Battery Bank

[impi]

From all advice received on my side and the way I keep my battery banks ...... Best is to keep them charged up as much as possible and for as long as possible.
Unfortunately I do consume a lot of power (350 amps per day) but Since I am no longer on a marina and living on anchor remotely, I use my genset to run all electrical appliances such as washing drying machine etc. whilst at the same time powering my Victron chargers (240 ah) for bulk charge. Once the batteries kick into absorption mode I let the solar panels do the rest.
When I start engines I have two Balmar alternators pushing 150 ah each viz a smart regulator and centerfielder (theoretically 300 ah availability).
I do as much as I can to keep my batteries fully charged and never let them ever drop below 60% battery bank capacity.
Works great on my boat

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by Seahunter

Even at 10 watts output without a controller a solar panel nearly .75 amp per hour (over 18 Ahrs per day) will be produced. This is enough to boil a wet cell away in a matter of days. As well a calculation based on 13.2 VDC (closer to a real voltage) and 10W produces nearly .76 Amp not .6 Amp.

It's a common myth that it's AC current that causes corrosion. A boat's main corrosive enemy is DC voltage.If the excess DC voltage exceeds a .5 VDC output you're going to start blowing off zincs. Here's a direct quote from ABYC. "Certainly it has been the ABYC party line for some time that AC is not a contributor to the metal corrosion we typically see on boats. There is no doubt, and certainly not much debate, however, that common causes of corrosion are distributed by the AC system at a dock, via the grounding conductor, or the green wire. These causes can be either at a galvanic corrosion level, or possibly by a stray DC current, induced at battery level potentials."

You might want to avoid quoting the ABYC if you do not fully understand what you are quoting or you are extrapolating what has been said to your own meaning. If you have a poorly wired DC system, you have a poorly wired DC system, the solar panel is not a contributor to the underlying problem which would need to be fixed either way..

I have a customer with a 460Ah bank and he used 10W panel with only blocking diodes, no controller.. His biggest problem was that he could not get the bank from 80% SOC to 100% no matter how sunny it was or how long he waited in-between sails. Over charging was a non issue but chronically undercharging his bank can be so I installed a 130W panel & Genasun MPPT. He's now cruising along and getting back to 100% weekly vs. never getting back to 100%.

Oh and this bank is now 5 years old so I guess he didn't "fry it" in a few days with his unregulated 10W panel...

Here's a good thread...

Why Do Inexperienced People, with No Knowledge, Offer Advice

[Seahunter]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

Oh and this bank is now 5 years old so I guess he didn't "fry it" in a few days with his unregulated 10W panel...
Here's a good thread...

You're right about the thread, there are a lot of "experts" out there; and you're certainly entitled to "your expert" opinion. Perhaps you should reread the post.