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#2
posted to rec.boats
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Florence!
On 9/15/2018 11:29 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:07:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 10:16 PM, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:34:49 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement. I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it didn't even grunt. Dead. Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that may just be a girl thing. ;-) I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going) I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group 24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually fit. Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a higher output alternator and a big ass battery. Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though because I didn't think of it either. The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the original charger did. === I've replaced all of our 8D batteries with 2 group 31 AGMs in parallel. They have more cold cranking amps than a single 8D. I'm getting much better life out of them, with less maintenance, and much easier replacement effort. The physical footprint is slightly different but not radically. I've noticed that AGM's have become very popular. Do they require a special charger? === They are rugged, have a higher charge acceptance rate and high cold cranking power compared to conventional lead acid batteries because of their lower internal resistance. Ideally they should be charged with a somewhat lower float voltage to prevent over charging. Most modern chargers have an AGM mode setting. That said, I have not changed the voltage regulators on my alternators, and my port side charger does not yet have an AGM setting although I'm planning to replace it with a newer unit. Now that you mention it I think the new, "smart charger" I installed in the Navigator had settings for either lead acid or AGM batteries. I replaced the batteries with 8D lead acid. This was many years ago now but I guess AGM type batteries must have been available then also. The challenge at the time was finding a "smart", 3 stage charger with three independent outputs and at a high enough current capacity. Smart chargers had been around for a while but not many with the ratings I needed. I forget where I got it. The three battery configuration was one for each engine and one for the genset but with the battery switches, you could direct battery power to any or all if needed. All I remember is those damn batteries were heavy suckers. |
#3
posted to rec.boats
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Florence!
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:43:11 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote: On 9/15/2018 11:29 PM, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:07:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 10:16 PM, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:34:49 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement. I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it didn't even grunt. Dead. Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that may just be a girl thing. ;-) I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going) I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group 24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually fit. Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a higher output alternator and a big ass battery. Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though because I didn't think of it either. The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the original charger did. === I've replaced all of our 8D batteries with 2 group 31 AGMs in parallel. They have more cold cranking amps than a single 8D. I'm getting much better life out of them, with less maintenance, and much easier replacement effort. The physical footprint is slightly different but not radically. I've noticed that AGM's have become very popular. Do they require a special charger? === They are rugged, have a higher charge acceptance rate and high cold cranking power compared to conventional lead acid batteries because of their lower internal resistance. Ideally they should be charged with a somewhat lower float voltage to prevent over charging. Most modern chargers have an AGM mode setting. That said, I have not changed the voltage regulators on my alternators, and my port side charger does not yet have an AGM setting although I'm planning to replace it with a newer unit. Now that you mention it I think the new, "smart charger" I installed in the Navigator had settings for either lead acid or AGM batteries. I replaced the batteries with 8D lead acid. This was many years ago now but I guess AGM type batteries must have been available then also. The challenge at the time was finding a "smart", 3 stage charger with three independent outputs and at a high enough current capacity. Smart chargers had been around for a while but not many with the ratings I needed. I forget where I got it. The three battery configuration was one for each engine and one for the genset but with the battery switches, you could direct battery power to any or all if needed. All I remember is those damn batteries were heavy suckers. === They sure are, about 175 pounds, way too much for one person to reasonably handle but I did it anyway. Both of my engine starting batts are behind the engines, and require a big lift to get them over. I devised an elaborate system of overhead strong points, combined with hoisting tackle and a 2 x 12 plank running between engines. I'd first hoist the battery up onto the plank, slide it over to the middle of the engine room, and then hoist it down to the floor where I could ooch it over to the stairs. Getting it up the stairs to the main cabin is where I'd usually trash my back. Once in the main cabin i'd put it on a moving dolly and roll it to the side door. From there I could use the dinghy hoist to lift it over to the dock. A few years ago after trashing my back one too many times, I started looking for a better way. :=) |
#4
posted to rec.boats
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Florence!
On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 07:08:12 -0400, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:43:11 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 11:29 PM, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:07:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 10:16 PM, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:34:49 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement. I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it didn't even grunt. Dead. Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that may just be a girl thing. ;-) I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going) I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group 24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually fit. Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a higher output alternator and a big ass battery. Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though because I didn't think of it either. The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the original charger did. === I've replaced all of our 8D batteries with 2 group 31 AGMs in parallel. They have more cold cranking amps than a single 8D. I'm getting much better life out of them, with less maintenance, and much easier replacement effort. The physical footprint is slightly different but not radically. I've noticed that AGM's have become very popular. Do they require a special charger? === They are rugged, have a higher charge acceptance rate and high cold cranking power compared to conventional lead acid batteries because of their lower internal resistance. Ideally they should be charged with a somewhat lower float voltage to prevent over charging. Most modern chargers have an AGM mode setting. That said, I have not changed the voltage regulators on my alternators, and my port side charger does not yet have an AGM setting although I'm planning to replace it with a newer unit. Now that you mention it I think the new, "smart charger" I installed in the Navigator had settings for either lead acid or AGM batteries. I replaced the batteries with 8D lead acid. This was many years ago now but I guess AGM type batteries must have been available then also. The challenge at the time was finding a "smart", 3 stage charger with three independent outputs and at a high enough current capacity. Smart chargers had been around for a while but not many with the ratings I needed. I forget where I got it. The three battery configuration was one for each engine and one for the genset but with the battery switches, you could direct battery power to any or all if needed. All I remember is those damn batteries were heavy suckers. === They sure are, about 175 pounds, way too much for one person to reasonably handle but I did it anyway. Both of my engine starting batts are behind the engines, and require a big lift to get them over. I devised an elaborate system of overhead strong points, combined with hoisting tackle and a 2 x 12 plank running between engines. I'd first hoist the battery up onto the plank, slide it over to the middle of the engine room, and then hoist it down to the floor where I could ooch it over to the stairs. Getting it up the stairs to the main cabin is where I'd usually trash my back. Once in the main cabin i'd put it on a moving dolly and roll it to the side door. From there I could use the dinghy hoist to lift it over to the dock. A few years ago after trashing my back one too many times, I started looking for a better way. :=) Surgery on the spinal column is not fun. A Combat Engineer could have helped. Go here and look at page 3-70. Directions are on earlier page. http://tinyurl.com/yapvxagf |
#5
posted to rec.boats
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Florence!
On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 07:22:32 -0400, John H.
wrote: Surgery on the spinal column is not fun. === Very true, and it's not always successful. |
#6
posted to rec.boats
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Florence!
On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 08:50:52 -0400, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 07:22:32 -0400, John H. wrote: Surgery on the spinal column is not fun. === Very true, and it's not always successful. I was lucky. |
#7
posted to rec.boats
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Florence!
On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 08:50:52 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote: On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 07:22:32 -0400, John H. wrote: Surgery on the spinal column is not fun. === Very true, and it's not always successful. I thought I did myself in a couple weeks ago cutting and dragging big limbs out of the canal but a few evenings in the hot tub fixed it. |
#8
posted to rec.boats
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Florence!
John H. Wrote in message:
On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 07:08:12 -0400, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:43:11 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 11:29 PM, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:07:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 10:16 PM, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:34:49 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement. I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it didn't even grunt. Dead. Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that may just be a girl thing. ;-) I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going) I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group 24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually fit. Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a higher output alternator and a big ass battery. Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though because I didn't think of it either. The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the original charger did. === I've replaced all of our 8D batteries with 2 group 31 AGMs in parallel. They have more cold cranking amps than a single 8D. I'm getting much better life out of them, with less maintenance, and much easier replacement effort. The physical footprint is slightly different but not radically. I've noticed that AGM's have become very popular. Do they require a special charger? === They are rugged, have a higher charge acceptance rate and high cold cranking power compared to conventional lead acid batteries because of their lower internal resistance. Ideally they should be charged with a somewhat lower float voltage to prevent over charging. Most modern chargers have an AGM mode setting. That said, I have not changed the voltage regulators on my alternators, and my port side charger does not yet have an AGM setting although I'm planning to replace it with a newer unit. Now that you mention it I think the new, "smart charger" I installed in the Navigator had settings for either lead acid or AGM batteries. I replaced the batteries with 8D lead acid. This was many years ago now but I guess AGM type batteries must have been available then also. The challenge at the time was finding a "smart", 3 stage charger with three independent outputs and at a high enough current capacity. Smart chargers had been around for a while but not many with the ratings I needed. I forget where I got it. The three battery configuration was one for each engine and one for the genset but with the battery switches, you could direct battery power to any or all if needed. All I remember is those damn batteries were heavy suckers. === They sure are, about 175 pounds, way too much for one person to reasonably handle but I did it anyway. Both of my engine starting batts are behind the engines, and require a big lift to get them over. I devised an elaborate system of overhead strong points, combined with hoisting tackle and a 2 x 12 plank running between engines. I'd first hoist the battery up onto the plank, slide it over to the middle of the engine room, and then hoist it down to the floor where I could ooch it over to the stairs. Getting it up the stairs to the main cabin is where I'd usually trash my back. Once in the main cabin i'd put it on a moving dolly and roll it to the side door. From there I could use the dinghy hoist to lift it over to the dock. A few years ago after trashing my back one too many times, I started looking for a better way. :=) Surgery on the spinal column is not fun. A Combat Engineer could have helped. Go here and look at page 3-70. Directions are on earlier page. http://tinyurl.com/yapvxagf Using mechanical advantage is always a good alternative to brute force. -- x ----Android NewsGroup Reader---- http://usenet.sinaapp.com/ |
#9
posted to rec.boats
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Florence!
On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 10:55:25 -0400 (EDT), justan wrote:
John H. Wrote in message: On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 07:08:12 -0400, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:43:11 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 11:29 PM, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:07:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 10:16 PM, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:34:49 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement. I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it didn't even grunt. Dead. Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that may just be a girl thing. ;-) I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going) I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group 24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually fit. Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a higher output alternator and a big ass battery. Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though because I didn't think of it either. The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the original charger did. === I've replaced all of our 8D batteries with 2 group 31 AGMs in parallel. They have more cold cranking amps than a single 8D. I'm getting much better life out of them, with less maintenance, and much easier replacement effort. The physical footprint is slightly different but not radically. I've noticed that AGM's have become very popular. Do they require a special charger? === They are rugged, have a higher charge acceptance rate and high cold cranking power compared to conventional lead acid batteries because of their lower internal resistance. Ideally they should be charged with a somewhat lower float voltage to prevent over charging. Most modern chargers have an AGM mode setting. That said, I have not changed the voltage regulators on my alternators, and my port side charger does not yet have an AGM setting although I'm planning to replace it with a newer unit. Now that you mention it I think the new, "smart charger" I installed in the Navigator had settings for either lead acid or AGM batteries. I replaced the batteries with 8D lead acid. This was many years ago now but I guess AGM type batteries must have been available then also. The challenge at the time was finding a "smart", 3 stage charger with three independent outputs and at a high enough current capacity. Smart chargers had been around for a while but not many with the ratings I needed. I forget where I got it. The three battery configuration was one for each engine and one for the genset but with the battery switches, you could direct battery power to any or all if needed. All I remember is those damn batteries were heavy suckers. === They sure are, about 175 pounds, way too much for one person to reasonably handle but I did it anyway. Both of my engine starting batts are behind the engines, and require a big lift to get them over. I devised an elaborate system of overhead strong points, combined with hoisting tackle and a 2 x 12 plank running between engines. I'd first hoist the battery up onto the plank, slide it over to the middle of the engine room, and then hoist it down to the floor where I could ooch it over to the stairs. Getting it up the stairs to the main cabin is where I'd usually trash my back. Once in the main cabin i'd put it on a moving dolly and roll it to the side door. From there I could use the dinghy hoist to lift it over to the dock. A few years ago after trashing my back one too many times, I started looking for a better way. :=) Surgery on the spinal column is not fun. A Combat Engineer could have helped. Go here and look at page 3-70. Directions are on earlier page. http://tinyurl.com/yapvxagf Using mechanical advantage is always a good alternative to brute force. One reason I love geometry and physics. It is better to spend some time coming up with a plan than to just "grabbit and growl". With a little thinking and a little rigging I set two 8"x16' pilings and put a 3"x12"x24' rough sawn timber on top by myself. |
#10
posted to rec.boats
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Florence!
On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:48:59 -0400, wrote:
On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 10:55:25 -0400 (EDT), justan wrote: John H. Wrote in message: On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 07:08:12 -0400, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:43:11 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 11:29 PM, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:07:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 10:16 PM, Wayne.B wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:34:49 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote: On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote: The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement. I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it didn't even grunt. Dead. Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that may just be a girl thing. ;-) I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going) I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group 24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually fit. Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a higher output alternator and a big ass battery. Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though because I didn't think of it either. The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the original charger did. === I've replaced all of our 8D batteries with 2 group 31 AGMs in parallel. They have more cold cranking amps than a single 8D. I'm getting much better life out of them, with less maintenance, and much easier replacement effort. The physical footprint is slightly different but not radically. I've noticed that AGM's have become very popular. Do they require a special charger? === They are rugged, have a higher charge acceptance rate and high cold cranking power compared to conventional lead acid batteries because of their lower internal resistance. Ideally they should be charged with a somewhat lower float voltage to prevent over charging. Most modern chargers have an AGM mode setting. That said, I have not changed the voltage regulators on my alternators, and my port side charger does not yet have an AGM setting although I'm planning to replace it with a newer unit. Now that you mention it I think the new, "smart charger" I installed in the Navigator had settings for either lead acid or AGM batteries. I replaced the batteries with 8D lead acid. This was many years ago now but I guess AGM type batteries must have been available then also. The challenge at the time was finding a "smart", 3 stage charger with three independent outputs and at a high enough current capacity. Smart chargers had been around for a while but not many with the ratings I needed. I forget where I got it. The three battery configuration was one for each engine and one for the genset but with the battery switches, you could direct battery power to any or all if needed. All I remember is those damn batteries were heavy suckers. === They sure are, about 175 pounds, way too much for one person to reasonably handle but I did it anyway. Both of my engine starting batts are behind the engines, and require a big lift to get them over. I devised an elaborate system of overhead strong points, combined with hoisting tackle and a 2 x 12 plank running between engines. I'd first hoist the battery up onto the plank, slide it over to the middle of the engine room, and then hoist it down to the floor where I could ooch it over to the stairs. Getting it up the stairs to the main cabin is where I'd usually trash my back. Once in the main cabin i'd put it on a moving dolly and roll it to the side door. From there I could use the dinghy hoist to lift it over to the dock. A few years ago after trashing my back one too many times, I started looking for a better way. :=) Surgery on the spinal column is not fun. A Combat Engineer could have helped. Go here and look at page 3-70. Directions are on earlier page. http://tinyurl.com/yapvxagf Using mechanical advantage is always a good alternative to brute force. One reason I love geometry and physics. It is better to spend some time coming up with a plan than to just "grabbit and growl". With a little thinking and a little rigging I set two 8"x16' pilings and put a 3"x12"x24' rough sawn timber on top by myself. Yeah, but we all know you're a cross-breed of the Hulk and Spiderman. |
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