mncruiser
Senior Member
Hey all, been a bit but starting to think spring up here in the frozen North. I kind of miss you people!
I have a 2001 Mainship 390, single Yanmar 300 with bow thruster. Also has a reliable Kohler/Yanmar generator. Purchased the boat last spring, here is the existing battery setup:
-FLA 8D - Starting - Bank 1
-FLA 8D - House - Bank 2
-FLA 4D - House - Bank 2
-AGM Group 27 - Bank 3 (dedicated generator battery)
Bank 1 and 2 are able to be combined via standard 1-2-All switch
Things I don't like:
- 8D's are satan's battery, too big and not able to be enclosed properly in my boat
- Thruster and windlass run off bank 1, thruster causes too much voltage drop when used (electronics cut out)
- FLA's, I'm not lazy about much but I don't want FLA's in my boat
- The battery charger, it may be fine but I think it's a cheap camper version installed 5-10 years ago.
Now some setup. We are Lake Superior boaters, out of Bayfield, Wisconsin. Most of our boating for the next 10 years will be local, possible longer trips but isolated. We are rarely out away from our dock for more than 2-3 days. My biggest problem is the fridge. I don't feel like I need more battery capacity on this boat, but may want to supplement solar in the future to compensate for fridge loads. We run the generator when needed and allowed in our area.
What I think I want:
- AGM's but not 8D's. Some manageable size.
- Dedicated bank for thruster and windlass. This bank has to be able to be charged by main engine alternator, I suppose I could be talked into using generator for this but don't want to. But I probably should use the generator more..has less than 200 hours on it....not sure here.
- Similar capacities - 240ah for house. 160ah for starting. Unsure what I need for thruster/windlass.
- New charger. I read about some new DC-DC charging thing that sounded like a dream, need more research here. I'd love to know what the charger is doing. Last boat had a Xantrex with remote panel I put in, worked well.
My major questions:
- Any of the above wants silly or a waste or i'm misguided on something?
- Stick with 12V or go 6V for the batteries? I bought all the big crimping tools (yep the spendy ones) in preparation for this. Would like to re-use what I can but ready to buy some wire and get crimping.
- Do I need to plan to be able to combine my new thruster/windlass bank with the others?
- What else am I not thinking of?
Thank you!
mncruiser
I have a 2001 Mainship 390, single Yanmar 300 with bow thruster. Also has a reliable Kohler/Yanmar generator. Purchased the boat last spring, here is the existing battery setup:
-FLA 8D - Starting - Bank 1
-FLA 8D - House - Bank 2
-FLA 4D - House - Bank 2
-AGM Group 27 - Bank 3 (dedicated generator battery)
Bank 1 and 2 are able to be combined via standard 1-2-All switch
Things I don't like:
- 8D's are satan's battery, too big and not able to be enclosed properly in my boat
- Thruster and windlass run off bank 1, thruster causes too much voltage drop when used (electronics cut out)
- FLA's, I'm not lazy about much but I don't want FLA's in my boat
- The battery charger, it may be fine but I think it's a cheap camper version installed 5-10 years ago.
Now some setup. We are Lake Superior boaters, out of Bayfield, Wisconsin. Most of our boating for the next 10 years will be local, possible longer trips but isolated. We are rarely out away from our dock for more than 2-3 days. My biggest problem is the fridge. I don't feel like I need more battery capacity on this boat, but may want to supplement solar in the future to compensate for fridge loads. We run the generator when needed and allowed in our area.
What I think I want:
- AGM's but not 8D's. Some manageable size.
- Dedicated bank for thruster and windlass. This bank has to be able to be charged by main engine alternator, I suppose I could be talked into using generator for this but don't want to. But I probably should use the generator more..has less than 200 hours on it....not sure here.
- Similar capacities - 240ah for house. 160ah for starting. Unsure what I need for thruster/windlass.
- New charger. I read about some new DC-DC charging thing that sounded like a dream, need more research here. I'd love to know what the charger is doing. Last boat had a Xantrex with remote panel I put in, worked well.
My major questions:
- Any of the above wants silly or a waste or i'm misguided on something?
- Stick with 12V or go 6V for the batteries? I bought all the big crimping tools (yep the spendy ones) in preparation for this. Would like to re-use what I can but ready to buy some wire and get crimping.
- Do I need to plan to be able to combine my new thruster/windlass bank with the others?
- What else am I not thinking of?
Thank you!
mncruiser
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