On Thu, 7 Oct 2010 14:35:54 -0400, "Flying Pig"
wrote:



Thus temporarily secured from moving, and no longer pressing up against the
piling, we set about to getting our auxiliary engine started. We were not
seriously down in our capacity, but our voltage, apparently,. was just a bit
low for the high revs needed from the starter. Running the Honda generator
for just a couple of minutes, due to the power being fed to the batteries at
a much higher voltage, the engine started right up.


Skip, after reading this and responses, a couple questions.

1. Ever thought of setting up an isolated starting battery?
Some boaters keep the house and starting batteries isolated.

2. Given the talk about starting redundancy, you have the Honda
generator at hand, so you're a step up there.
The house batteries sucked up the juice though, and delayed the
starting. Hooking the gen to an isolated but depleted starting
battery would have probably given a quicker start.
But aside from isolating the starting battery, have you thought about
an "instant start" device hookup between the Honda and the engine
starter?
I have a fairly cheap - maybe 50 bucks - Sears battery charger with 3
and 10 amp modes and an "instant start" mode.
Used the "quick start" a couple times on my "spare" car when the
battery went virtually dead due to a parasitic draw, when the
situation dictated. (Frigid weather, and car too far from the house
to leave the charger and extension cords out for a slow charge.)

Don't know the electrical details of the "instant start" except you're
converting 120V to 12V with lots of amps.
I ASSume it would have started my car with the battery disconnected
without frying the starter, but never tried that.
With the Honda gen at hand it might be an option for quick
starter redundancy, and worthy of entry on the project list.
After doing the electrical specs, the wiring/switching would be a
"plumbing" type design issue, ala Roger's fuel polishing system.

Something else that comes to mind regarding critical systems is a "low
battery" alarm.
Since you were almost wrecked because of a low battery, maybe you
already have this on you list.

BTW, for some relief from the nitpicking and outright condemnation you
sometimes draw here, I enjoy your posts and respect your abilities.
Since you put the Pig on a reef, you've come a long way baby.
And as Frankie sang, you did it your way.

--Vic