10 Meter Battery Configuration

[fountain27]

The orignal configuration on the 10 meter international series uses the starting batteries (P & S) for house duty. I am looking to add some AH to the system and was looking for some suggestions.

Maybe 2 golf batteries tied in series?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[RWS]

As I understand it, those two batteries correspond to the port and starboard sides of the 12 volt breaker panel.

My 1983 10 Meter had two group 27's and a group 24 for the genny. The genny battery had a positive strap tied to the main portside battery, presumably for the genny battery to receive a charge while underway from the port engine and to receive a charge from the house battery charger while at the dock.

House battery life was way too short with the engines and genny off.

I replaced the group 27's with group 31's. Then I isolated the genny battery with a manual batttery switch which is normally left OFF and replaced the house charger with a Xantrex 3 bank unit with a 3 way voltmeter at the helm. The new genny has a little magneto that keeps a charge while it is in use.

This way if we're on the hook and the house batteries run down the genny battery is isolated and can start the genset which allows the house charger to charge up the house batteries. I also have the advantage if needed of tying all three batteries together by flipping the genny battery switch and holding the crossover switch on the dash.

This boat is a 12 volt power hog. The flourescent lights, vacuflush and sound system amplifier are big current users. I tried to tie both panels over to one battery once, but found that the load/drain was unacceptable for what I wanted to run.

In 2003 I replaced my unreliable gas genset with a diesel unit which we generally have running whenever we're out on the water for referigerators, ice maker and A/C and to keep everything else topped off. It burns less than 1/3 gallon per hour when running at full tilt.

By the way, those paddle switches in your 12v panel aren't really switches, but AIRPAX breakers! I found that many of mine had been replaced with simple toggle switches! This dangerous situation was not caught by the survey in 2001 and I didn't realize it until having owned her for four years. It's a good idea to CHECK YOURS !

Also, for some reason, the crossover solenoid engages whenever either starter switch is engaged.

Lots of guys run those 8D batteries with inverters, however for the weight, runtime and lack of A/C use I'm happier with the diesel genset.

Hope this info is a help to you.

RWS

[Paul]

We have 2 Trojan T-105 6VDC batteries wired in series for a house bank that supplies us with 220 Ah @ 12VDC. We spend alot of time on the hook, 2-3 days at a time, and have sized our house bank according to our needs over this time period.

To do this, you first have to determine what your load requirements are. For example if you have a load that draws 3 amps and you use it for .5 hours per day, then your load requirement for that item is 1.5 Ah per day. (3 amp x .5 hours) Once you determine what your load requirements are for all of the items that you will use in a day, add them up and this will give you your daily Ah requirement. Multiply this by the amount of days you'll be on the house bank and your ready to choose your batteries.

When choosing batteries for your house bank, the rule of thumb is to be sure that your load requirements will not drain the house bank below 50% max. So if you require 110 Ah, then you need to have 220 Ah available.