Baja_man

So I have a few questions on the above.......

Does anyone have any recommendations on an on board battery charger? I tend to drain the one stereo battery that is currently installed (Optima Blue Top). I only can get maybe two hours on a full charge. My plan was to change the Optima to two Kinetic KHC2000's. So with this, how much more run time should I get? I am running two JL Audio amps, (1) M4500 and (1) MHD900/5.

If the two Kinetic's were not enough I was thinking of adding an on board battery charger and running a portable generator. So my questions regarding that are....

Will a Honda EU2000iA be enough to run an on board battery charger? And will it be able to keep up with the drain on two batteries?

endeavour32

iTrader: (4)

I have a xantrex in my sailboat and I've been really happy with it! It will charge a bank of 4 golf cart battery's in short order. Now I think the best are Charles chargers.. My buddy has one in his cruiser which sank at the dock this fall due to a bad gimble seal. Even underwater the thing kept charging and it's still working. I don't think my xantrex would of held up under that, but I don't plan on sinking my boat.

GTOFFSHORE

Although they are larger then the optimas (which is why they work) go with 1 deka group 31 batt ffor just the radio. Will play for 4 to 6 hours or longer depending on how loud you listen to radio. They are by far the best batteries made. I have used them all and stayed pissed until I found out about these. You can buy them at batteries plus. They are the house brand. One big plus is they are like 100bucks for the marine deep cycle.
The little honda gen is cool but a little too big for a 25 foot boat imo. Hard to find a place to put them and then run it.

Baja_man

Thanks for heads up on the battery.

As far as room for the Generator, my engine compartment has lots of room on either side. With the size of the Honda, there should be no issues. My only concern would be the exhaust not routing to the outside.

smcser

Do not run the gen in the bilge! You will need to get air to it and exhaust out of it. Put the gen on the swim platform or somewhere down wind of the cabin. Also add a carbon monoxide detector for extra safety. Honda also makes a 1000 watt gen but is about the same size as the 2000.

Baja_342

Why not just add two batteries, boxes and a set of cables? Isolate them 2/2 or even 3/1 with your switch.

Baja_man

I am. I was running just one Optima but would kill it quickly. I am adding two Kinetic KHC2000's.....it might work.

mcollinstn

The Kinetic batteries are very expensive high current batteries. They can dump well over 2,000 amps of steady state current without melting their guts out. Think of a battery as a "fuel tank". The Kinetics have a GIANT SPOUT to pour the fuel out of.

THAT, my friend, is NOT what will solve your problem. You have no NEED for that battery type and throwing large handfulls of money in that direction will only result in frustration and embarrassment when your stereo kills your batteries again.

Reserve Capacity is the number you should be looking at. That is the AMOUNT of electrical "fuel" your battery contains. You are running out of FUEL, not having a problem getting the fuel out fast enough. Savvy?

While different battery TECHNOLOGY can mean that one battery can have more fuel in it than a similar sized battery, the simple truth of it is that we run Lead-Acid batteries in our cars and boats, and you can only cram a given amount of "fuel" into a given physical size of Lead-Acid battery regardless of what name or technology is stamped on it. AGM is a more durable style of Lead-Acid battery and it allows greater plate area for a given size of battery, but since there is no room for additional acid, you can only "optimize" the power density a few more points above "grandma's Die Hard" technology. For a group 31 size battery, you will see a reserve capacity in a range of 90 to 120 amp-hours. The high dollar Kinetics still fall right in this same range.

So you've already said that you have plenty of room in the bilge. Add additional batteries.

You say that your current setup (one BlueTop Optima at 100 Amp-Hrs) gives you 2 hours of use.

If you want 4 hours of use, then you need 2 batteries.
If you want 8 hours of use, then you need 4 batteries.
... and so on.

Diesel truck batteries are avalable up to 8D size. Multiple "car sized" Group 31 batteries are less expensive and allow more flexible mounting options and are EASIER TO lift in and out of your bilge than the diesel truck batteries, so I don't think there's any good reason to go with the huge battery cases... I recommend AutoZone Gold car batteries with the 3 yr free replacement - 8 yr pro rated warranty. Great value. Deka is also a premium battery that's affordable.

Regarding charging from a generator.
As has been said, you can NOT run a non-marine rated generator in your bilge. If anything EVER was to happen, your insurance would laugh at you if you filed a claim. And something as small as the fuel system venting vapors into your bilge on a warm day can mean disaster - and I'm not even talking about RUNNING IT in the bilge, I mean even HAULING it in the bilge. It's also against the law to run a portable non-marine generator on your swim platform, although many do it, and I would consider it myself.

What I would do, though, is to tie off your anchor to the stern and place the portable genset on the bow of the boat. That way, any wind will cause the boat to swing the nose downwind, and the genset's exhaust will blow AWAY from you and your passengers, and also away from the swim platform where swimmers will be and where fumes can collect.

Running a genset WHILE you are drawing current - you can use any battery charger with double-diodes and noise filtering. You aren't concerned with using a marine generator, so why be concerned about using a marine charger? A decent automotive battery charger will dump current back into your batteries, and as long as it is dumping more than you are using, then no problem.

With a 2 hour runtime on a 90 AH battery, you are drawing 45 amps. A battery charger that has a 45 amp capacity will offset that and give you unlimited runtime.

Marine chargers are expensive for several reasons. One is sparkproof operation. The electronics are sealed to the environment and heatsinks are required to keep them running cool. Many have fans. Another is for accurate battery condition monitoring and temperature compensation. A hot battery cannot be maintained at the same float voltage, else the battery will outgass and be more susceptible to internal sulfation. Also, a good marine charger is designed to keep the batteries properly topped off when the charger is kept plugged in "forever". This is a different environment than what a garage duty charger needs to perform in.

I would pop for a small capacity three stage electronic marine charger to permanently install in your boat. Say a 15 amp 2 bank three stage charger. That'll set you back about $175.

You can use this charger to top off your batteries when the boat is in the dock or on the trailer. Just plug it in and forget it.

This, however, won't be enough for your disco anchor party.

For that, you'll need to look at a commercial style garage battery charger with a 40 to 50 amp continuous capacity. These are the ones with wheels on them that you see at the Firestone store. They are available for around $150 as well.

But realistically, to keep from loading the bow of the boat up with the entire Craftsman catalog, if you HAVE decided that a Honda 2000 watt inverter generator (small and lightweight, pretty darn quiet) is on your list because you want to run the fridge, some oscillating fans, the XBox 360, a 24" LCD screen, and to keep your laptop plugged in, then might as well go ahead and plan on getting a "real" marine charger, in the 40 amp range, which will cost you over $400. The Newmar (40 amp 3-bank) I bought ten years ago cost me almost $700 but was the best money I've spent - this, however, was on a cruiser that stays plugged in to shorepower or gen power 24/7. The previous ferrite core transformer style charger would kill the bilge full of batteries every 2 years, and required that water be added to the batts every 30 days. I bought the Newmar charger and the current set of batteries in May of 2000. Yes, those batteries are still sitting in the bilge working perfectly, and while I check the water level once a year, I have only added a grand total of 1/3 of the one gallon jug of distilled water in that entire 10 years.

The right equipment makes a difference.
But for your application, you must decide whether you DO or DON'T want to sit a generator on the nose of your boat when you're at anchor. If you do, then you need 2 batteries, a good high capacity marine charger, a compact generator and a rubber mat to sit it on.

If you DON'T want to run a generator on your nose, then you need to add however many "normal technology" batteries that you need to get your capacity where you need it, and then pop for a small capacity "smart" marine charger to restore them to proper float levels when the boat is in the dock or in your garage.

MC

theadamv1

Well I ran into the same situation of constant dead battries from running the sounds system on my old boat..

So when i upgraded to a bigger boat i also upgraded sound system, I run 3 amps. 2 for all the mids and ! for my subs.


The boat does have an onboard charger, but what i added was a power supply (like what is used instores for car audio displays) which i power up with a honda eu2000 gen that i do strap to the bow of my boat. i ran that set up all summer last summer and never had a dead battery, using only one battery.

Baja_man

So add batteries is what I get out of this.

mcollinstn......good info and good read!