There may come a time that I regret my current battery configuration but I haven’t regretted it for the past 5 years of cruising. I currently have four Group 31 Firefly Oasis carbon foam AGM’s ($500 each) in parallel as one large battery bank. I have 340 watts of flexible (Solbian) solar panels that feed the single large battery bank.
I believe that battery combiners and similar devices are more likely to fail than my batteries. (If I ever have a dead battery, I will isolate it and continue to operate with just three until I can replace it. I think the idea of a separate starting battery and the notion of the need to separate batteries into two usable banks is outdated—it was a continuation from a time before reliable batteries were available. I wouldn’t use my system with cheaper batteries.) Bob (currently in Nassau with 75 degree weather!) Bob Boyer s/v Rainy Days C&C Landfall 38 (Hull # 230) (Spending winters in the Bahamas, summers in Baltimore, and somewhere on the ICW in between) blog: dainyrays.blogspot.com email: dainyr...@icloud.com > On Jan 4, 2020, at 10:18 PM, Josh Muckley via CnC-List > <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > > > You're boat is wired wrong or you are misinterpreting the indications. You > are absolutely correct that the starter battery should be "spared". Really > what "spared" means is that it should always and only be connected to the > engine starter. The output of the alternator should be switched by an ACR or > echo charge to charge the start battery only after the house batts have > sufficient voltage. > > In the link is a picture of a "better" way to wire a system like yours. If > you wanted to install the system as depicted but split the bank of 2 house > batteries, you could re-purpose your old/existing 1-all-2 switch such that it > separates the 2 house batts shown as a single bank. > > https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bmc_PsjKHSQKYjy4Jnhl7ZV232MoiOJ2/view?usp=drivesdk > > Josh Muckley > S/V Sea Hawk > 1989 C&C 37+ > Solomons, MD > > > > >> On Sat, Jan 4, 2020, 9:27 PM Peter Cowenhoven via CnC-List >> <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: >> This may be obvious to most of you but came as a surprise to me. I've got a >> 3 battery bank with 2 deep cycles and 1 starter battery. It's got a 1 All 2 >> switch. I was testing load and was surprised to see that if you're using 1 >> or 2 it's also drawing power off the starter battery too. >> >> Doesn't this defeat the point. Shouldn't the starter battery be completely >> spared while not running the engine. >> >> Is there a better configuration? >> >> Thanks in advance! >> >> Peter >> >> 84 Landfall 35 >> >> >> >> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and >> every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use >> PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray >> > _______________________________________________ > > Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and > every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use > PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray >
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