[C320-list] Battery Jump Starter

[jim brown]

Just a curiosity question while on the subject of dead batteries. Has anyone had success using the decompressing levers on the Yanmars when the battery is just groaning and almost dead?
Jim Brown
      From: danny jensen <danny at jensenshouse.com>
 To: "C320-List at Catalina320.com" <C320-List at catalina320.com> 
 Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 9:56 PM
 Subject: Re: [C320-list] Battery Jump Starter
   
Jeff Brown,

THE EXPENSIVE WAY I DID IT ( I agree with Jeff and did the work myself)
The optima batteries are very small. Perhaps you could get one of these for
$170.The cost to parallel the 2 4D batteries and wire the Optima starting
battery to your charger may be $500 including labor. Then you need an ACR
$70 to charge and isolate the battery bank and you need to create a battery
shelf ~$200. So this is a $1,000-1,200 project you you hire it done..
Here is a link to my project where I followed some of Jeff's guidelines.

http://www.catalina320.com/mediagallery/download.php?mid=20131126191643492


THE CHEAPER WAY THAT WOULD WORK
An alternative would be to buy and optima battery(real battery), Keep it on
a cheap car charger in your garage and take it to Catalina with you or when
your risk is higher and you will be in flat water when you need a jump. At
Catalina Island you will likely be on a mooring or at anchor so you will
have some time to haul out the optima. You can also use this battery to
emergency start your cars etc.

Buy a power post like this:

https://www.bluesea.com/products/2016/Dual_PowerPost_-_Two_5_16in-18_Studs

Also by some pre-made large 1/0 awg Jumper cables  with ring
terminals/power lugs extending from the power post to the optima. 5 foot
one red / one  black $35 each

http://www.genuinedealz.com/1-0-awg-custom-battery-cables


If you are dead in the water.It will take you about 5-10 minutes to rig
this up depending on seas and location of starting battery

  1. Haul out the optima and place on the cabin sole next to the 4D
  battery A (Forward battery?)
  2. Switch battery select to off.
  3. Kill off all loads in dc panel
  4. Remove positive and negative off 4D Battery A and connect to power
  post
  5. Connect Jumper cables to power post and optima jumper battery
  6. Switch battery select to A. (not both)
  7. Start engine.
  8. switch to battery B or both to charge B and see if B can start your
  engine now. You should be reading 14v on volt meter when charging.


Costs:
Optima battery or other spill proof AGM $170
car charger $40
Blue Sea Power Post $20
Jumper cables $70
Total $300.00

Danny
972



On Mon, Sep 28, 2015 at 3:15 PM, Jeff Hare <Catalina at thehares.com> wrote:

> In my opinion, whether this solution is a good one, really "depends" on
> what you do.  If you're a day sailor, it'll get you by if your house bank
> isn't too dead, but it's not really much of a cost savings (if any) and it
> takes work and attention to detail to be sure that it's recharged when you
> need it.
>
> The benefits of having actual AGM starting battery is that it will stay
> charged at the dock and while under power (just like the battery in your
> car).
>
> If your house bank is really drawn down you may have a serious problem
> connecting a battery pack to jump the starter.  The reason is that the dead
> battery where you connect the jumper will want to draw a most of the
> current available from the starter pack and not allow enough extra to start
> the engine.
>
> You have to read the C30 test carefully.  The C30 HAD a starting battery.
> They replaced the Starting battery with a small one that was mostly dead.
> This test is designed to test whether a charger pack when connected to a
> small dead starting battery will be able to start a C30's engine.  This is
> different from connecting a charger pack to a very large dead battery.
>
> When you connect a charger pack to the terminals in this situation, it is
> very different from putting them across a dead 4D with 10x the capacity and
> expecting there to be enough left over to run the starter.  It might work,
> but chances are it won't when you really need it.
>
> On the other hand, if you had a starting battery in the C320, and it died
> and your house batteries were also dead, then you can easily isolate the
> house batteries (with the A-B-Both switch), so in this case, it's very much
> like jump starting a car and the charger pack will probably work fine.
> ...but then you had a starting battery already that should only be there
> for starting the engine...
>
> Also remember that if you play games trying to start your engine using
> only the charger pack without the main batteries connected, you risk
> blowing your alternator diodes if you accidentally remove the charger pack
> for an instant, like when you try to reconnect the house bank so that it'll
> recharge those while under power.
>
> So... In my mind, it's too complex to say "it'll always work".
>
> Good luck!
> -Jeff
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: C320-list [mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com] On
> Behalf Of sailorlew at aol.com
> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 4:17 PM
> To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] Battery Jump Starter
>
> Here's results of a test done on the C28 list Lew
>
>
>  https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/catalina28/conversations/topics/15796
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeffrey Brown <oceanblues at mac.com>
> To: Catalina C320 List List <C320-List at Catalina320.com>
> Sent: Mon, Sep 28, 2015 4:10 pm
> Subject: [C320-list] Battery Jump Starter
>
>
> After speaking with Dick last week (thanks again Dick) he told me about
> his backup battery installation for starting the motor should he drain his
> two 4D batteries.  It sounds like a great setup but a bit beyond my
> technical capabilities at this time.  However, I was wondering if I could
> simply use one of those car battery jump starter units, would that work in
> a pinch as well?  If so, where would I connect it to jump start the
> engine?  Having a battery backup system for our needs would be for the few
> trips a year to Catalina.  Our local sailing, when I’ve accidentally
> drained the battery we’ve been able to just sail back to the slip….of
> course if there was no wind we would have been in trouble.
>
>
> Jeff Brown
> "Out of the blue" Dana Point, CA
> Catalina 320, Hull
> 78
> (949) 350-5123
> oceanblues at mac.com
>
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