Marek,
Very interesting. What exactly is an echo charger and how would I
connect it?
The previous owner had two house bank 31s and a starter battery hooked
up parallel to one of them. That starter battery turned out to be dead and was
dragging the other down.
I replaced all with two new 31s about 4 years ago. Now one of those two
is dead and I don’t feel like dumping $300 on a replacement when I’m not
running on batteries for more than a few hours on any given day.
All the best,
Edd
Edd M. Schillay
Starship Enterprise
C&C 37+ | Sail No: NCC-1701-B
City Island, NY
Starship Enterprise's Captain's Log
On May 5, 2014, at 1:01 PM, Marek Dziedzic <[email protected]> wrote:
> Edd,
>
> I don’t want to start a discussion on how to charge the batteries (as this
> would be off topic), but starting from the ALL position has some major
> disadvantages. One is that you might be hiding a problem with your starting
> battery; two is that if one battery is weak, you would be charging that weak
> battery from the strong one (you risk that if one is nearly dead, the other
> would not start the engine, either, but instead would discharge to equalise
> the voltage with the weak one).
>
> No question (in my mind), the best way is to start from the starting battery
> (hence the name) and have the echo charger making sure that both batteries
> are charged properly.
>
> Some advocate to have the batteries split into “main” and “spare”. Many good
> marine batteries can be used as dual purpose. If you design your system this
> way, you start on the “main”, it gets charged by the alternator and the echo
> charger maintains the “spare”.
>
> If I remember correctly, you have a solar system, as well. Many charge
> controllers have a dual battery option and they can be setup to charge the
> “main” battery first and then charge the “spare” (mine has a selectable 50/50
> or 90/10 split).
>
> If you are interested, you can check some of Main Sail’s articles on that
> topic at Sailboat Owners or at his web site
> (http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/).
>
> Marek (in Ottawa)
>
> PS. Would “may the Force (May the 4th) be with you” apply, even if it is a
> day late? I know it is mixing the references...
>
> From: Edd Schillay via CnC-List
> Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 10:58 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: Stus-List Mixed batteries
>
> Rich,
>
> Please do send around a diagram. I’m planning to do something similar — a 27
> starting battery (as battery #2) and a 31 house bank (as battery#1).
>
> When I want to start and run the engine, I will do so on ALL. That way the
> alternator will charge both batteries. When sailing and “hanging out”, I
> would switch to 1 only.
>
> I have a solar panel and a dual battery regulator, which would connect to
> both.
>
> Two weeks to launch and still much to do…..
>
>
>
> All the best,
>
> Edd
>
>
> Edd M. Schillay
> Starship Enterprise
> C&C 37+ | Sail No: NCC-1701-B
> City Island, NY
> Starship Enterprise's Captain's Log
>
> On May 5, 2014, at 10:38 AM, Rich Knowles via CnC-List
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> The best method I have found and the least problematic from all points of
>> view is to have a dedicated starting battery that does nothing else but
>> start the engine, and a house battery that can be several batteries in
>> parallel. Ideally the house batteries will all be identical. I feed the
>> alternator directly to the house battery and use a device such as a Xantrex
>> EchoCharge, a small regulator, to keep the start battery charged. A simple
>> 1/both/2 off switch feeds the house load from either battery and acts as a
>> combiner switch if needed. I have a diagram I can send you if you wish.
>>
>> I have wired many boats this way with no complaints or incidents.
>>
>> Rich Knowles
>> Indigo. LF38
>> Halifax. NS
>>
>> On May 5, 2014, at 10:47, via CnC-List <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> In a pinch, I recently bought a 'starting' battery (Group 27) per my
>>> earlier post (no marine stores open after 6 on Saturdays)
>>>
>>> Then I decided to get a replacement for my dead Lifeline AGM battery.
>>>
>>> Of course, Murphy lurking about, I realized that my Zantrex Truecharge 40
>>> wants all the batteries it charges to be the same since
>>> its charging schemes apply to all three outputs to the batteries.
>>>
>>> Before I pull the 'rope-a-dope' of returning the starting battery, I need
>>> some list advice:
>>>
>>> A lot of sailors suggest using a 'starting' battery exclusively for
>>> starting and using the house batteries for the house. I am aware that
>>> an AGM can be used for starting as well.
>>>
>>> However, if a 'starting' battery is better for this job (CCA, etc.) and the
>>> AGM is better for its job, how does one use a single charger like mine
>>> to satisfy different charging schemes?
>>>
>>> 2 chargers, a smarter charger that has outputs for different battery
>>> characteristics, or 'forgetaboutit" and charge both batteries as though
>>> the were both AGMs?
>>>
>>> Charlie Nelson
>>> Water Phantom
>>> C&C 36 XL/kcb
>>>
>>> [email protected]
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>
>
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