[C38] House Batteries

[Rich West]

Regarding your idea to install an amp-hour meter: I have one on Legacy and
it has solved all of my 12 volt problems.  I have lived on boats and cruised
on and off for the past 30 years and, until the amp-hour meter, I have
always had problems with batteries.  No more.  (Wow, I sound like an ad!)
 
We have 4 six volt Trojan batteries for about 240 amp-hours capacity.  The
batteries are wired in two banks and we leave them switched together to form
one battery bank.  We make sure that the meter never gets lower than about
-80 amp-hours.  We have no separate starting battery. 
 
We've had this configuration for about 6 years and 15,000 blue water miles
and have never had a single problem.  I wouldn't have a boat again without
an amp-hour meter.

Rich West
Legacy, #360

  _____  

From: listserve-bounces at catalina38.org
[mailto:listserve-bounces at catalina38.org] On Behalf Of eyriepg at comcast.net
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 2:44 PM
To: Catalina 38 list
Subject: [C38] House Batteries


Two and a half years ago I installed a pair of  Trojan 6V golf cart
batteries in my boat.  The have never been abused but it seems like they
discharge significantly quicker than they used to.  I doubt that they have
been dischared below 12.0 volts more than 5 times.   I hauled them out of
the boat and had them checked at my battery store.  The checker put a 100
amp load on them for a few seconds and pronounced them good.  Is this a good
test for the capacity of a deep cycle battery?  How do you know when it is
time to replace your house batteries?  I am thinking that I should install
an amp-hr meter.
 
Phil Gay
C38 094 Que Linda
Everett, WA
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