12 volt freezers?

[mike]

The other thing you gain with the single bank, beside simplicity and cheaper components (link 10 vs 20, no combiner, no 1/both/2 switch, etc.) is longer life.

Say you normally pull 30 amps out of your house battery. This probably is about 1/3 of it's capacity. It will be able to tolerate this for a certain number of cycles. While you do this your starting battery sit's there with almost always a full charge contributing nothing to your daily needs.

Good point. On our recent trip, I made it a point to divvy up the house loads between the two batteries, and it wasn't really a hassle, but yes... having just one big bank would certainly simplify things and extend battery life.

I'm considering getting one of those nifty Engel refrigerators as a Christmas gift for my wife... she's been begging for refrigeration, but I've always told her that the power requirements are just too steep. Even with that low draw, my power consumption estimates show that about 2 days out is the best we could expect (depending on how much we motor). I might consider adding another 100ah battery, and if I do this, the two current batteries will get tied together as a single bank and moved up to the v-berth area, while the new one will go in the current battery location under the aft galley seat and be used as a starting and extra house battery.

Or, I instead might go for one of those little Honda or Yamaha generators, which I could run for a little while in the evenings to charge the batteries, presumably much quicker than my Honda 50's little 10 amp alternator. I currently have a big, noisy Coleman generator, which I could sell and get a smaller one that could be used both at home and on the boat.

--Mike

[Bobby T.-26X #4767]

my wife would kill me if i got her an Engel & a Honda as Christmas presents.
unless, of course, they were 24 carat gold.

[mike]

I found this on ebay today...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW



Looks like a knockoff of Honda's 1000 watt unit... similar specs, design, etc. Probably not as reliable though, but the price sure makes it tempting!

--Mike

[Moe]

From what I've read, it's a Chinese knock-off. It doesn't have the ability to be paralleled. Where are you going to get parts and service for it?

IIRC, the European distributor makes no claims that the inverter is better than a Honda. There are many HAM enthusiasts using Hondas for RVs and I've never heard any complaint of less than clean power. On the contrary, these are the guys who've hooked them up to an o'scope and reported clean, sinewave power. I suspect the Honda badmouthing comes only from the eBay distributor.

--
Moe

[Pouw Geuzebroek]

So far I have two non connected separate systems. I am not sure if I should connect them via a switch or link 10 or whatever. I have a 55 Ah start battery and a 75 Ah house battery which is loaded via a 30W solar panel.
I also have that Isotherm 36 fridge and now (see other topic) also have the low draw cabin lets. So far I do not have the need to connect the two batteries, but that may be because I only do day trips. However next year we have planned a 2 week trip and I wander if the solar panel will be sufficient enough to keep topping up the house battery. In theory it should work. I have calculated all draw. But these sort of calculations are always based on a lot of assumptions, so I wander.

[mike]

From what I've read, it's a Chinese knock-off. It doesn't have the ability to be paralleled. Where are you going to get parts and service for it?

Paralleling is not important to me, as I wouldn't want to bring two generators aboard, but your point about parts and service is the reason why I haven't hit the "buy it now" button. I guess you'd have to look at it as being disposable.

--Mike

[Moe]

I guess you'd have to look at it as being disposable.

--Mike

Actually, I intended to use those very words in my post above and forgot to.

--
Moe

[mgg4]

From what I've read, it's a Chinese knock-off. It doesn't have the ability to be paralleled. Where are you going to get parts and service for it?

Paralleling is not important to me, as I wouldn't want to bring two generators aboard...

Actually, I kind of like the paralleling feature of the Honda units. I frequently boat with a group, and a few people have these generators. One of our common destinations is a private island that, while wired, doesn't have any generation. Power to the island is either provided by one of the docked boats, or by generator. Most of the time a single 2000W generator is enough, but there are times when more power is needed. The ability to parallel two of these generators is positive selling point for me.

--Mark

[mike]

Veering back to the original topic of this thread, I just bought an Engel 34. I got it from compactappliances.com... they have it for $569 + $30 shipping on ebay, as opposed to $619 including shipping on their main site.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 3852434237

--Mike

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Not necessarily... I think your current configuration would be fine with the Link 20. The only catch is that the only thing that can be connected to each battery's negative terminal is the Link 20's shunt. The negative wires for everything else on the boat (such as the panel feed, and anything connected directly to the battery like a bilge pump) needs to connect to the shunt.

Oh, I get it. Basically, a link 20 would be monitoring power loss separately on each battery even if if the switch is in the "both" position.

So far, the different sizes don't seem to be a problem. The smaller battery fills itself off the larger battery first if I use the both setting.

For what its worth, the experts strongly recommend against using different capacity batteries together in a bank... this "cross-feeding" action supposedly has a significant effect on efficiency. Actually, they suggest that you not only get batteries of identical capacity, but also of the same manufacturer, age, and, if at all possible, the same lot number. If I remember correctly, there was some sort of way to test two batteries to see if they'd make an optimal pair (if you REALLY want to get fancy about it). But for me, I simply got two identical batteries (though separated a few months in age). Then again, mine don't get tied together during discharge, so it's not that important.

--Mike

FWIW, when I first got the boat 1.5 years ago, the group27 battery was shot but the group24 was fine. I thought it was the 27 that was probably the original one that came with the boat 3.5 years earlier although some recent posts make that questionable. Anyway, the 24 was holding a charge fine and I would have to "re-engineer" the battery locker to put in two 27's, so I didn't bother and just replaced the dead 27 with another cheapo 27. I find that 3-4 years is the most you are going to get out of one of those anyway..at least down here in Florida where the heat is harder on batteries I've heard. It is the same with my cars, the batteries become unreliable after 3 years. My previous boat did have a couple nice marine die-hards that lasted over 5 years though...but they still got weak eventually too and for double the cost or whatever they are, its not really worth it IMO.

Btw, I have to parallel both my batteries and/or run the engine to use my microwave. It is a 12V microwave and is very picky about its voltages (high or low). I don't use it if I'm trying to conserve power obviously, but microwave popcorn (kids' fav) and the ability to reheat prepared meals is pretty valuable at times.

[mike]

Not necessarily... I think your current configuration would be fine with the Link 20. The only catch is that the only thing that can be connected to each battery's negative terminal is the Link 20's shunt. The negative wires for everything else on the boat (such as the panel feed, and anything connected directly to the battery like a bilge pump) needs to connect to the shunt.

Oh, I get it. Basically, a link 20 would be monitoring power loss separately on each battery even if if the switch is in the "both" position.

Exactly!

Btw, I have to parallel both my batteries and/or run the engine to use my microwave. It is a 12V microwave and is very picky about its voltages (high or low). I don't use it if I'm trying to conserve power obviously, but microwave popcorn (kids' fav) and the ability to reheat prepared meals is pretty valuable at times.

Microwaved popcorn would be a big hit with my wife and kids... can you give some additional details (power consumption, cooking power, price, location in boat, etc.)? I was under the impression that small microwave ovens wouldn't pop popcorn effectively.

--Mike

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Mike, I'll go out to the boat in the next couple days and give you the specifics as my docs are on board. But I think its a Samsung 12V microwave and probably around 500watts. Its mounted right on the galley on the far left side. I inherited it from the P.O.

Its not going to compare with the built-in microwaves in most kitchens which are like 1100-1200 watts for example, but it does ok on the boat. Obviously, it is pretty power hungry but in most cases, you don't run it for too long.

Wrt popcorn, it doesn't pop as nicely as my home microwave, but its acceptible. For example, in the boat, it will take about 5 mins of microwave and will only pop about 2/3 of the bag. At home, I think it is about 2:20 and it pops the full bag. For the 5 minute job, I always run the motor at a high idle to keep the voltage up. If I'm just cooking hot dogs or reheating something quick, sometimes I won't bother running the engine, but as I noted, both batteries have to be online. I think the kids could live on hot dogs and popcorn so I haven't minded the extra space it takes up on the galley..plus, you can put stuff on top of it since it has a flat surface.

I've been meaning to take some pictures of this and a couple of my other mods and put them in the mod section. Hopefully, that will help when I get around to it. I only have a few mods that are somewhat original...most are copies of ones already there.

[Mark Prouty]

Mike, I'll go out to the boat in the next couple days and give you the specifics as my docs are on board. But I think its a Samsung 12V microwave and probably around 500watts. Its mounted right on the galley on the far left side. I inherited it from the P.O.

I'd sure like to have one but 12 volt microwaves are expensive.
http://www.caravansplus.com.au/product_ ... ts_id=5939

I tried a 110 volt low watt microwave without much success using an inverter.

[Tom Spohn]

We bought a small AC model from Home Depot for $79.00 and use it on an inverter. Popcorn and cold beer after a day of sailing--Can't be beat. We use it on shore power when in port.

[mike]

I received the Engel 35 refrigerator today, and stopped by the boat for a little while this evening. While I was not able to install it into its designated spot under the aft dinette seat (need to glass in a platform there... I don't have a cooler liner), I did plug it in for a while. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but the interior of the unit actually got cold, and it drew the amount of power they claimed it would.

--Mike