New C25 cruiser owner has questions

[ocean ozzie]

Hi we are new proud owners of a C25 cruiser and am loving it. I have a few questions and was wondering if any C25 owners could reply.

1. Should the batteries be turned of while docked and hooked up to shore power?

2. Should the trickle charger be turned on always or only when needed?

3. If the Batteries are turned off will the trickle charger, charge the batteries?

Thank you for your help,
Jackie

[Byrdman]

Jackie: Congrats on your new boat and you will love the times you have in front of you on your boat.

I made the mistake of 'NOT TRUSTING" the high dollar marine grade on-board charger built into my C-Dory TomCat's system, and did not leave it running while I was away from the docks... The result... I really...really shortened the life of the batteries... and they failed me when I needed them the most. Had my butt busted too many times for not being in the area of a "simple" battery charger left running in the barn... A whole different battery charger than what "should be" mounted in your boat.

Each boat is more often than not wired/rigged differently, based on what folks want on "their" boat, but if an on board marine charging system was wired into your boat, you "should be" fine with it left on charge while you are away from the docks. In fact, it will "exercise" your batteries too.

Now if you have a simple buy it at wal-mart, not really made for marine use but for car batteries charger with a "slow trickle" charge switch.... put it in the garage at home, get it off your boat, and get a real for sure on board "marine" charging system for your boat.

Do not be afraid to re-address any issues with the dealership you purchased the boat from. Way too much information at a way exciting time for most of us when we are receiving our new-owner orientations on our boats, and the many systems on board. They should expect calls from time to time.

Look in your bag or box of books you received from your dealership when you bought the boat and find the owners manual for the charger. Read it. You need to know and understand how it works, particuarly in different varied climates.

Happy Boating!!

[drjohn71a]

Jackie,

While there are many more knowledgeable ppl than I on this site, my take on your questions so far is:

1- Most boats should have all the switches, house and motor, in the "off" position when the boat is not being used.

2- Battery chargers should wired to charge the batteries when these switches are in the "off" position to my thoughts, but are sometimes on the "house" 120V panel. If yours in on the "house" panel, then turning the "house" 120V master switch off will turn off the charger. That is how mine is wired.

3- All bilge pumps should be wired to run even when the "house" and "motor" master switches are off.

4- It is very dangerous to leave the boat's bilge pumps to run on whatever battery power you have left without shore power since it does not take long to exhaust a battery if there is much of a leak.

5- Long term, non-use, storage use of tiny (about 450 milliwatt) flyback chargers will maintain the battery without damaging the plates nor boiling out all the battery water. BUT don't use these tiny winter maintenance chargers while your boat is in the water since they cannot support the bilge pumps.

6- The most common reasons for shortened battery life are lack of water level maintenance and draining the batteries dead. Each time the battery is dead, the life span is shortened significantly. Each time the battery is charged with plates exposed to air, those plates are irreversibly damaged.

I keep those "Quick-Fil" hoses on all my batteries to maintain water level.

On my farm, all equipment batteries are hooked up to tiny 450mW flyback transformers over times of inactivity.


John

[thataway]

Basically agree with Dr John. We turn the battery switches off when not using the boat. If we are using the boat, then the house battery is turned on. We are adding an additional bank of two AGM batteries to our C D 25. The single house battery is not large enough for serious cruising.

We use a combiner or VSR to charge the house banks when the engine is running.

The factory installed battery charger is a smart charger and will maintain the batteries. As John says, the main breaker and the charger breaker have to both be one. My Tom Cat was not set up properly, so that the house bank was not being charged. My CD 25 is set up properly. You may want to put in a larger charger if you even are going to be charging with a generator. But for dock side use, the factory charger is adequate.

Agree with John, do not use an automotive charger, the one installed on the boat is a good charger for maintaining the batteries, and I leave mine on all of the the time when plugged into power.