Equalizing Deep Cycle Batteries

[SailDan]

Weal Sea has made it from Chicago, IL (departed 7-10-05) to Waterford, NY (arrived 9-5-05) at the beginning of the Erie Canal on the Hudson River (on her way to the Bahamas - 13 mo. trip).  She has been using her new starting battery and 4 new Trojan T-105 batteries (installed using the C-34 project page instructions) all the way.  To charge them, she has been employing a newly installed rebuilt 105 Amp alternator with a Xantrex external regulator (used C-34 project page instructions again!) when underway or her new Freedom 20 Inverter/Charger when on shore power.  Her Xantrex Pathmaker isolates the starting and house banks and the newly installed Xantrex Link 1000 tells her exactly what the status of her batteries is.  

HOWEVER, Weal Sea now wants to EQUALIZE her batteries and needs the C-34's site experts advice.  The Xantrex's Link 1000 instruction manual suggests that deep cycle batteries should be equalized about every 30 days when under continuous use (our situation).  They do not ,however, say how long  (hours) you should equalize them. (Note: If not done manually, the Link 1000 will automatically turn off the equalization cycle after 8 hrs.) I've not been able to get the information from Trojan Batteries.  Does anyone have this information?

PS .. Thanks to all the member of this C-34 group for the help you've provided in the projects page, especially the electrical systems, and through personal communications with us (viz. Stu, Erps, Ron, et al.) during our preparation for this adventure. It would have been much more difficult without your help.

[Ray & Sandy Erps]

Hello Dan,
I was wondering how your trip went and what you finally found out about that alternator fitting on a M-35 engine.  Regarding equalization, I recollect from the Calder's book that it was a procedure to revive a battery that has been left in a discharged state for a long time.  Apparently as the battery discharges, there is a chemical reaction in the lead plates called sulfation?  When the battery gets charged up, the sulfates are broken down again, but in a badly discharged battery the problem is so bad that the regular charging voltage isn't enough to over come the sulfated surface on the lead plates so extra high voltage is required for awhile.

At any rate, from what I remember from Calder's book is that if your batteries are returning to full charge (by specific gravity test) that it's not a procedure you have to worry about.  We've been on Diamond Girl now for three years and haven't done the procedure ourselves and our batteries are still going strong.

[Stu Jackson]

Dan

Go here:  http://www.amplepower.com/primer/equal/

Great to hear from you, wish I was with you!  

[SailDan]

(1) Stu & Erps - Thanks for the information on equalization.
(2) Stu & Erps - Concerning the alternator upgrade for the Universal M-35 engine with external regulator. The alternator for the M-25 and M-35 are not the same.  I purchased a rebuilt 105 amp marine alternator from DB Electric, Gray, TN per recommendation of Chuck Reed (www.CLRMarine.com) - he has a C-34 and purchased one from them. I spoke to Mike at DB Electric... very helpful; I got the wrong alternator initially because I forgot to tell them I needed a tachometer output. They shipped both the original and replacement to me via UPS and  the price was right as well!  I purchased a Xantrex external regulator from CLR Marine (see above). I did have some problems with wiring it up initially but finally got it resolved. (NOTE: This is all on Weal Sea's Log.. see below). Alternator bracket: I did have to modify the alternator bracket since the new 105 AMP alternator has a larger diameter than the orignal 51 AMP Motorola.; simply had a piece of metal welded to the side at one end of the original bracket. Now I can use the same bracket with either alternator (I am keeping the old one as a backup for our trip).

(2) Stu.. we are really enjoying this trip! Just exited the Erie Canal and am now heading down the Hudson River toward NYC with 2 other Catalinas, a C-34 and a C-42.  Will pass West Point tomorrow (9-12-05), but concerned about next hurricane heading up the coast.

(3) Journal of Weal Sea (Log of this trip) - I am keeping a personal log / journal of this trip which I have been sending to about 75 friends (per their request).  However I have also been sending it to Bob Kuba (C-34 Quite Island) who is posting  it on  the Chicago Catalina Fleet 21 site: www.catfleet21.com.  Its a rough formatted journal, "warts and all" including typos (I figure friends don't care).  I am telling it like it is! You can check it out at the above site... "Journey of Weal Sea" (C-34 to the Bahamas).

[SailDan]

Sorry Folks,
The web site is www.catfleet21.org (NOT .com)

And their blog is here:  http://www.clrmarine.com/210.html

[Stu Jackson]

Dan

That's a GREAT log, thanks so much for keeping track.  I've gotten up to mid-August and Tonowanda.  More reading later, I gotta get back to work!