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Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
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? |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
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 |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
fire man wrote:
"Ryan P." Wrote in message: 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? Can you do without the stereo? Most slips have power available. Especially where bass boats would slip. Just take along a battery charger or buy a smart charger. Or pull the battery and take to house and charge. More juice and cheaper than solar. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On 3/15/2016 10:56 AM, fire man wrote:
"Ryan P." Wrote in message: 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? Can you do without the stereo? Of course, I *CAN* do without the stereo... :) |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On 3/15/2016 11:56 AM, Califbill wrote:
fire man wrote: "Ryan P." Wrote in message: 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? Can you do without the stereo? Most slips have power available. Especially where bass boats would slip. Just take along a battery charger or buy a smart charger. Or pull the battery and take to house and charge. More juice and cheaper than solar. I'll have to check with the marina. A small smart charger would be better than solar, absolutely. I just don't remember seeing outlets on all slips. I don't really wanna pull the battery... The marina is literally across the street from the rental house. That's a long walk carrying a lead box. :) |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
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Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
Ryan P.
- show quoted text - *" I'll have to check with the marina. *A small smart charger would be better than solar, absolutely. *I just don't remember seeing outlets on all slips. * I don't really wanna pull the battery... *The marina is literally across the street from the rental house. *That's a long walk carrying a lead box. *:)" You'd need the proper cord to use shore power at a marina. Even then, it might be dangerous to plug in a normal household items like a portable battery charger. I have a light folding aluminum hand truck rated for 138 kilogram use when I don't want to have, awkward heavy items around...usually from the SUV to a store or home. That would be great for hauling a battery any distance for charging. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
"
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... |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
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! |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
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? |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
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! |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
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) |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
Ryan P.
- show quoted text - "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? " Four years ago I had an open tiller boat with a 30hp Johnson. The motor had an electric start but no charging system. No radio but it had a MinnKota trolling motor. The idea was to charge the battery with a small charger at the end of each boating day. I think it would have been just as easy to take the boat out of the water and trailer to motel for charging than dig the heavy battery out and do same. BTW..I'd forget about the radio...I could start the 30 with a pull cord but your 70 might be a different matter. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
True North wrote:
Ryan P. - show quoted text - " I'll have to check with the marina. A small smart charger would be better than solar, absolutely. I just don't remember seeing outlets on all slips. I don't really wanna pull the battery... The marina is literally across the street from the rental house. That's a long walk carrying a lead box. :)" You'd need the proper cord to use shore power at a marina. Even then, it might be dangerous to plug in a normal household items like a portable battery charger. I have a light folding aluminum hand truck rated for 138 kilogram use when I don't want to have, awkward heavy items around...usually from the SUV to a store or home. That would be great for hauling a battery any distance for charging. True shore power doesn't use a cord that would work with a common battery charger. In this case it is likely that they have standard outlets for ordinary extension cords. That was bass fishermen use to charge their deep cycle trolling motors overnight. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 20:12:47 -0400, Alex wrote:
True North wrote: Ryan P. - show quoted text - " I'll have to check with the marina. A small smart charger would be better than solar, absolutely. I just don't remember seeing outlets on all slips. I don't really wanna pull the battery... The marina is literally across the street from the rental house. That's a long walk carrying a lead box. :)" You'd need the proper cord to use shore power at a marina. Even then, it might be dangerous to plug in a normal household items like a portable battery charger. I have a light folding aluminum hand truck rated for 138 kilogram use when I don't want to have, awkward heavy items around...usually from the SUV to a store or home. That would be great for hauling a battery any distance for charging. True shore power doesn't use a cord that would work with a common battery charger. In this case it is likely that they have standard outlets for ordinary extension cords. That was bass fishermen use to charge their deep cycle trolling motors overnight. Most shore power posts will have a regular 5-15 on them along with the 240v-50a and/or 120v-30a. I doubt you are getting a powered slip for $15 tho. Wayne may stop by, he is the marina guy. I just know what I see |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
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Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 21:07:19 -0400,
wrote: On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 20:32:32 -0400, wrote: Most shore power posts will have a regular 5-15 on them along with the 240v-50a and/or 120v-30a. I doubt you are getting a powered slip for $15 tho. Wayne may stop by, he is the marina guy. I just know what I see === It depends entirely on the marina and what kind of boats they cater to. Most boats over 25 ft or so will have standard twist lock shore power cables, either 30 amp 120 volts or 50 amp 240 volts. Many of us carry adapters however for non-standard power outlets like 15 amp 120 volts. I think I saw a regular 5-15 (along with the twist locks) on the posts at the little marina behind the CAMA office under the FMB bridge (next to Bonita Bill) but I really wasn't paying that much attention. They do seem to have a blow boat patronage tho. I really just saw the 16 ga SJT "orange cords" going off of the posts into fairly modest boats. I try not to stare at these people's homes ;-) |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 22:06:48 -0400, wrote:
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 21:07:19 -0400, wrote: On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 20:32:32 -0400, wrote: Most shore power posts will have a regular 5-15 on them along with the 240v-50a and/or 120v-30a. I doubt you are getting a powered slip for $15 tho. Wayne may stop by, he is the marina guy. I just know what I see === It depends entirely on the marina and what kind of boats they cater to. Most boats over 25 ft or so will have standard twist lock shore power cables, either 30 amp 120 volts or 50 amp 240 volts. Many of us carry adapters however for non-standard power outlets like 15 amp 120 volts. I think I saw a regular 5-15 (along with the twist locks) on the posts at the little marina behind the CAMA office under the FMB bridge (next to Bonita Bill) but I really wasn't paying that much attention. They do seem to have a blow boat patronage tho. I really just saw the 16 ga SJT "orange cords" going off of the posts into fairly modest boats. I try not to stare at these people's homes ;-) === A lot of sail boats do not have proper shore power circuits and connectors. They frequently use extension cords and portable chargers, and every now and then one will catch fire. It happened to an old friend of mine on a 50 footer. He was fortunate not to lose the whole boat but it did quite a bit of damage to the interior. I don't have shore power circuits on our Sea Ray runabout but I do use a marine rated charger. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On 3/15/2016 5:38 PM, True North wrote:
Ryan P. - show quoted text - "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? " Four years ago I had an open tiller boat with a 30hp Johnson. The motor had an electric start but no charging system. No radio but it had a MinnKota trolling motor. The idea was to charge the battery with a small charger at the end of each boating day. I think it would have been just as easy to take the boat out of the water and trailer to motel for charging than dig the heavy battery out and do same. BTW..I'd forget about the radio...I could start the 30 with a pull cord but your 70 might be a different matter. That's why I have a second "house" battery. That way, I know I won't be stranded on the lake unless something REALLY goes bad. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
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Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On 3/15/2016 8:07 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 15 Mar 2016 20:32:32 -0400, wrote: Most shore power posts will have a regular 5-15 on them along with the 240v-50a and/or 120v-30a. I doubt you are getting a powered slip for $15 tho. Wayne may stop by, he is the marina guy. I just know what I see === It depends entirely on the marina and what kind of boats they cater to. Most boats over 25 ft or so will have standard twist lock shore power cables, either 30 amp 120 volts or 50 amp 240 volts. Many of us carry adapters however for non-standard power outlets like 15 amp 120 volts. Yeah, this is Castle Rock Lake in Wisconsin. There are a couple small cuddy cabin boats owned by some rich locals for bragging rights, but they primarily cater to ski, bass and pontoons. I think it would be fun to cruise the Wisconsin River, but both Petenwell and Castle Rock are damned, so at best its a day trip up and down. Certainly nothing that would require long-term battery. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 08:01:41 -0500, "Ryan P."
wrote: 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? Battery switch or isolator. BTW don't run in "both" on a battery switch. Charge one, then the other. It is the only way to reliably charge 2 batteries if you are not using an isolator and still the best way. Both is really just an artifact of the "make before break" design of the switch but it might be useful if both batteries are down and between them you have enough to kick over the motor. It is the only real use. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
Ryan P. wrote:
On 3/15/2016 11:56 AM, Califbill wrote: fire man wrote: "Ryan P." Wrote in message: 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? Can you do without the stereo? Most slips have power available. Especially where bass boats would slip. Just take along a battery charger or buy a smart charger. Or pull the battery and take to house and charge. More juice and cheaper than solar. I'll have to check with the marina. A small smart charger would be better than solar, absolutely. I just don't remember seeing outlets on all slips. I don't really wanna pull the battery... The marina is literally across the street from the rental house. That's a long walk carrying a lead box. :) Small handtruck |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On 3/16/2016 9:01 AM, Ryan P. wrote:
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? Nope. The starter will draw on the battery, and combining batteries wouldn't be the best thing to do if one of them has a shorted cell or is grossly depleted. Best thing to do is use a battery selector switch. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On 3/16/2016 10:36 AM, wrote:
On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 08:01:41 -0500, "Ryan P." wrote: 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? Battery switch or isolator. BTW don't run in "both" on a battery switch. Charge one, then the other. It is the only way to reliably charge 2 batteries if you are not using an isolator and still the best way. Both is really just an artifact of the "make before break" design of the switch but it might be useful if both batteries are down and between them you have enough to kick over the motor. It is the only real use. I'll throw a volt meter on the battery and make sure the charging system is working properly when I take her out of storage in a few weeks. A battery switch is pretty simple to install... If its really producing 9amps, that should be more than enough to keep the house battery alive if I let it charge while pulling kids on the tube or whatever. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 13:34:54 -0500, "Ryan P."
wrote: On 3/16/2016 10:36 AM, wrote: On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 08:01:41 -0500, "Ryan P." wrote: 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? Battery switch or isolator. BTW don't run in "both" on a battery switch. Charge one, then the other. It is the only way to reliably charge 2 batteries if you are not using an isolator and still the best way. Both is really just an artifact of the "make before break" design of the switch but it might be useful if both batteries are down and between them you have enough to kick over the motor. It is the only real use. I'll throw a volt meter on the battery and make sure the charging system is working properly when I take her out of storage in a few weeks. A battery switch is pretty simple to install... If its really producing 9amps, that should be more than enough to keep the house battery alive if I let it charge while pulling kids on the tube or whatever. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 13:34:54 -0500, "Ryan P."
wrote: On 3/16/2016 10:36 AM, wrote: On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 08:01:41 -0500, "Ryan P." wrote: 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? Battery switch or isolator. BTW don't run in "both" on a battery switch. Charge one, then the other. It is the only way to reliably charge 2 batteries if you are not using an isolator and still the best way. Both is really just an artifact of the "make before break" design of the switch but it might be useful if both batteries are down and between them you have enough to kick over the motor. It is the only real use. I'll throw a volt meter on the battery and make sure the charging system is working properly when I take her out of storage in a few weeks. A battery switch is pretty simple to install... If its really producing 9amps, that should be more than enough to keep the house battery alive if I let it charge while pulling kids on the tube or whatever. If you install a voltage meter on the motor side of the battery switch, you can monitor the one it is charging and get a very good idea of the state of the charge. Those are fairly primitive systems and most don't even have regulators so when the voltage gets up around 14, the battery is charged. Switch over to the other one. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
Ryan P. wrote:
On 3/16/2016 10:36 AM, wrote: On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 08:01:41 -0500, "Ryan P." wrote: 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? Battery switch or isolator. BTW don't run in "both" on a battery switch. Charge one, then the other. It is the only way to reliably charge 2 batteries if you are not using an isolator and still the best way. Both is really just an artifact of the "make before break" design of the switch but it might be useful if both batteries are down and between them you have enough to kick over the motor. It is the only real use. I'll throw a volt meter on the battery and make sure the charging system is working properly when I take her out of storage in a few weeks. A battery switch is pretty simple to install... If its really producing 9amps, that should be more than enough to keep the house battery alive if I let it charge while pulling kids on the tube or whatever. What you need for your application is a battery combiner. I have one on my bass boat and it works great. It will keep the starting battery topped off and then switch to the house battery - or in my case the deep-cycle trolling motor battery. Here's just one example: http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/battcom.html |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On 3/16/2016 6:53 PM, Alex wrote:
Ryan P. wrote: On 3/16/2016 10:36 AM, wrote: On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 08:01:41 -0500, "Ryan P." wrote: 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? Battery switch or isolator. BTW don't run in "both" on a battery switch. Charge one, then the other. It is the only way to reliably charge 2 batteries if you are not using an isolator and still the best way. Both is really just an artifact of the "make before break" design of the switch but it might be useful if both batteries are down and between them you have enough to kick over the motor. It is the only real use. I'll throw a volt meter on the battery and make sure the charging system is working properly when I take her out of storage in a few weeks. A battery switch is pretty simple to install... If its really producing 9amps, that should be more than enough to keep the house battery alive if I let it charge while pulling kids on the tube or whatever. What you need for your application is a battery combiner. I have one on my bass boat and it works great. It will keep the starting battery topped off and then switch to the house battery - or in my case the deep-cycle trolling motor battery. Here's just one example: http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/battcom.html Not bad... Just an automatic battery switch, really... For a bass boat application, or other short-run situations, do you think its necessary to have a voltage regulator for the deep cycle? |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
Ryan P. wrote:
On 3/16/2016 6:53 PM, Alex wrote: Ryan P. wrote: On 3/16/2016 10:36 AM, wrote: On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 08:01:41 -0500, "Ryan P." wrote: 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? Battery switch or isolator. BTW don't run in "both" on a battery switch. Charge one, then the other. It is the only way to reliably charge 2 batteries if you are not using an isolator and still the best way. Both is really just an artifact of the "make before break" design of the switch but it might be useful if both batteries are down and between them you have enough to kick over the motor. It is the only real use. I'll throw a volt meter on the battery and make sure the charging system is working properly when I take her out of storage in a few weeks. A battery switch is pretty simple to install... If its really producing 9amps, that should be more than enough to keep the house battery alive if I let it charge while pulling kids on the tube or whatever. What you need for your application is a battery combiner. I have one on my bass boat and it works great. It will keep the starting battery topped off and then switch to the house battery - or in my case the deep-cycle trolling motor battery. Here's just one example: http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/battcom.html Not bad... Just an automatic battery switch, really... For a bass boat application, or other short-run situations, do you think its necessary to have a voltage regulator for the deep cycle? I'm not sure what you are asking. The combiner I have doesn't care if the batteries are a different size, or type, so there is no need for an inline voltage regulator. We often make long runs in our bass boats. The starting battery is only used..for starting so it's quick to get that one back to full charge. The trolling motor battery - or house battery in your case - is another matter and benefits from the on the water charging. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On 3/17/2016 7:41 PM, Alex wrote:
Ryan P. wrote: On 3/16/2016 6:53 PM, Alex wrote: Ryan P. wrote: On 3/16/2016 10:36 AM, wrote: On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 08:01:41 -0500, "Ryan P." wrote: 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? Battery switch or isolator. BTW don't run in "both" on a battery switch. Charge one, then the other. It is the only way to reliably charge 2 batteries if you are not using an isolator and still the best way. Both is really just an artifact of the "make before break" design of the switch but it might be useful if both batteries are down and between them you have enough to kick over the motor. It is the only real use. I'll throw a volt meter on the battery and make sure the charging system is working properly when I take her out of storage in a few weeks. A battery switch is pretty simple to install... If its really producing 9amps, that should be more than enough to keep the house battery alive if I let it charge while pulling kids on the tube or whatever. What you need for your application is a battery combiner. I have one on my bass boat and it works great. It will keep the starting battery topped off and then switch to the house battery - or in my case the deep-cycle trolling motor battery. Here's just one example: http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/battcom.html Not bad... Just an automatic battery switch, really... For a bass boat application, or other short-run situations, do you think its necessary to have a voltage regulator for the deep cycle? I'm not sure what you are asking. The combiner I have doesn't care if the batteries are a different size, or type, so there is no need for an inline voltage regulator. We often make long runs in our bass boats. The starting battery is only used..for starting so it's quick to get that one back to full charge. The trolling motor battery - or house battery in your case - is another matter and benefits from the on the water charging. I meant as far as overcharging your trolling battery. From what I was reading on the product page, the switch will automatically reroute the charge from the starter battery to the 2nd battery once it reaches a certain voltage, but there's not automatic shutoff when the 2nd battery gets to 100%. Of course, the 2nd battery probably is drained more than the starter, so maybe its not an issue. :) |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
On Friday, March 18, 2016 at 10:23:50 AM UTC-4, Ryan P. wrote:
On 3/17/2016 7:41 PM, Alex wrote: Ryan P. wrote: On 3/16/2016 6:53 PM, Alex wrote: Ryan P. wrote: On 3/16/2016 10:36 AM, wrote: On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 08:01:41 -0500, "Ryan P." wrote: 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? Battery switch or isolator. BTW don't run in "both" on a battery switch. Charge one, then the other. It is the only way to reliably charge 2 batteries if you are not using an isolator and still the best way. Both is really just an artifact of the "make before break" design of the switch but it might be useful if both batteries are down and between them you have enough to kick over the motor. It is the only real use. I'll throw a volt meter on the battery and make sure the charging system is working properly when I take her out of storage in a few weeks. A battery switch is pretty simple to install... If its really producing 9amps, that should be more than enough to keep the house battery alive if I let it charge while pulling kids on the tube or whatever. What you need for your application is a battery combiner. I have one on my bass boat and it works great. It will keep the starting battery topped off and then switch to the house battery - or in my case the deep-cycle trolling motor battery. Here's just one example: http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/battcom.html Not bad... Just an automatic battery switch, really... For a bass boat application, or other short-run situations, do you think its necessary to have a voltage regulator for the deep cycle? I'm not sure what you are asking. The combiner I have doesn't care if the batteries are a different size, or type, so there is no need for an inline voltage regulator. We often make long runs in our bass boats. The starting battery is only used..for starting so it's quick to get that one back to full charge. The trolling motor battery - or house battery in your case - is another matter and benefits from the on the water charging. I meant as far as overcharging your trolling battery. From what I was reading on the product page, the switch will automatically reroute the charge from the starter battery to the 2nd battery once it reaches a certain voltage, but there's not automatic shutoff when the 2nd battery gets to 100%. Of course, the 2nd battery probably is drained more than the starter, so maybe its not an issue. :) If your motor has a regulated charging system all this will take care of itself. When the second battery reaches 100% it will reduce output. If it's unregulated (just stator and diodes), it can overcharge a single or dual batteries. There's an outfit called CDIELECTRONICS that makes a replacement module for rectifiers that adds a regulator. They may have something that fits yours. |
Boat and Batteries and Charging, Oh, my!
Ryan P. wrote:
On 3/17/2016 7:41 PM, Alex wrote: Ryan P. wrote: On 3/16/2016 6:53 PM, Alex wrote: Ryan P. wrote: On 3/16/2016 10:36 AM, wrote: On Wed, 16 Mar 2016 08:01:41 -0500, "Ryan P." wrote: 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? Battery switch or isolator. BTW don't run in "both" on a battery switch. Charge one, then the other. It is the only way to reliably charge 2 batteries if you are not using an isolator and still the best way. Both is really just an artifact of the "make before break" design of the switch but it might be useful if both batteries are down and between them you have enough to kick over the motor. It is the only real use. I'll throw a volt meter on the battery and make sure the charging system is working properly when I take her out of storage in a few weeks. A battery switch is pretty simple to install... If its really producing 9amps, that should be more than enough to keep the house battery alive if I let it charge while pulling kids on the tube or whatever. What you need for your application is a battery combiner. I have one on my bass boat and it works great. It will keep the starting battery topped off and then switch to the house battery - or in my case the deep-cycle trolling motor battery. Here's just one example: http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/battcom.html Not bad... Just an automatic battery switch, really... For a bass boat application, or other short-run situations, do you think its necessary to have a voltage regulator for the deep cycle? I'm not sure what you are asking. The combiner I have doesn't care if the batteries are a different size, or type, so there is no need for an inline voltage regulator. We often make long runs in our bass boats. The starting battery is only used..for starting so it's quick to get that one back to full charge. The trolling motor battery - or house battery in your case - is another matter and benefits from the on the water charging. I meant as far as overcharging your trolling battery. From what I was reading on the product page, the switch will automatically reroute the charge from the starter battery to the 2nd battery once it reaches a certain voltage, but there's not automatic shutoff when the 2nd battery gets to 100%. Of course, the 2nd battery probably is drained more than the starter, so maybe its not an issue. :) The one I have was from Bass Pro Shops and I don't see it in their catalog - but they might call it something else. It will return to the starting battery once the deep cycle is fully charged. At that point the voltage regulator in the outboard's charging system takes over as if the little box wasn't there and prevents overcharging the starting battery. |
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