Inverter and house battery(s)

K

Kena B

New member
Will be picking up our new 25' cruiser in a few months and trying to come up with ideas on potential inverter/battery ideas.

FYI: I have a pretty elaborate inverter system at a remote cabin of ours and it has been a great addition for electrical needs. It is the proverbial free electricity that cost me around 10k!!!!(wind generator, solar panels and 3k Honda gen.) That said, I would think that a similar (but smaller) system would be great on the new "home on the water".

Questions: Have any of you installed extra "house" batteries ( I can't imagine that using the O/B motor batteries would be to good an idea!) and if so, how many, battery size, and (specifically) location. What about an inverter/charger?? I have a Prosine 3.o pure sinewave inverter/charger at my cabin and it is very easy to use. It seems a similar system would work well on the boat other than the need for a fairly large battery bank!

Oh yeah, I have a Honda 1k gen. now and realize that a 2k would be better but just spent enough $ to clear the national deficet so a new gen. is not a good idea to run past the chief cook at the moment!

So far, the only electrical needs I can see would be possibly 4 or 5 days at sea and use the fridge, occasional hot water htr, lights at night, small micro, and ghetto blaster as needed.

Before I get to long winded, maybe I could request some ideas from those who "have done it"!

Ideas and suggestions welcome (and appreciated!!)

Don
 
Don-

I added two group 27 batteries to the two 27's that are already in the stern of the boat, putting them under the forward dinette seat of my CD-22. They threw the balance athwartships off quite a bit, so test out the balance of the boat before you secure them down where ever you put them.

Mine are connected into the 6 gauge trunk line that comes forward to the windlass controls to save duplicating them to the stern of the boat. All four batteries are in parallel, with two Off-1-B-2 switches. Some folks have said this parallel system is prone to problems if one battery gets weak and the others discharge through it, but I've never had a problem in four years now.

I also have a Honda 1000i and a 1500 watt inverter. The inverter is on the wall on the front of the helm seat (behind the skipper's calves), and joined into the same wires running to the windlass controls, which act as a common terminal or bus.

I use the Honda 1000i to recharge the batteries when not running the main motor, and the 1500 watt inverter easily handles the start up amperage surge of the microwave, etc.

The Honda works through a Vector 40 amp charger running off the generator's 120 volt AC output, as the 6.3 amp 12 volt output is to weak to do the job.
Hope this helps!

More questions, just ask!

Joe. :thup :teeth
 
Both of our boats (CD 25 and Tom Cat 255) we have added two group 31 AGM batteries in the cabin on the port side. In the CD 25, we put the batteries behind the water heater--this is a "dead" space, and with a custom made bracket the two batteries fit well there and don't take from the storage. The AGM are best because they can be put on their side or end, and do not emit fumes or toxic acids.

I choose the Group 31's--but some folks have used an 8D or two golf cart batteries.

The fridge is much better run on 12 volts, not 110 thru the inverter. It is more effecient on 12 volts--since the units currently have a 12 volt compressor.

The water heater--that is a huge load--I believe 1500 watts--which translates to about 12.5 amps 120 volts. Translate that to 12 volts and it is 125 amps! That means that the two group 30 batteries will be 50% discharged (the max that you should discharge them) in one hour. Now you have to put 135 or so amps back into the batteries. With a 40 amp alternator on the outboard it will take about 3.5 hours--assuming that you have no other electrical demands. With the honda generator--it will also take a few hours, depending on the size of second battery charger you put in--if you put in a 50 amp battery charger, it will take about 2.75 hours (if the 1000 watt Honda will run the 50 amp charger). The water heater needs to run off a generator or shore power--not a good choice for an inverter.

We use our inverters mostly for the microwave.

We put in voltage sensitative relays to separate the start and "house" batteries from the additional batteries. There are groups of switches and VSR to connect the extra battery banks.
 
Pat Anderson":u0jdv2fh said:
Joe or Bob - would either of you put a conventional wet lead acid battery inside the cabin?
Click to expand...

PAT- I DID, TWO OF THEM.

No problems in two years.

Put them in battery boxes, provide some ventilation to allow gases to escape the cabinet they're in, and don't put them in a closed area where you expect sparks.

It's my understanding that the newer wet cell lead/acid batteries are basically sealed up anyway, not requiring water because they catalytically recombine the oxygen and hydrogen into water, so what are we afraid of anyway?

P.S.: I know all the common admonitions about all the electrical and other systems on a boat, but think you have to think twice about them. Figure out why they were created, then to what degree you're going to encounter the implied risk in your situation, then use your judgment to make a reasoned intelligent choice. There are those who will only be gleefully happy to point out the axiom you've violated, but they're usually not thinking, just quoting the rule. My background in physics and chemistry tells me to look beyond the rule to the why and how things work, then decide.

Drawing fire in posting mode,

Joe. :thup :teeth
 
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