New TPPL batteries plus Blue Sea Systems charger and battery monitor

LaRea

As part of a major tech refresh on my 2007 Rinker 370, I recently upgraded my house battery bank to TPPL (thin plate pure lead) batteries with a new charger and battery monitor.  It was hard work, and not cheap, but I'm happy with the results.

The reason for this upgrade is that I spend a lot of time anchored, including frequent overnight trips, so house battery life is a big deal for me.  The benefits of TPPL batteries (long life, faster recharge, no maintenance) are discussed in detail here:

http://rinkerboats.vanillaforums.com/discussion/4526/thin-plate-agm-batteries-vs-flooded-deep-cycle-batteries 

My 10-year-old battery charger was designed for lead-acid batteries, so I knew I'd have to change it.  I also wanted a battery monitor so I'd know when to crank up the generator, and when to shut it down.  Here's what I got:

  Batteries:  Northstar group 31 TPPL

  Charger:  Blue Sea Systems 7522

  Monitor:  Blue Sea Systems 7517

Warning: Do not attempt a job like this unless you are physically fit, and you don't mind several hours of exhausting physical labor.  Almost every step of the installation required lots of contortions, hard work and pain.  These jobs are never as easy as they seem!  For installing the charger itself, start early in the morning, because you won't have air conditioning or other electrical conveniences until you finish. 

It was a weekend project, and the Difficulty Level is 3 (meaning, 3 days of taking ibuprofin for sore muscles).  

The pain started with installing the batteries.  A group 31 weighs 15 pounds more than a lead-acid battery.  In tight spaces, you can't lift them the same way that you would lift other batteries.  As you can see from the photo, I have to move mine over the top of the water heater into a remote corner with no headroom.  Aside from that, it's not complicated.  

Removing the old charger - more pain.  On my boat, it's on the starboard side tucked away above the water tank.  It took me almost an hour just to remove the four mounting screws.

Mounting the new charger - more pain.  This step took me almost four hours.  The AC power input wires were too short, so I had to splice in another six inches of wire with new connectors.  The new charger is bigger than the old one, and it's a tight fit that makes access difficult.  Fortunately, the plywood mounting panel that is glassed into the hull was big enough (just barely).  But it's tough to reach the hole locations to pre-drill the screw holes, and the charger is heavy and awkward.  

Mounting the battery monitor in the helm:  Easy, because I already had a spot for it.  Cut a rectangular hole, and install with four screws.  Took 30 minutes.

Wiring the monitor:  more pain.  The monitor has to be connected to each battery and the charger.  I used 16-gauge 3-conductor for the three batteries, plus a 16-gauge ground.  There's also a CAT-5 network cable that goes to the charger.  I put all four cables into flexible corrugated cable conduit, and ran it to the engine room (25 feet worked for me).  In the ER, I built a custom harness going to the three batteries with inline fuses on each one.  The whole exercise took me five hours (including the trip to the store for cable, fuses and other supplies). 

Here's what the monitor does:  When the charger is on, the monitor shows a charger summary with battery voltage, charger current, and phase of the charging cycle (bulk, absorption, pre-float, float).  When the charger is off and I'm running on battery power, it shows the voltage and approximate charge remaining for each battery. 

Now I'm going to go take an Advil. 

reneechris14

Very nice work and nice post.love the monitor.

aero3113

Nice setup!

Dream_Inn

Very nice setup!  & so far, after another weekend, I'm loving the tppl batteries as well!

Handymans342

Great work. Easier than autopilot install????

LaRea

Similar.  A little easier to figure out, because there are fewer moving parts.  

LaRea

One minor nitpick about the Blue Sea Systems battery monitor.  The screen does not have a brightness control.  It's dim enough for night driving, but I might find myself wishing for a way to adjust it.  

[EDIT:  Having now used it for a full year, I can say there's no need for a brightness control.  Screen visibility is good in all conditions, including direct sun, and it does not interfere with my night vision.]

Overall, I'm very happy with it.  The info it displays is exactly what I wanted.

LaRea

Some observations after using this setup for a season:

The charger gave me some odd fault alarms after I accidentally left the shore power off and drained the house battery bank down to zero volts.  When I reconnected power, the charger threw a "short circuit or reverse polarity" alarm, and it refused to charge the house bank.  It charged the starter batteries, but not the house.  To use the boat for an overnighter, I temporarily rewired the house circuit to one of the starter batteries.  When I switched it back, the charger operated normally.  

Battery monitor:  I really like knowing exactly what the charger is doing.  Having the display mounted at the helm worked out great.  I can read it easily in direct sunlight, and it's not too bright for night driving.

Cableguy Greg

That sounds like a fault on the charger and I would let Blue Sea know about the issue. You should be able to run the battery bank to 0VDC and still have the charger work without throwing a code at you.

I like the idea of knowing what is going on as well. The more information you have, the better. I might look into the same system myself. Just need to find a few boat bucks... VesselView is going to be my next investment.

thepriceisright

How are the batteries wired? Not in parallel I'd imagine since each is connected individually to the charger. Are your accessories split amongst the batteries?

LaRea

Three charger circuits: one for each starter, and one for the house bank with the two TPPL batteries in parallel.  The accessories are all on the house bank.  

Michael T

@LaRea in the past (might not apply in 2018) some chargers would not charge a bank of batteries at "0" volts as that could indicate a dangerous ground fault.

thepriceisright

LaRea said:

Three charger circuits: one for each starter, and one for the house bank with the two TPPL batteries in parallel.  The accessories are all on the house bank.  

Ahh ok, understood.

I'm deciding if I want to just replace the batteries on my 270 or also replace the charging system. Right now I have two batteries connected to a switch. Everything operates of either or both batteries. No separate battery for the started and for the house. 

I'm considering going with 2 in one bank and 1 in the other. Using the 2 bank most of the time with the single for emergency use.

LaRea

@thepriceisright - The existing charger should be fine if you aren't switching to TPPL batteries.  

Although ... your boat is a 2001?  If the charger is original, it's probably not going to last much longer.  

thepriceisright

@LaRea I have no idea if it's original or not That's why I'm considering switching the whole thing out. Going with 2 TPPL batteries and using the existing battery switch and wiring setup. My 270 doesn't have separate house and starter batteries. Whichever one you select is what everything pulls from.

thepriceisright

The other thing I need to figure out is all the stuff directly wired to one of the two batteries, going around the selector. I'd prefer to have everything run through the selector since it would never really be left in the OFF position except during storage.

LaRea

Yeah, wires do tend to multiply over the years.  I did some cleanup on my battery wiring.  Take a look at this thread.

http://rinkerboats.vanillaforums.com/discussion/comment/87934#Comment_87934

Willhound

thepriceisright said:

The other thing I need to figure out is all the stuff directly wired to one of the two batteries, going around the selector. I'd prefer to have everything run through the selector since it would never really be left in the OFF position except during storage.

Some of that is likely bilge pumps and Mercathode system if you have it, so I don't know if you would want that switched in case somebody ever flips the switch. 

thepriceisright

Willhound said:

thepriceisright said:

The other thing I need to figure out is all the stuff directly wired to one of the two batteries, going around the selector. I'd prefer to have everything run through the selector since it would never really be left in the OFF position except during storage.

Some of that is likely bilge pumps and Mercathode system if you have it, so I don't know if you would want that switched in case somebody ever flips the switch. 

Agreed. I’ll need to trace everything. That being said the important stuff is running through breakers on the switch panel while all the new haphazard stuff is wired directly and disappears into the boat, so it should be pretty obvious. 

thepriceisright

LaRea said:

Yeah, wires do tend to multiply over the years.  I did some cleanup on my battery wiring.  Take a look at this thread.

http://rinkerboats.vanillaforums.com/discussion/comment/87934#Comment_87934

Thanks @LaRea

LaRea

A post-script from this project:  today I found a 12-foot 1/0 battery cable that was attached to ... nothing!  

It was labeled "house."  Maybe the original owner reconfigured the batteries, and didn't remove the original cable.  I always knew there was a stray cable, but today I finally traced it out and yanked that sucker out of there.  One less confuser in the engine room.  

Dream_Inn

Just thought I'd add an update on the Northstar TPPL batteries that I had installed about 15 months ago.  This past Friday night, it seemed like my house batteries were lasting maybe 4 hours before they were needing a charge.  So, yesterday I checked them out when I got back in the marina.  I checked each of them individually and found one of them to be less than 11V after charging them on shore power.  Took them both back to West Marine and made sure they took both back (because I wanted them to be the same age).  They had no problem taking them back and giving me new under the warranty. 

LaRea

Interesting.  No problems with mine, but I'll start paying more attention to my run times. 

BTW I love the charger monitor.  When I first start the genny after a day at anchor, the charger is pushing 30+ amps.  After a while, I can watch it start tapering off to 20, 15 ... when it gets below 10, the batteries are pretty close to full.