Odyssey 1070ah House Bank Battery

[Jeff Millar]

Need to know the best size Alternator and Charger to recharge my house bank battery consisting of 5 Odyssey PC1800 12V Batteries rated at 214AH each
for a total of 1070AH's
Considering an Ample Power 160amp Large frame 2 pulley alternator
and a 200amp smart 3 stage Charger

Any experience help would be appreciated

[OceanPlanet]

As much as you can get. You could use TWO of those alternators in parallel (with the ability to turn one or both off when powering). Or one or two 250A x 12V American Power, or any of several others out there. What size engine(s) do you have?

Note that Odyssey prefers a slightly higher float charge (temp-regulated, of course) than most others. Be sure to read their charging reqs.

Too bad you didn't switch to a 24V system...

[Jeff Millar]

Thank you for your reply.

I have a rebuilt Perkins 4236, 85 hp and an 8kw Northernlights gen. set.

Not to late to switch over to 24 volt system, as I am in a refit.

Obviously I want redundancy for live aboard life style. Will hopefully add
Spartan Watermaker, Catalina 300.

Will include Solar and Wind generation. Also looking at the Mastervolt
charger / inverter combination. Has a 200 amp charge.

My first consideration would be running the engine for at least one hour
each day, hauling anchor and moving out.
Do not expect to see much shore power.

Also considering new windlass '' Lofrans Falkon horizontal unit with dual
gypsy. And impressed with '' Anchorlift Atlantis '' vertical unit, 5 year warranty
but available only as 24 volts.

Would seriously consider 24v system. Existing lighting switched over to led's
at 12 volts ?

What do you think ?

[downunder]

Check out this link by S/V Jedi on their refit on this site.

Should answer some/many of your questions.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...tem-29667.html

[OceanPlanet]

Jeff,
There is lots of good stuff to learn in S/V Jedi's AC thread.

Also ask yourself this question...do you really need AC, how much inverter power do you need? That is, aside from being able to charge with the inverter-charger now & then. If you truly don't plan to be at a dock very often it's something to think about. Of course if you have air conditioning...then there's not many options.

Note S/V Jedi's load-sharing Victron inverter-charger, I can 2nd good experience with those, the BMV602 monitors, Orion DC-DC converters, etc.

Re 12V vs 24V, add up all your 12V loads (the lights, etc.) and look at powering them with the Orion DC-DC converter. All the big loads (and charging) should be 24V and you'll be gaining some efficiency. Every bit of which adds up when you're producing your own energy offshore.

Use as much inverter-charger power (more than one can be paralleled) powered from the Genset as you can afford (within reason), and that the Genset can handle. Also, your engine will have no problem driving two large 160A x 28V alternators, though be sure to be able to turn them off (using switches in series to the on/off ign input on the external regulators).

However, how you mount the dual alternators is a whole other discussion...with belt and friction losses you could draw in the neighborhood of 20hp (10hp each) from the engine at full output. That's a lot, and makes the design of the layout important (and possibly expensive).

But being able to get 300+A @ 28V from your engine could save you lots of charging hours and possibly eliminate the need for the Genset altogether (bringing you back to the "how much AC?" question).