.com<mailto:c320-list at lists.catalina320.com>
  Subject: [C320-list] Battery Bank - how to go from 2 to 1



  Having followed the ongoing discussion about house batteries, I am
  considering combining my two banks into one.  Since the 4D batteries are on
  opposite sides of the boat, how have people done this?  Some of the options
  would be to combine the leads for the batteries at the back of the
  1-2-off-both switch or run wire under the sole to tie the batteries together
  while removing one lead at the back of the 1-2-off-both switch.  Also, I
  have a 10 year old Pro Mariner charger which people do not seem to be too
  fond of.  It is a three bank charger, so I could add a dedicated start
  battery, but given it is so much smaller than the 4D batteries, will that
  cause a problem when the charger operates?  I'm spending a ton of money on
  other stuff this winter and from what I can tell the current setup works OK,
  so maybe I should leave well enough alone until I need to replace the
  batteries.  Thoughts?  Alan, hull 67, Holland Michigan
         
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