Battery to use for Windlass

[tpbrady]

This is mainly posed for the resident electrical expert, that's you Joe. On which battery switch should I connect the windlass. I recall a post saying connect it to the house battery. A good friend of mine who has rigged numerous boats said connect it to the starting battery since you will be running the engine while you are pulling the anchor and charging the battery at the time. It also avoids the problems with voltage fluctuations on the house battery adversely affecting electronics and the Wallas if it happens to be running.

I'm inclined to use the start battery since in an emergency I can couple the batteries together to start using the house battery or fire off the kicker and charge both batteries, albeit at much lower rate.

Anybody have any other thoughts?

[Sea Wolf]

Tom-

I'm siding with you and your friends for exactly the reasons you mention.

Stay away from the house battery because of the voltage drop problems during windlass draw.

Depending on the brands of each, the windlass will draw from 40-60 amps, and your motor will put out 16-40 amps, so you can quickly replace used capacity.

Being able to parallel the batteries in an emergency is always a real plus. If you notice the starting battery needs help because it's lugging during windlass operation, you can try paralleling the batteries during it's use, but watch for the voltage drop problems.

Don't really know under what situations you anchor in Alaska, but I do know some folks up there carry as much as 600 feet of rode to anchor in the deep glacially carved canyons and have enough scope. If you're retrieving several hundred feet of rode or more with the windlass, you might check the temperature of the motor body manually after use the first few times to see how much heat is being generated as a by product.
My guess is that most any windlass will have a thermal protection switch internally within the motor as well as the windlass system circuit breaker on the dash at the helm.

Was great visiting with you at the SBS/CBC in January! Wish the event was a little longer to meet more C-Brat friends in person, the real reason I went to the show, not just to see the boats.

Joe.

[Dora~Jean]

I might be in the minority on this subject, but I only have 2 deep/start batteries on my boat. I have one to each engine directly wired and a 1-2-both switch to supply electrical needs throughout the boat. I also have 2 Link 10 monitors. When running the windlass (coming up), I have the engine that's connected to the chosen battery running in neutral at about 1500 rpm to supply 80-90% of its output current. I use the other engine to ease the boat forward very slowly to take up the strain of the rode until it's vertical. Seems to work great for me. You could do the same with a single engine, just have to put in and out of neutral occasionally.

Steve

[Sea Wolf]

Steve-

Yup, KISS all the way!

While I like complicated stuff, and electrical things are a fun hobby, the battery power on a boat can be simplified a lot.

Why carry two types of batteries?

A question or two-

Do you really need isolators, combiners, multiple bank chargers, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering to keep 12 volts on tap? And at what expense?

When I added the electric trolling motor a year ago, I decided to add some amp hours with extra batteries and Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Here's what I did:

Went to four group 27 deep cycle batteries connected with two off-1-all 2 switches combined into a single parallel 12 v battery system. I can turn on any one, two, three or all four batteries on into the system at any one time, but, for 99% of the time, I just run it as one big battery.

The value of this is that with 460 amp-hours of capacity, I can't run out of electricity, even running the 38 amp trolling motor for hours on end. I never have to worry about which battery to use or charge.

Then too, I need just one battery charger (since they can be all charged in parallel) of 40 amp capacity. I have a single battery three stage charger that can charge at 40, 20, 10, or 5 amp rate and automatically cuts the rate down based on the resistance voltage of the batteries. It can also put out 100 amps for emergency starting, and has anti-sulfation cycles and a couple of other features. Cost $100 at Wall Mart, vs. $300 for tye typical marine two/or three bank charger. (Just keep it in the cabin away from gas fumes since it's not sealed spark proof marine approved.)

The connecting of a lot of batteries in parallel is usually frowned upon, mostly because a weak one or shorted one will allow the other batteries to discharge through it, even boiling it's electrolyte. The solution is to keep only high quality fresh batteries and to check their condition frequently and replace them at any sign of deterioration. Also, as always, keep each battery in a battery case with the strap on tightly.

Also, I use regular RV batteries (Interstate or the like) rather than expensive gel cell or gas mat batteries because they're cheaper, have MORE capacity, and because I'm not usually boating upside down.

The only problem with this approach is that it doesn't lend it self to dual motor installations because when two motors are connected to the same battery their voltage regulators can't agreee on what to do.

I'll have to try to figure out if this approach can be done for dual installations, though, because

dual motors
+ dual starting batteries
+ house batteries
+ isolators and / or combiners (black boxes that do unknown tasks)
+ general over complicated and confusion added systems
________________________________________________
seem to defy understanding and trouble shooting!

Here's one area where the KISS Principle works for me!

Joe.

[tpbrady]

Thanks for confirming the advice Joe. For 0145 in the morning you were pretty lucid.

My Powerwinch 31 is now wired to the start battery. I'll get a chance to see how it does next weekend.