J.B.
I did a bit of research on battery setups for my 31' Express cruiser. I wound up with two starting batteries (one for each engine) and four Trojans for my house bank. My house bank and starting batteries are totally separate and I would have to use jumper cables to start my engines from them, however the two starting batteries I can cross connect to start either engine. I have the Xantrex 40-amp tru-charge charger that runs through an isolator block to the starting batteries and the house bank so that one could not drain another battery were it low. My alternators also run through this isolating block. I have 3 battery switches, (2) "1-2-BOTH" switches, one for each engine, and a simple "on-off" switch for the house bank. In general battery research, one of the more common "rules" I have read is that you shouldn't combine types of batteries to make a larger bank, which is in essence what you are doing. The starting batteries are also not meant to be depleted very much, and therefore shouldn't be brought down to 50% charge like good deep cycle batteries (trojans) can handle without damage. I think the answer is yes, because you don't want your two batteries connected due to differing types, and you don't want to use your starting battery to run a fridge. Above all you don't want a depleted house battery draining your starting battery, which is what would happen were you not to run it all through an isolating block. I'm certainly not saying my setup is the way to go, but I don't have a generator and I wanted a good bit of juice for a weekend at anchor. I experimented with using a small dorm fridge run through an inverter, but even with over 400 amp hours at my disposal, I couldn't make it work even for a weekend. I have since torn apart my galley and am building a new one centered around a 6 CF icebox with nearly 6" of insulation. I hope to add a cold plate system eventually and so the big battery bank will be very nice to have. I assume the 4 amps your fridge draws is DC. The 1.15 or so amps the dorm fridge drew was AC, so converted to DC it was over 10 amps, or like 40 hours (more like 36). Good luck with your setup, Tom in Florida --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/UnifliteWorld?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
