Battery questions

[Pacemaker34]

Hello,
I am looking to replace/upgrade the batteries in my 34’ sportfish and am looking for ideas.

What I need to power;
Starting-2 big blocks and a 7.3kw genset
House-full size Norcold fridge/freezer, 2 Lowrance chart plotters, radio and lighting

I have a ProMariner 3 bank smart charger and I’m plugged into shorepower during the week. The boat is generally used for 3 day weekends with one or two full weeks per summer where we are away from shore power for up to 3 days.
Right now I have 4 lead acid batteries on the boat, one isolated group 24 marine starting battery for the genset, one group 27 dual purpose battery connected to position one on the battery selector switch that I generally keep in reserve for starting the mains, and 2 group 27 dual purpose batteries hooked in parallel, connected to position two on the battery selector switch that are primarily used as the house batteries.
I am thinking about redoing the starting batteries as follows, one marine starting battery for each of the main engines and one for the genset. I am thinking of having these batteries isolated from each other and the “ house” side of the boat. So the only charging these batteries would get would be from the alternator each is hooked to, i.e. a car battery.
For the house side I am thinking about getting four 6 volt golf cart batteries and dividing them evenly into two banks corresponding to 1 and 2 on the battery selector switch. These batteries would be charged via the ProMariner charger.
This will use about all the space I have for batteries.
Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.

[RainDog]

I would only have one house bank instead of the two. If you draw down your house bank too far, you can always use your starting battery to start the generator to recharge. More on that here: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-one-8617.html

[smac999]

only one house bank. and you defiantly want the engine alternators to charge the house as well. many ways to do this.

how many amps is your charger?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Pacemaker34.

What the earlier respondents said.

[noelex 77]

Welcome to forum.

The problem is your limited house batteries. The Household sized fridge/freezer is likely to draw a significant number of amp hours.

Even with your planned changes your relatively small house bank is going to have limited capacity and reasonably slow charge acceptance from the generator. I would see if some extra house batteries can be squeezed in somewhere.

My guess is that you are going to have to run the generator a couple of times a day when not moving between anchorages.

If you can measure your power draw and provide details battery charger and if/how long your engine run time might be some more meaningful estimations (rather than guesses) of performance can be worked out.

Two house banks is great addition to a long distance cruising boat that will be away from locations where suitable batteries can be purchased. However, I think it is an unnecessary complication in your case.

I would put all the new 6v batteries on position 2 of the battery switch.

[djmarchand]

In addition to the recommendations to only have one house battery bank (and 6V GC batteries) I would upgrade the charger to minimize genset running time. With 6 GC batteries you can charge at 100 amps or greater. You can add an IOTA 75 amp charger to your existing set up fairly cheaply. Or you can add a much more expensive inverter/charger that can charge at 100 amps.

[Pacemaker34]

Thanks for the input. After reading the responses I will plan on putting the house batteries on one bank.
The battery charger installed right now is a 40 amp ProMariner ProTech 1240i 3 bank smart charger, I will see how it works with the new configuration and change the charger if needed.

I'm not familar with automatic charging relays but after doing a little research it looks like the Blue Sea M-series ACR http://assets.bluesea.com/files/reso.../980014350.pdf may work if hooked between one of my main starting batteries and the house bank to charge when underway. (our avg. motoring time is 2-3 hrs/day)

I also would like to install a battery monitor for the house bank and was looking at the Xantrex LinkPRO or LinkLITE battery monitors, any thoughts?

[smac999]

the xantrax battery monitors are great.

[CharlieJ]

The Victron BMV602S battery monitor is, IMHO, far superior to the Xantrex family of battery monitors.

[FlyingCloud1937]

Originally Posted by CharlieJ

The Victron BMV602S battery monitor is, IMHO, far superior to the Xantrex family of battery monitors.

Well Charlie,

I guess, I am going to have to disagree with you on this one.

I posted on who the rightful patent owners was as to the Xantrex bat.mon, and everyone else is a licensee, and either buy a licenses, and off-shore manufacture, or have the OEM re-badge.

The Victron is a downsize, off-shore manufactured on licenses from the OEM.

It lacks bat temp, and MANY OF THE FEATURES.

Lloyd

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by FlyingCloud1937

Well Charlie,

I guess, I am going to have to disagree with you on this one.

I posted on who the rightful patent owners was as to the Xantrex bat.mon, and everyone else is a licensee, and either buy a licenses, and off-shore manufacture, or have the OEM re-badge.

The Victron is a downsize, off-shore manufactured on licenses from the OEM.

It lacks bat temp, and MANY OF THE FEATURES.

Lloyd

TBS Electronics in the Netherlands designed and manufacturers the current Xantrex monitors, not Xantrex. Xantrex simply re-badges them under a private labeling agreement.. This relationship started with the Xantrex XBM and continues today with the Link-Lite and Link-Pro.

TBS used to make them for Victron too. The Victron BMV-501 and Xantrex XBM were identical in every way except for the sticker that said Xantrex or Victron....

It is my understanding that Victron left TBS when they allowed Xantrex to have the same product BMV-501/Xantrex XBM.

[Singleprop]

Interesting article which compares VLA, VRLA, GEL and AGM....

http://www.battcon.com/PapersFinal20...hPaper2006.pdf