Association Forum - Battery Wiring

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Battery Wiring

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

arlingva
Navigator

Member Avatar

USA
116 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/19/2002 : 22:27:03

First let me confess to being a total moron, when it comes to engines or wiring.

I have a Honda 9.9, 4 stoke, electric start w/altenator (sp) wired directly to a battery. Which then has cables running to a switch which then has cables running to a second battery.

Is this set up correctly?

It seems to me I would be hard pressed to charge the second battery in this configuration. Logical, or am I as big a moron as I think?

Thanks, Bill C-250WK #614

Bill Swanson
C250WK #614

Edited by - on

Douglas
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

1595 Posts

Response Posted - 07/19/2002 : 23:17:38

Just need a little more information here. You have a two battery set up. We need to know what the switch looks like. Id it large and red with a dial type selector ? Does it have labels for the switch selections Batt 1 Batt 2 , Both ? or House Battery. If you can select either battery seperatly or both. If you Honda charging wire is hooked directly to one battery it will only charge that battery at the designed rate. At best its not much of a charge to start with. Refer to the Honda manual its realy only a topping charge and will only make up for the drain a few small lights would make. Over a long running time it will top off a battery but it would take a very long time to charge a dead battery. Therefore its only hooked to the one as a dedicated topping charge. This battery would be the primary or most important. The second battery would be a house bat for interior lights, sterio, fan. Things that the safty of the ship dont rely on. You realy should have a good charger for properly maintaining the batteries peak condition. One you can use at the dock or at home when on a trailer. If you have a 115/120 system in your boat it can run off of it. But by no means should you use an automotive charger, especialy when in the water in a slip. Its also important to invest in a proper shore power coard not just an extention cord. Be kind to your neighbors zinks.

Doug&Ruth
Wind Lass
Tacoma Wa.

Edited by - on

arlingva
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
116 Posts

Response Posted - 07/19/2002 : 23:29:30

Thanks for the reply. It's the red dial. 1, 2, all, off. Don't have shore power. Guess that is next on list. How often will I need to charge batterys and how best to monitor?

Thanks, Bill

Bill Swanson
C250WK #614

Edited by - on

Douglas
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

1595 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2002 : 01:39:17

Your hook up and system sounds like its good. Im not up on what chargers are best but Im sure some one from the site will jump in. I charge my battery up to top off a few days before a long trip. Rest of the year you will want a charger that just keeps them toped off. I can get by on one battery for a week without any trouble. Its light until nine here. I do have a couple of good lanturns and thats all I need.

Doug&Ruth
Wind Lass
Tacoma Wa.

Edited by - on

EricCS
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
40 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2002 : 08:01:58

Bill,

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
<snip>
How often will I need to charge batterys and how best to monitor?
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Until I installed a Tiller Pilot I was able to maintain my electrical supply using only a 5-watt flexible solar panel. I lay it on the cabin top, tied to the handrail, with its cord dropped essentially straight down to the battery compartment (No holes!). During the winter I hung the panel in a south-facing window. My battery charge was maintained well.

With the addition of an ST1000+ Tiller Pilot I needed more power and now use a 32-watt panel. It's able to charge on a sunny day even with everything -- tiller, radio, GPS & depth sounder -- on, and on an overcast day at anchor with radio, GPS & depth sounder running was able to maintain the status quo -- neither charging nor discharging.

The expensive part of last winter's upgrade for me was installation of a Link 10 e-meter to report the state of charge. There are, however, less expensive devices for this.

HTH

Eric Spitzner, AP (eric@snet.net)
Catalina 25 #4445 "Charm"
41°16.18'N 72°54.03'W

Edited by - on

mqp
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
46 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2002 : 10:44:06

My outboard has the red wire going to the switch (1/2/both/off). The switch has 3 posts, one for each battery and a third for the buss bar from the electrical pannel. The red wire from the alternator is connected to the third post. Is this OK? It seems that, in this configuration, I can choose which battery to charge by selecting 1 or 2.

--Minh

Edited by - on

arlingva
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
116 Posts

Response Posted - 08/13/2002 : 21:41:43

Thanks guys! Minh I think you have the right idea and Eric I'm going to get a solar charger!

Thanks again, Bill

Bill Swanson
C250WK #614

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.