"Roger Long" wrote in news:z3oRf.1554$Mj.799
@twister.nyroc.rr.com:

Would you try to trip on overvoltage or just measure battery case
temperature directly?



A voltmeter to watch that is accurate. By the time the temperature
sensor were to alarm the battery was too hot, it would be too late.

You have a long time notice the voltmeter is too high, however, as its
reading is instantaneous. Just mount it next to the oil pressure guage I
hope you're monitoring when the engine is running, not waiting for the
oil pressure alarm to tell you the crank doesn't have any lube and it's
too late to save it.

Just like in my car and truck, I want those guages to be right in front
of me when the engine is running, not some idiot light that comes on too
late. I want to see what the oil pressure and charging voltage is doing.
As to the charging, the Link 10:
http://www.energyoutfitters.com/prod...ntrex_link10.s
htm
is my guage of choice. Not only does it monitor the charging with the
alternator, but it monitors the discharging and AC battery charger's
progress, as well. Every boat with house batteries should be using one.
You can monitor your charging voltage and current, as well as your
discharge current and available amp-hours to plan how long you can run
them down before safely recharging....not waiting until the lights are
too dim...(c;