Digital Volt Amp Meter with Alarm -WOW!

[willie]

I am so excited to get this Digital Volt / Amp Meter installed.  It has a hi voltage alarm and a low voltage alarm. It shows charging and discharging for Amps and Volts!

You can see it at a glance, and it monitors both battery banks.

Purchased through west marine total cost $399.00 the meter was $219.00 the rest is cable and distribution block.

Now I can easily calculate how many hours I have left based on charge state and curant draw. Ya hoo!

You can check out the install on my site:  http://www.pc-land.com/simplelife/simple_life_dbase/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=44

[Ron Hill]

willie : Sounds great. 
A battery monitor also shows Voltage and Amperage, but goes two steps further and calculates the number of amp hours used (till recharging) and the remaining state of the battery bank in %.   You don't have to make any calculations - it does it for you. 

[willie]

Thanks Ron,

I considered that but , I could not resist the extremely clean install using the existing wiring and panel Position. I am installing a XANTREX Pro-sign 1800 watt Inverter. And I will be using a trick remote panel from them that will provide additional information as well.

Man -  this is almost as fun a sailing.

[Stu Jackson]

Great job.  The other question is: how are your battery banks set up?

[willie]

Hi Stu,

Two banks each with one 4D excide Gold 160 amp hour.

I use one bank for starting and one for the house. I am adding one additional 4D to the house. It will be basically right off the center line to starboard in the forward compartment under the salon seat.

[Stu Jackson]

willie  I'm confused.  I thought the new boats came with (2) 8Ds.  If so, wouldn't combining the two OEM batteries into a house bank, and adding a separate smaller single start battery for the start bank be better by increasing the house bank capacity?

[willie]

Stu - My 2005 came with NG-4D's from exide They are the Nautilus Gold 4-D's

Each produces 160 amp hours. Yes, if i was not an over achiever... I would install a smaller starting battery and just keep the two 4D's as house battery's. But I want extra power for emergency's.

[Craig Illman]

Willi -

My Link 20 monitor reports that my starter pulls about 200A while cranking. Your 4D should crank your engine for about 45 total minutes. In that time you probably would need to drain your muffler about sixty times. If your engine hasn't started in about five minutes of accumulative cranking, you'd better crack out your oars! I'd go with Stu's suggestion. If I didn't already have a Grp 24 starting battery from the PO, I'd get something smaller. I can always combine in the house bank of two grp 27's in an emergency.

my 2 cents....

Craig

[willie]

Thanks Craig,

I was actually thinking just the opposite, If I need a little extended "house power" I could combine both banks for a total of 3 4D's. I never thought that i would deplete the starting bank 4d.

I really like my electronics and I am looking for extended time on the hook with out running the propane generator or statring the engine to charge the batterys.

So with that in mind...

[Craig Illman]

Willie -

Oh, I completely neglected to consider other emergencies, like keeping favorite beverages at optimum temperture while on the hook. No disrespect of your priorities were intended!

- Craig

[Ron Hill]

Willie : I can see that you've already cut the hole and happy with your installation of your digital V & Amp meter.  Good for you.

For the other readers however, I'd like to promote the advantage of the battery monitor.  It's very easy to lay out an amperage budget and schedule.  The anchor light is on for Xminutes, the radios and electronics are on for Xminutes etc. etc. and then times the amps each draw you can easily calculate the number of amp hours consumed. 
The real clinker is the fridge!!  The number of cycles ON/OFF depends on many variable factors - how full it is?, outside temp?, amount of insulation?, how many times you open the lid?? are only few to mention.  Personally I don't know how to calculate those amp hours consumed.  The fridge is also the largest consumer of amps over the 24 hr period!!  It is relentless!  24/7

The battery monitor watches the amp consumption and automatically calculates it for you!

BTW, if you want your 4 Ds to last longer, tie them together as a house bank and make sure that you don't draw them under 50% of their rated amp capacity. 
The stuff that I've pointed out above has been written up many, many, many, many times.  Good luck.
OUT! 

[Stu Jackson]

willie

There are a number of good references here about maximizing your house bank when on the hook.  Here are two:

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php?t=973&highlight=calder

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php?topic=2347.0  This is a good one for you.  Also, Roc P had the same issue with his boat.

One way to get a LOT of info from this Message Board is to use the search engine.  Once you get into it, it's not that hard, because the engine shows you the sentences "around" any search word.

One of the good ones to use is "Calder" since he's referenced in MANY discussions, mostly about batteries.

Of course, as we've mentioned many times, alternators, batteries, Link 10, generator, and electrical are also good starting points.

[willie]

Thanks much Stu, and everyone.

[Stu Jackson]

willie

The John Gardner article in Mainsheet, referenced in one of the two posts above, has been published in the C34 Projects section on the original C34 website.  it is: http://www.c34.org/projects/projects-electrical-system-upgrade.html

I think one of the most interesting things in the article is how he analyzed his wiring and reused some of it.  Study the wiring pictures and the discussion of old and new wiring carefully.  It's very helpful and well written.  Read in conjunction with Jim Moe's excellent electrical article, they both explain about all you'll need to know about C34 electrical systems.  Jim's article is: http://www.c34.org/projects/projects-electrical-system-upgrade-2.html

If you go to the Projects page at: http://www.c34.org/projects/projects.html  you'll also find other electrical articles.