[C320-list] Starting Battery

[pjaarch]

Thank you Jeff for the wonderful and very clear directions.  I will be 
installing the battery this weekend.  This descriptions should be on the web 
site.  Very well written.  That you again.

Paul Adison
C320 #722
"Rough Draft"

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <catalina at thehares.com>
To: <C320-List at Catalina320.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 1:29 PM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Starting Battery


> Hey Paul,
>
> It should work fine.  The wires that might be on the forward battery 
> terminals are:  (Sorry this got longer than I anticipated)
>
> Fwd 4d GROUND:
> 1) A large BLACK ground wire connecting to the other 4D ground terminal
> 2) A smaller BLACK ground wire going to the Windlass ground
>
> Fwd 4d POWER:
> 3) A Large RED power going to the battery selector switch
> 4) A smaller RED power coming from the battery Charger.
> 5) A smaller RED power going to the Windlass breaker
>
> The general idea here is to jumper the pair of 4Ds in Parallel. (+ to  +) 
> and (- to -) The Grounds are already connected by a short jumper.   You 
> just do the same thing with the Power terminals.
>
> Then on the forward 4D: you remove the wire going to the selector (#3 
> above) and the Shore Power wire (#4 above) and connect those to the  power 
> terminal of the starting battery.
>
> For the Negative terminal of the starting battery, you simply need to  add 
> a short FAT jumper over to the Negative terminal of the forward 4D  to 
> complete the task.
>
> So you end up with:
> ===================
> * A single large house battery bank that will provide a few more  usable 
> Amp hours than when using them individually.  The battery  selector 
> position that used to select the AFT 4D is now the "House"  battery.
>
> * An emergency Starting battery that can be selected by using the 
> selector position that used to be the FORWARD 4D.  This is now the 
> "Starting" battery.
>
> * Normally you can just leave the battery switch selected to "House"  and 
> use the house bank to start the engine, and run the world.  If the  house 
> bank won't crank the engine because it's too run down, just  switch to the 
> Starting battery and start it up.  It'll be fully  charged since it's 
> isolated from the house bank.  Switch to ALL when  motoring to recharge 
> the house bank and top off the starting battery.
>
> NOTE: The Shore Power Charger will charge both the house and starting 
> battery *automatically* whenever you're plugged in regardless of what  you 
> do with the selector switch since it bypasses the selector switch.
>
> My Recommendation is to add a Blue Seas ACR (my preference) or battery 
> combiner that will automatically keep the starting battery charged 
> whenever there is a charge source on the house battery.  Then, for all 
> intents and purposes, you just leave the selector set to "House" and  the 
> starting battery is automatically maintained both when motoring  and when 
> plugged into shore power.
>
> It's a great upgrade to add a Link 2000 monitor or digital volt meter  on 
> the panel to keep an eye on battery voltages.  The analog meter on  the 
> panel is really useless. :)
>
> I would also suggest an automotive AGM starting battery.  An Exide 
> Orbital or something similar. They can be mounted in any position,  charge 
> very fast and don't leak.  Don't make the mistake of getting a 
> combination deep cycle/starting battery for this, this is important.
>
> BTW, my starting battery is sitting on a shelf I added in the space  just 
> forward of the forward 4D.  I think there are pictures of the  shelf on 
> the website.
>
> Cheers!
> -Jeff
>
> PS: Feel free to give me a call on my cell anytime if you just want to 
> chat about details or alternatives.  (603) 490-9624
>
>
> Quoting Paul Adison <pjaarch at verizon.net>:
>
>> I love the idea of this but does this really work?  I have (3) wires
>> running to the terminals on the forward battery (#2).  I don't know
>> what they all are.  The wiring diagram only shows 1 wire to each
>> terminal.  Don't I have to isolate only the wire from the switch to the
>> new starting battery?  Then I can run the 2 4D batteries  in parallel
>> as mentioned below.  Another friend of mine ran a new 4D from the port
>> side and ran it parallel to battery #1.  Very simple.  My boat lists to
>> port and I don't want to add any more weight to the port side.  I would
>> love to know the answer to this.  I feel that I am missing something.
>>
>> On May 26, 2010, at 8:39 PM, Robert Seastream wrote:
>>
>>> One of the simplest solutions comes from Jeff Hare.  Presuming your 
>>> batteries are under the starboard settee, place whatever  'starting' 
>>> battery you purchase in the space forward of those  batteries. 
>>> Disconnect the leads from the battery furthest forward  (battery 1,  I 
>>> think), and connect those leads to the 'starting'  battery.  Next,  buy 
>>> two heavy gauge battery cables (3 feet or so),  and parallel the 
>>> original house battery 1 to battery 2.  The end  result is that  you'll 
>>> have a 'start' battery on position one of  the battery  switch, and have 
>>> both 'house' batteries on position 2  of the  battery switch.  I put 
>>> black tape over switch position 1 as  a  caution that it wasn't to be 
>>> used as a 'house' battery.
>>>
>>> Bob Seastream
>>> Intuition # 906
>>>
>>>
>>> On May 26, 2010, at 4:51 PM, jpmesa at aol.com wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ours is under the starboard sette the area (middle) next to the 
>>>> holding tank.  We also have an extra battery switch so we can 
>>>> separate the starter battery from the main system when we are at 
>>>> anchor.  John     Holokai 2
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Sam & Suz Weston <ssweston at embarqmail.com>
>>>> To: C320-List <C320-List at Catalina320.com>
>>>> Sent: Wed, May 26, 2010 12:43 pm
>>>> Subject: [C320-list] Starting Battery
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'm considering adding a starting battery to complement my two   D-4's. 
>>>> Could
>>>> omeone help me with the placement of the battery and the   connection 
>>>> process ?
>>>>
>>>
>
>
>