Calypso's Heart Interface Link 2000-R monitors two banks, one starting and one (much larger) house. I have the Heart Interface Pathfinder relay system to disconnect the starting battery when it hits a pre-determined voltage to avoid over charging. The Link 2000-R also monitors and controls the Heart Interface 2,500 watt inverter/batt charger. I used a Blue Seas battery switch which has a switch to turn on the four Blue Seas 12v breaker panels and a rotating switch to energize the engine circuit (and a keyed cross-link switch in case the starting batt is low). I installed Blue Seas shore power panels as well.
I set up the 12V and shore power systems to support extended time at anchor or underway (installed in 1999/2000). During PNW summer cruises of up to 6 weeks (including up to 2 weeks away from marinas) the system worked fine and has been robust. It would be overkill for a more modest boat usage plan where it was planned to be at a marina ever few days. A key monitoring function is battery usage and/or charging while underway at night or in limited visibility. Operating the radar and powering running lights can churn through wads of amp hours quickly. If one of the crew gets chilled and fires up the Webasto furnace another 8 amps is drawn. LED running lights helped immensely after I installed them for a recent overnight race. The power consumption dropped enough to reduce the battery charging (engine run) hour requirements significantly. The Link 2000-R display and software issues have limited the functionality in recent years. If I was prepping for a longer trip, especially offshore I would be compelled to replace the monitor/controller with newer designs that are still in production and supported by the manufacturer. IMHO, Blue Seas' products have exceeded my expectations in design, support, and reliability. Xantrex has lost the plot on customer service and product reliability. BTW I am not affiliated with Blues Seas but I have visited their facility. I had closer contact with the original Heart Interface design and manufacturing teams (going way back) but little or no contact with Xantrex especially since they decamped from the PNW. Martin Calypso 1970 C&C 43 Seattle ________________________________ From: CnC-List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Monday, December 03, 2012 8:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Stus-List xantrex link 20 Yea, it's a good idea, but going with a dedicated starting battery isn't in my immediate future. So, with those of us going old school with 1-all-2 battery switch, one monitor could work to check voltage/amp on each battery by having the current sensor down stream of the switch. Any downside to that? ________________________________ From: "Frederick G Street" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, December 3, 2012 9:12:20 PM Subject: Re: Stus-List xantrex link 20 Colin's right (as usual... :^). Also, if you go that route, some of he newer battery monitors will allow you measure just the voltage of the starting battery (in addition to all the functions for the house bank), which is all you really need for the start battery, as it rarely gets discharged much. You don't really need to know how many amp-hours are in it... and it's better to NOT have a shunt on the start battery in any case. Fred Street -- Minneapolis S/V Oceanis (1979 C&C Landfall 38) -- on the hard in Bayfield, WI :^( On Dec 3, 2012, at 8:23 PM, Colin Kilgour <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: If you move to dedicated house and starting "banks" which I would highly recommend, a Link that only measures one bank will do just fine - because if you have no draw on your starting battery other than starting, why bother monitoring? _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com [email protected]
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