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belliswood

Member
Going to replace my batteries

Going to replace my batteries this year. Currently I only have 2 and they are not deep cycle so I am going to replace with 3.

I am thinking about putting 2 (of course) for the house but also want 1 of those to be the starboard cranking battery.( I do have a battery cross over switch if it gets to low to crank so it can be cranked off of the port battery.) Then the 3rd one for the port starting battery.

I will put the main house usage on the 1 battery and just minor stuff on the starboard starting battery.

I would like to use deep cycle marine batteries for all 3. Is this alright. That way I can use the starboard cranking battery to run the flybridge electronics and the port battery keep only for starting. Also this way all the batteries will be of the same type and age.

I am looking at the Ever Start MAXX 29D Marine 875 CCA and 125 Amp Hours. Would this work for what I need. We only spend 1 night on the hook at a time and only need for the lights and frig.

What are your comments / thoughts.

Thanks

Barry
 
"suggestions:

determine wha

"suggestions:

determine what your total load is and make sure your battery plan accomodates it.

I'd be inclined to use the deep cycle for the house and starting batteries for the engine. The composition being the same (eg AGM, etc) is driven by your charger's capability.

Consider any growth: need an inverter, etc? better to add it to the design, now, and implement it later.

Make sure you have enough battery switches to provide redundancy, at least for the cranking batteries.

There have been a couple posts on this topic; you may want to search for them as there is some good info contained in them."
 
"I've used all deep cycle

"I've used all deep cycle batteries in mine for years, with the Port engine starting effortlessly on just one. On the other side--which has multiple batteries running an inverter--I've never had a problem starting the engine--and even when the batteries were too low to make coffee!

Jeff"
 
"Two Big Red Surrettes 8Ds for

"Two Big Red Surrettes 8Ds for the house.....two starting batteries for the engines, (one port and one starboard) and also the genset.

2500 watt inverter from the house batteries, charged in cruise from the port engine alternator. Start batteries charged from the starboard engine alternator....and lucky me.......gonna figure out how to install/wire/charge two batteries in the bow for a new thruster and two batteries in the engine room for a new stern thruster...wires...cables....isolators ...AC...DC gruummbble..... grumbble
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Got some juice there Don? Did

Got some juice there Don? Did you install these thrusters recently? I know my 2500W inverter/charger can restore my batteries power VERY quickly. Thrusters can take some power but would you be better off looking into the alternators output since the engines are running anyway?
 
"Don: Your post made me laugh!

"Don: Your post made me laugh! Thanks.

I've gone batty (poor pun) trying to keep all five of my batteries charged up, and here's how things have worked out. It took years for me to figure this all out--I'm kinda slow--but it does work well

To wit:

Port (starting type) battery: I use a small trickle and float charger.

Starboard (and house): Three deep discharge batteries in two banks charged by a dual bank charger--one battery on one bank, and the other two on the other bank. This requires keeping the Perko switch in positions # 1 or # 2 (or OFF) to separate the charger outputs.

Auxiliary battery: Also known as my "coffee in the morning back up battery". I have another small, trickle and float charger for it.

All three chargers are "safe types" that don't over-charge the batteries. That said, I still keep an eye on electrolyte levels and carry distilled water on board.

Finally, if you're wondering why I use a trickle charger on the port starting battery, that's all it needs. The alternator recharges it after start up, and the trickle and float charger keeps it that way in the slip. The house batteries, by comparison, get run down a bunch operating the inverter, so the 'big' charger refills them at the slip. I usually switch the Perko to position # 1 (which is also ONE battery) to ease the work that my alternator has to do.

In other words, let the power company do the work back at the slip!

Jeff

PS: I have an additional Perko switch for the Auxiliary battery and, being a Marinette, it has a switch operated battery combining solenoid. That allows jumping the house to port batteries if needed at the touch of a switch. Handy, but I rarely need it. "
 
"Morning Al,

The thrusters

"Morning Al,

The thrusters go on/in during the Spring, April-May. I have looked at all the options and I think I will bleed off the inverter to a 10amp smart charger when underway for just the bow thruster. My inverter is always on when underway because of the fridge...boat was built in the USA and has a standard Kenmore 110V 16 cuft fridge. (prior to me putting an inverter in, the previous owner cruised using the 7.5 KW genset for his fridge but I didn't think that was too economical so switched to the inverter.)

We spend a lot of time in the 1000 Islands area and at the docks there is no power so I run a 100 foot cord into the woods and run a Honda 2000 Generator which powers the fridge and other electronics in the boat including a 60 amp 3 bank battery charger. One would think that would be hard on a Honda 2000 but it does everything we need except air conditioning and if I have to use air, I'll fire up the onboard genset.

At night everything goes off and we use the inverter to power the fridge. Using that procedure I can go three days utilizing just the inverter for anything AC (excluding the battery charger) and not have the Honda running.

In the marina, shore power runs everything and the inverter is not required.

Now the stern thruster will have it's two batteries as well and I think I'll tap off the alternator that charges the two start batteries to keep those two batteries up.

Fortunately I have an electronic marvel mechanic that knows how to do just about everything and so far he has been a God send and has never hooked me up with anything but advantages as far as feasibility of the whole system goes.

I should point out that the thrusters will be running on 24V, thus the isolators etc.

The biggest advantage to being an inland water ways cruiser for 6 months, and not a blue water boater like so many of you is that when it all turns to puppy excretement I can just swim ashore and call for help!!!
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"Morning Jeff....

Well I wo

"Morning Jeff....

Well I wore a 10 inch pencil down to a "nub" drawing and erasing your electrical set-up and that was after reading in 3 or 4 times.
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When all is said and done it looks like a marvel of electronic engineering and I hope you have kept diagrams of the wiring for anyone who may be lucky enough to purchase your boat in the future !!!

It took awhile to fully comprehend the trickle charger on the Port battery and I see your logic now but I guess I would think that it is not really required. A good start battery kept charged by the alternator when cruising should keep a full charge for a very long time...would it not?"
 
"My only comment will apply to

"My only comment will apply to an deep offshore environment. If you loose an engine, make sure the remaining engine starting and the house continue to get a charge from the working engine. I know at least one case where a friend had to drive from Cat Island to Ft Laud on a crippled Viking, around 300 miles. Myself, I had to drive from San Sal to Freeport with no working alternator in front of Hurricane Bertha, about 200 miles."
 
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