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Old 06-01-2016, 13:40   #31
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Re: (2) 6 volt golf carts as a starting battery

A Group 24 auto battery will work fine to start an and under 30hp diesel. If you want, can add a little insurance and go to Group 27. Keep the 1,2, all and off make 'before break' switch. Keep the 6v batteries for a house bank. FWIW, in my non refrigeration equipped boat with self steering vane have gotten by just fine with 2 6v GC batteries in series for 220 amp/hrs of storage. Probably a good idea to go to 440 amp/hrs or more if you have refrigeration and rely on an auto-pilot to steer the boat..
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Old 06-01-2016, 13:57   #32
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I went the same route you are proposing for a few years. But I was never convinced of accuracy of Link 20 monitoring the two backs.

In those years I had two chargers die and replaced the banks twice.

Replaced batteries with Optima Bluetop. Removed the ACR (not say that was an issue) Installed a SmartGuage with SmartBank Advanced.

Easy install - No losses - Even battery levels - Never been left dead, as before.

SmartGauge Electronics - SmartGauge and SmartBank wiring diagrams

Cheers
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Old 06-01-2016, 15:38   #33
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Re: (2) 6 volt golf carts as a starting battery

I have a hard time understanding why folks want to complicate their lives with starting batteries. Even Nigel Calder, who shows them in a lot of his diagrams, says they are are really not necessary and add needless complication (which is something cruisers would seem to want to avoid). I have cruised for 25 years--a couple of those years in Central America, and had only golf cart batteries in two banks and no starting battery. Never missed it. Always cranks up my engine fine. Golf cart batteries will start most diesels without a problem. I run both my banks together most of the time (I have about a 125 ah budget on 440 ah of golf battieries) , but--if I ever had a bad cell--which has never happened yet, I could just identify the cell in the bank, isolate it, wait a couple hours and the good bank would recover enough to start the engine. I am not sure why folks want to complicate their lives with a lot of exotic systems and products that introduce complexity to your systems, and would require significant investigation and repair parts to keep goin.. Keep it simple and learn the language and mix it up with the locals in the countries you visit. It is a lot better than spending your time trying to repair a complex system and talking with other cruisers about amps and systems.
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Old 06-01-2016, 15:44   #34
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Re: (2) 6 volt golf carts as a starting battery

On our boat, it is a 50' run from the house bank to the engines. And we have two engines.

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Old 06-01-2016, 16:04   #35
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Re: (2) 6 volt golf carts as a starting battery

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete the Cat View Post
I have a hard time understanding why folks want to complicate their lives with starting batteries. Even Nigel Calder, who shows them in a lot of his diagrams, says they are are really not necessary and add needless complication (which is something cruisers would seem to want to avoid). I have cruised for 25 years--a couple of those years in Central America, and had only golf cart batteries in two banks and no starting battery. Never missed it. Always cranks up my engine fine. Golf cart batteries will start most diesels without a problem. I run both my banks together most of the time (I have about a 125 ah budget on 440 ah of golf battieries) , but--if I ever had a bad cell--which has never happened yet, I could just identify the cell in the bank, isolate it, wait a couple hours and the good bank would recover enough to start the engine.
Having been lucky enough to run all the batteries flat by using the 'both' position on the battery switch, think it's really stupid not to have a dedicated starting battery and to use the 'both' position on the switch only when charging the batteries. As you noted, with the switch set to 'both', the juice from a good battery bank flows to the bad bank leaving you both banks dead. If you are lucky, the good bank may recover when switched to that bank alone but I haven't been that lucky.

Don't see why it's so complicated to have a starter battery, a group 27 12v in my case and a house bank, 4 6v Golf Cart batteries. Start the engine on the #1 starter battery and leave it there to charge that battery up then switch to both or #2 house bank to charge that battery.
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Old 06-01-2016, 19:26   #36
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Re: (2) 6 volt golf carts as a starting battery

Why are people using switches? Battery switches (off-1-2-both) are for small fishing/recreational boats, not cruising boats that have house banks. Use smart battery combiners that will open the circuit between the banks based on voltage.

What am I missing?
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