Last revised: April 2019
9
4.
Batteries/Charging/Inverter
Highlights
•
No need to touch the battery switch. Leave the switch on #1 for the house
bank (Main).
•
House batteries
–
Bank #1 has 150 usable amp hours (Ah) (300 total)
•
Start battery
–
Bank #2 is normally not used unless the house bank is depleted.
•
Average consumption, engine shutdown until next morning: 50-60 Ah
•
The Battery Monitor below the starboard settee should be checked to see the
percent of use, the actual amp hours used, and the battery voltage of the
house bank #1 (main). Do not let the batteries fall below 50% or 11.8 volts but
wait until the battery has rested with no load for one hour to be accurate.
Details
- We check both Ah used and the voltage before retiring for the night, then check
both again on engine startup next day to assure we are charging properly. The
system charges the house bank, so you can just leave the battery switch alone,
except to use the start battery for emergency engine start. For reference only, the
battery switch is under the chart table.
- Caution: we are careful when we have children aboard to
not
allow them to play
with the switches while the engine is operating. The alternator diodes could be
destroyed.
- The alternator delivers regulated maximum battery recharge. However, it is often
impossible to fully top off batteries from the engine alone. The engine just doesn't
run long enough. If the battery charge percentage stays below 80%, we try to top off
overnight on shore power. Hint: at least one mid-week overnight on shore power
helps top off the batteries, especially if we've had a few days of good sailing/little
engine use.
House Bank (2017):
This battery bank is located in the rear compartment under the starboard settee. There
are 3 Group 31 deep cycle batteries. The batteries can be charged by:
a)
running the engine
b)
shore power (turn on the battery charger switch on the AC panel over the
navigation station).
Engine start battery (2014):
One Group 27 starting battery is located in the forward compartment under the
starboard settee. This battery is normally not used to start the engine. It is charged
automatically by the shore power battery charger. You can check the voltage to make
sure it remains over 12.6 using the battery monitor.
