With spring almost here, it won't be long until the boat comes out of
its cocoon for its April shake down cruise.

The subject of taking the boat along with us to a family vacation out
in the Wisconsin Dells area came up, and that got me to thinking about
the battery situation.

Its just a small bowrider, so either I'll pull it out each night and
park it by the house, or I'd rent a slip for $15 a night and leave it in
the water for the three days we'd be up there.

Without an alternator, though, I'm worried about leaving it at a slip.
I have an accessory battery, so I'm not worried about getting
stranded, but running lights and a stereo take up juice.

Has anybody here ever used solar charging stations? I see them on
Amazon for between $40 and $200, at least for power levels I might
require. I want something that's easy to stow, so a 5w or 8w flex panel
(roughly 1' x 1') is probably the largest I could go.

I know those are more maintenance charge levels, but I'm thinking that
might be enough to compensate for the 4-5 hours of use the stereo would
get, assuming it has a good portion of the morning in full sun to charge.

Thoughts?

On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 09:04:03 -0500, "Ryan P."
wrote:

With spring almost here, it won't be long until the boat comes out of
its cocoon for its April shake down cruise.

The subject of taking the boat along with us to a family vacation out
in the Wisconsin Dells area came up, and that got me to thinking about
the battery situation.

Its just a small bowrider, so either I'll pull it out each night and
park it by the house, or I'd rent a slip for $15 a night and leave it in
the water for the three days we'd be up there.

Without an alternator, though, I'm worried about leaving it at a slip.
I have an accessory battery, so I'm not worried about getting
stranded, but running lights and a stereo take up juice.

Has anybody here ever used solar charging stations? I see them on
Amazon for between $40 and $200, at least for power levels I might
require. I want something that's easy to stow, so a 5w or 8w flex panel
(roughly 1' x 1') is probably the largest I could go.

I know those are more maintenance charge levels, but I'm thinking that
might be enough to compensate for the 4-5 hours of use the stereo would
get, assuming it has a good portion of the morning in full sun to charge.

Thoughts?

If you are just running the radio it should keep you going a few days
unless you have a pretty big amp and speakers

On 3/15/2016 10:07 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 09:04:03 -0500, "Ryan P."
wrote:

With spring almost here, it won't be long until the boat comes out of
its cocoon for its April shake down cruise.

The subject of taking the boat along with us to a family vacation out
in the Wisconsin Dells area came up, and that got me to thinking about
the battery situation.

Its just a small bowrider, so either I'll pull it out each night and
park it by the house, or I'd rent a slip for $15 a night and leave it in
the water for the three days we'd be up there.

Without an alternator, though, I'm worried about leaving it at a slip.
I have an accessory battery, so I'm not worried about getting
stranded, but running lights and a stereo take up juice.

Has anybody here ever used solar charging stations? I see them on
Amazon for between $40 and $200, at least for power levels I might
require. I want something that's easy to stow, so a 5w or 8w flex panel
(roughly 1' x 1') is probably the largest I could go.

I know those are more maintenance charge levels, but I'm thinking that
might be enough to compensate for the 4-5 hours of use the stereo would
get, assuming it has a good portion of the morning in full sun to charge.

Thoughts?

If you are just running the radio it should keep you going a few days
unless you have a pretty big amp and speakers


Nah, just a standard car stereo with two 4" speakers. No crazy sub
woofers or light shows.

On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 12:06:31 -0500, "Ryan P."
wrote:

On 3/15/2016 10:07 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 09:04:03 -0500, "Ryan P."
wrote:

With spring almost here, it won't be long until the boat comes out of
its cocoon for its April shake down cruise.

The subject of taking the boat along with us to a family vacation out
in the Wisconsin Dells area came up, and that got me to thinking about
the battery situation.

Its just a small bowrider, so either I'll pull it out each night and
park it by the house, or I'd rent a slip for $15 a night and leave it in
the water for the three days we'd be up there.

Without an alternator, though, I'm worried about leaving it at a slip.
I have an accessory battery, so I'm not worried about getting
stranded, but running lights and a stereo take up juice.

Has anybody here ever used solar charging stations? I see them on
Amazon for between $40 and $200, at least for power levels I might
require. I want something that's easy to stow, so a 5w or 8w flex panel
(roughly 1' x 1') is probably the largest I could go.

I know those are more maintenance charge levels, but I'm thinking that
might be enough to compensate for the 4-5 hours of use the stereo would
get, assuming it has a good portion of the morning in full sun to charge.

Thoughts?

If you are just running the radio it should keep you going a few days
unless you have a pretty big amp and speakers


Nah, just a standard car stereo with two 4" speakers. No crazy sub
woofers or light shows.

A car battery should run that for days. If you can put a few dozen
watt hours in it you should be fine.

"
Without an alternator, though, I'm worried about leaving it at a slip.
I have an accessory battery, so I'm not worried about getting
stranded, but running lights and a stereo take up juice. "

Why no alternator? I'm not following...

On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 11:57:40 -0700 (PDT), Tim wrote:

"
Without an alternator, though, I'm worried about leaving it at a slip.
I have an accessory battery, so I'm not worried about getting
stranded, but running lights and a stereo take up juice. "

Why no alternator? I'm not following...

I'm glad you asked that. I was going to do so, but then thought it might somehow be a
real stupid question.
--

Ban liars, tax cheats, idiots, audiophools, and narcissists...not guns!

On 3/15/2016 2:42 PM, John H. wrote:
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 11:57:40 -0700 (PDT), Tim wrote:

"
Without an alternator, though, I'm worried about leaving it at a slip.
I have an accessory battery, so I'm not worried about getting
stranded, but running lights and a stereo take up juice. "

Why no alternator? I'm not following...

I'm glad you asked that. I was going to do so, but then thought it might somehow be a
real stupid question.
--

Ban liars, tax cheats, idiots, audiophools, and narcissists...not guns!

I'm the one asking the stupid questions, I'm sure. I'm the novice
here, compared to most of you folks.

Okay, I should use the proper terms, I suppose. Its a 1985 Mercury 75.
I do have electric start, but my understanding is that on older
engines, a stator/vr is only to trickle charge the starting battery, and
only does that at high RPMs?

On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:54:11 -0500, "Ryan P." wrote:

On 3/15/2016 2:42 PM, John H. wrote:
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 11:57:40 -0700 (PDT), Tim wrote:

"
Without an alternator, though, I'm worried about leaving it at a slip.
I have an accessory battery, so I'm not worried about getting
stranded, but running lights and a stereo take up juice. "

Why no alternator? I'm not following...

I'm glad you asked that. I was going to do so, but then thought it might somehow be a
real stupid question.
--

Ban liars, tax cheats, idiots, audiophools, and narcissists...not guns!

I'm the one asking the stupid questions, I'm sure. I'm the novice
here, compared to most of you folks.

Okay, I should use the proper terms, I suppose. Its a 1985 Mercury 75.
I do have electric start, but my understanding is that on older
engines, a stator/vr is only to trickle charge the starting battery, and
only does that at high RPMs?


Tim should be able to jump all over that one!

Go Tim!
--

Ban liars, tax cheats, idiots, audiophools, and narcissists...not guns!

On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:54:11 -0500, "Ryan P."
wrote:

On 3/15/2016 2:42 PM, John H. wrote:
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 11:57:40 -0700 (PDT), Tim wrote:

"
Without an alternator, though, I'm worried about leaving it at a slip.
I have an accessory battery, so I'm not worried about getting
stranded, but running lights and a stereo take up juice. "

Why no alternator? I'm not following...

I'm glad you asked that. I was going to do so, but then thought it might somehow be a
real stupid question.
--

Ban liars, tax cheats, idiots, audiophools, and narcissists...not guns!

I'm the one asking the stupid questions, I'm sure. I'm the novice
here, compared to most of you folks.

Okay, I should use the proper terms, I suppose. Its a 1985 Mercury 75.
I do have electric start, but my understanding is that on older
engines, a stator/vr is only to trickle charge the starting battery, and
only does that at high RPMs?


I was guessing that you had one without a charging system. That old 75
has a 9 amp alternator in the stator. If it is working, it will keep
your battery up if you are running it fairly often. It will put out
pretty well at anything much over an idle. (I had one)

On 3/15/2016 4:22 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:54:11 -0500, "Ryan P."
wrote:

On 3/15/2016 2:42 PM, John H. wrote:
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 11:57:40 -0700 (PDT), Tim wrote:

"
Without an alternator, though, I'm worried about leaving it at a slip.
I have an accessory battery, so I'm not worried about getting
stranded, but running lights and a stereo take up juice. "

Why no alternator? I'm not following...

I'm glad you asked that. I was going to do so, but then thought it might somehow be a
real stupid question.
--

Ban liars, tax cheats, idiots, audiophools, and narcissists...not guns!

I'm the one asking the stupid questions, I'm sure. I'm the novice
here, compared to most of you folks.

Okay, I should use the proper terms, I suppose. Its a 1985 Mercury 75.
I do have electric start, but my understanding is that on older
engines, a stator/vr is only to trickle charge the starting battery, and
only does that at high RPMs?


I was guessing that you had one without a charging system. That old 75
has a 9 amp alternator in the stator. If it is working, it will keep
your battery up if you are running it fairly often. It will put out
pretty well at anything much over an idle. (I had one)


But can I link that to the "house" battery? If I jump the starter
battery and the house battery together, won't the house battery draw
down the starter?