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Subject: TWL: RE: Batteries
From: ronald barr (rwhb@XXX.XXX)
Date: Wed Mar 14 2001 - 12:12:29 EST
Thanks for that Bob....tell me more about equalizing - there was
something on the list about it but I am not sure quite how one does it?
I also note that there is a West battery Combiner on board although what
it is doing that the Heart Interface isn't I am not yet clear about. How
do you run an inverter without using the house batteries - or do I
misunderstand you?
Ron Barr
M/V Lady Brookhaven
42" Hatteras LRC
Presently Man O'War Cay, Bahamas
-----Original Message-----
From: Thataway@XXX.XXX]
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2001 11:11 AM
To: rwhb@XXX.XXX
Subject: Batteries
Ron,
I think that the automatic generator starter works only when there
is a
110 volt demand--perhaps there is modification which will start
depending on
the 12 volt DC voltage.--actually should be easy to make a relay to do
this--or if the 110 from the inverter when it goes out.
I favor golf carts, because of their weight and durability--one golf
cart
= half of the A H of an 8 D and weighs half--two fit into an 8 D box. I
use
4 golf carts and they sustains my 12 cubic foot refer for about 14
hours, but
now (three years I find less time)--I am going to try a battery minder
and
see what happens. I got the Sams batteries--thinking that they were
Trojans,
some are, but the ones I got were not. I feel that there really is a
difference.
When I was cruising 6 months out of the year and leaving the boat in
storage (with the batterys on trickle charge) I changed out the
batteries
after 4 years. I was going Alaska to Florida/ via Panama, and did not
want
battery failure--the only one that failed was the gen set start, which
was
the only one I had not replaced--I got a Mexican battery and it lasted
well
for five years! On that boat I had 4 Golf carts for the house bank and
two
group 31 for engine start (used one at a time) plus a group 31 back up
electronics battery, a group 24 gen start and two group 27 windless. I
charged them off a 120 amp alternator on the main engine, or used 100
amps
off the inverter charger to charge the golf carts and then another 4 amp
Lewco charger for the rest of the batteries. I charged the engine start
first off the main engine, then switched in the house banks, and finally
the
windless and electronics. Refergeration was either engine driven or 110
volt
compresser driven cold plates. Water maker was 220 V hard wired to the
genset.
On my Current Symbol I have the four golf carts--if they do not restore
well
with the battery minder, I will junk them and get Trojan golf carts. I
have
two 8D for the Main house and an 8 D for engine start, a group 24 for
the gen
start. I will probably replace the house 8 D's with Golf Carts when
they go
bad. I really think it is a good idea to keep the inverter seperate
from the
house bank (what happened to your anchor light when the battery was down
to
11.3 volts--also 11.3 volts is too low for the batteries--I perfer to
never
take them below 12 volts--normally 12.2 is my cut off.
I sure would try the battery minder on your batteries. Also had you
been
equalizing them regularly?
Regards,
Bob Austin
Symbol 42
Pensacola, FL. (wish I was in the Bahamas!--just got off the cell phone
with
a friend who is sitting in Marathon waiting to go across and then to the
S.
coast of Cuba)
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