Batteries & Extended Cruising

[James V]

jeffz - That is a lot of amp hours to use and recharge. Unless you ae playing the radio a lot or using a microwave or 12v fridge, you may not ever need so much.

With a little care, I am hoping on not using more than 20 amp hrs per day full time cruising, But that is just me.

[RHC]

I did not see mention about electrical cooking appliance. Anyone have experience running toaster ovens and coffee makers from batteries plus AC converter?

[James V]

The amp draw will be far to much for the small batteries that we use. There is things that can be put on top of flames that will work well.

If you want to use big electrical draw items, just get a 1k to 2k generator.

[James V]

Nice thread though

[Frank C]

... Since renting a slip this year I have 110 volts available at all times. That means I COULD leave my twin Group 29 deep-cycles on maintenance charge, but unfortunately I have only a home garage style 10-amp charger ....

DLT has the ProSport 20, and Duane recently observed he'd like to have the ProSport 12. I took their advice yesterday and ordered the proSport 12 charger. It's compelling that it will automatically increase the amperage to whichever batttery is low. The ProSport 12 is on sale at Overton's for $110, though I bought it from Defender.

Sidebar: Defender had another widget (a furler lead block) that I wanted to order, but they wanted $130 for the charger. I sent an email asking if they'd match Overton's price. Answer was Yes ... as long as Overton's shows the item is 'in stock' Defender will match that price.

For my money I think my next charger is one of these Pro Sport Charger

I would go with the 12 amp 2 bank charger for $129. What set's these apart is they can give either bank the amount of power it needs up to the max output rather than just topping out at 6 amps per battery . . .

P.S. I think that DLT's choice of the 20-amp charger would be better if I had AGM batteries, since they can accept the 'fire-hose' charging of 20 amps per hour. But my deep cycles would rarely be able to take advantage of recharging that fast, so I chose the much less expensive 12-amp version.

[bastonjock]

guys do you have to put anything in to protect the engines alternator from a shore charger?

[Gerald Gordon]

It doesn't add up!
I have two 12v in parallel
Two Trojan 6v 105's in series.
One Iota 30amp charger. (smart charger 3-stage plus dual jack)

I have not been able to get the Trojans above 12.42v. That's about 70% charged.

I wrote Iota and they said I needed a larger charger. Yet I read here of some folks charging large banks with 6-20amp chargers. How is that possible? How long does that take?

I'm thinking of selling the Trojans and getting two more 12v deeps. That way my Iota can handle each battery independently and I can also use my AirX marine wind generator for charging. On a good day it could supply 4-6 amps per/hr. Also, I'll have a better chance to use my Honda 2000 on a single 12v 80amp. I've come to the conclusion that large banks(200+amps) are not the way to go. Better to have more batteries that are easier to charge and rotate out.