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Old 08-05-2018, 18:11   #16
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Boat: Wildcat 35, Hobie 33
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Re: Solar/alternator battery bank charging questions

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Originally Posted by mitiempo View Post
The start battery will be charged fully often. It will take very little current to charge the start battery. When you are charging from any source the ACR will combine at 13 volts. This happens with the alt, solar (which you have), or shore side charging. The ACR, wired properly between house positive and start positive, only cares about voltage, not its source. All charge sources should go to the house bank. I have wired many boats this way without any issues. Mainesail also recommends this, as does Blue Seas.

Yes it is a good idea to wire a switch to start from the house bank if it is ever necessary. Start batteries, like all, do have a life which will end some day.
Similar to my set up. Alternators direct to house bank (fused of course) then start batts are combined when house reaches 13V. Never any issues w start batt charge (well...except when a combiner relay failed and I didnt notice till the starboard engine wouldnt start [emoji21])

Good for boat storage too, solar/shore can keep all batts topped up with automatic combining.
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Old 08-05-2018, 20:31   #17
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Re: Solar/alternator battery bank charging questions

I 100% agree that **ideally** all charge sources should go directly to House.

I'm just saying when that isn't practical **for the Alt**, heavy enough wiring and a robust ACR like Blue Sea's ML 500A will allow charging House without any significant delays.

Lots of people go on about chatter, but when the relays delay 30-90sec it really is not a problem IRL.

Obviously no one should put solar on Starter.
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Old 09-05-2018, 01:39   #18
rom
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Re: Solar/alternator battery bank charging questions

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Originally Posted by belizesailor View Post
Similar to my set up. Alternators direct to house bank (fused of course) then start batts are combined when house reaches 13V. Never any issues w start batt charge (well...except when a combiner relay failed and I didnt notice till the starboard engine wouldnt start [emoji21])
But then why don't you start your engines from the house battery ? Simple, more power and no relay failure.
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Old 09-05-2018, 05:25   #19
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Re: Solar/alternator battery bank charging questions

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Originally Posted by rom View Post
But then why don't you start your engines from the house battery ? Simple, more power and no relay failure.
Not as silly an idea as you might think.... if you have a big enough house bank, and you manage it well enough that you never over discharge it, it will always be able to start the engine.... properly set up it can actually be better that way - especially with the likes of very large banks of AGM, or lithium.....
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Old 09-05-2018, 06:36   #20
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Re: Solar/alternator battery bank charging questions

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Originally Posted by rom View Post
But then why don't you start your engines from the house battery ? Simple, more power and no relay failure.
Some prefer that set up, but its not common. I prefer isolated starts. Redundancy has saved my butt more than once. Heavy duty relay failure is rare (once in 17 years in my case).
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Old 09-05-2018, 14:39   #21
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Re: Solar/alternator battery bank charging questions

FYI

Blue Sea has built the Starter Isolation feature into both their ML and SI series ACR lines.

It does take some care and attention (even for a professional) to wire it up properly, but once installed it works faultlessly, and IMO the 500A ML-ACR is as bulletproof a bit of kit as you'll find anywhere.
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