Battery Life at Anchor

Liberty44140

Looking for experience from you guys that anchor for the weekend a lot. Still learning the ins and outs of my 342. I have two grp 24's for starting (will change to 27's down the line) and I have two grp 29's for house (will change to 31's down the line).

Planning to anchor for a couple of nights and wondering how long I can go on the batteries. Main draw is the cockpit and galley fridges, we would try to keep consumption low. I would plan to run the generator as soon as I get up in the AM and before going to sleep but that could still be 7-8 hours of no charge. Is that a problem? How long do you run your generators to fully re charge?

frenchship

Just watch your DC voltmeter or even better a digital volt meter, don't let your house battery go down lower than 12.2 volts wich is about 50% this way your (new) batteries will last a lot longer

Dream_Inn

You should be good with your setup.  I'd say, in the morning, run the genny for 2-3 hours.  Turn your fridges up to full cold and have chargers on.  Then, late afternoon/evening, run it again for 2-3 hours.  Make sure to turn the fridges to about half level when the generator is not going.  I can easily go for 12 hours or more with two fridges running, some radio listening and whatever else without any issues.  Like French said, just make sure you don't let the batteries go down too far.  12.2 is about right.

NavyCTRC

Don't be afraid to run that generator!  Generators with 2000 hours on them don't break down as much as the ones with a few hundred.  I was out all weekend and we ran the generator about half the time we were out. 

Dream_Inn

Navy is right.  Run the thing as much as you want!  I'd love to run mine right now, it has a seal that leaks.  Finally, after much heartache, found the correct seal for it today.  So now it will be working this weekend after I install it!  Oh, and when you run the genny, put it under a decent load.

Liberty44140

Thanks gang! French & DI, I'll make sure to watch volts. Usually while charging I see 13-14 volts but sometimes under heavy load like when all of the interior lights are on it gets closer to 12.1v. I think this winter I need to trace all of the battery cables and perhaps change out the 2006 charger. I do use the method of turning fridges down while charging and up while not charging. Navy & DI yes I am thinking I will try to run it as much as possible (and yes under load). Not allowed to run at night though. With only 226 hours on it, it needs to be run. I read somewhere here that we should be leaving the service panel off so that it cools. Do you all leave your genny service panels off?

MDboater

Seems like it would be straight forward to add a comparator circuit to automatically turn on the generator when the house battery voltage drops below a certain level.  

diggin2day1

MDboater said:

Seems like it would be straight forward to add a comparator circuit to automatically turn on the generator when the house battery voltage drops below a certain level.  

That's a great idea! You could even make it easier and do a timed circuit(start up every 6hrs)... You got the wheels spinning now!!

NavyCTRC

The water going through it should be doing all the cooling it needs.  It will get up to a certain temp and pretty much stay there.  Mine is in an enclosure, then inside the engine compartment, I haven't ever taken any panels off.  BTW: Mine runs all night...can't sleep without the AC in Florida!!

DanD2

Liberty, pretty much all the advise given above will work for you. When you do decide to change your batteries, there really is no need to change your starting batts to group 27's. Its really a waste of money, the 24's are fine and when you're at anchor, there is no draw on them. Take that money and get yourself 3 group 31's for the house, that'll get you plenty of power between gen starts.

Liberty44140

MD I have to admit I thought you were joking but I see now, a timed start similar to how home generators run themselves for maintenance. I'd have to think the hurdle would be also timing the blower. Thanks Navy, yea mine is also in a full enclosure inside the engine room and is a lot quieter than the 5e I had the 01 310 which had no enclosure (and needed $5k in repairs due to water intrusion thanks to no enclosure and a leaky storage compartment). I recently took the front, side and top panels off to service the anti dieseling solenoid and spark plugs and it was much easier than I expected. 3 screws in total and all 3 are on top, comes off in minutes. Dan thanks, happy to save $ on the 24's and put that In to 31's. I assume the generator starts off of one of those starting 24's and not house. Will start a new thread when it's one to upgrade batteries and charger

NavyCTRC

The genny uses one of the engine batteries, just have to follow the fat red wire coming from the genny to find out which one.