Truecharge 40+

[Rick Johnson]

I hope you all won't mind one more question about my electrical upgrade.

I took the advice of most here and mounting the Truecharge vertically on the aft bulkhead under the nav table.  I'm adding a new 15 amp circuit-breaker and new # 10 wire for the AC side.  That part's no problem.  I going to use # 6 for the new wiring from the charger to the batteries.  My question is, how should I run this wire?  I can drill a hole into the hanging locker, but then where?  It seems a waste to go all the way up and back behind the electrical panel.  I see there is a hole drilled for the waste hose to run through (it would be tight to try to run the wiring next to that), so do I drill a new hole and run it through the bilge?  I hate drilling holes in the boat and just wondered what other people had done.

Thanks

[Craig Illman]

I'm probably going to open myself up to abuse, but I just ran the charger wiring to the equivalent of the positive cables of both banks at the battery switch, not all the way to the batteries themselves. It's #4 cabling from the battery switch to the banks, more than adeqaute to handle the charging current.

I changed my 1-2-ALL to just an ON/OFF at the panel and ran a new cable from the start bank to a positive bus at the engine compartment. I used the old common from behind the panel to connect the charger (the long way) back to the start bank via the aforementioned bus. One of the original positive leads from the factory bank feeds the ON/OFF switch at the panel and the other is used to feed the house bank from the charger. I did quite a few other things as well, for the Balmar alternator and regulator feed to the house bank.

Craig

[Ted Pounds]

That's also how my charger is wired for the house bank (through the battery switch).

[Ron Hill]

Rick : My DC alternator (duel output) is wired directly to the batteries and so is the AC shore power True Charge 20+.  My logic is that I want to charge the batteries and I took the most direct route to get the amps there. 
If you recheck I believe that you can use #8 wire which I did and it follows the route of the battery wires - waste tank compartment, under the flooring and up into the battery compartment. 
As I mentioned before make sure that the neg. (ground wire) from the charger is connected to the "furtherest" negative battery terminal.   

[steve stoneback]

Ron,
This past spring I replaced all 4 of my batteries. One starting and three deep cycle.  All were 27 series.  I also installed a truecharge 20+ and all new wire.  My starting battery and one house battery are in the original place, under the settee.  The other 2 house batteries are under the settee foreward by the bulkhead.  Obviously they latter is further from the charger but I did not run the ground to that location.  My question is, why should have I?  I am certainly not doubting you, I just am wondering what potential problem I may have created.  Can you explain why or where I can find the original post explaining?
steve

[Ron Hill]

Rick : I have my True Charge 20+ mounted under the Nav table on the bulkhead toward the hanging locker.  The wires to the batteries and the AC 110v wires to power the charger all go thru the liner on the port side next to the charger and up into the back of the instrument panel.  The AC wires go to a breaker on the instrument panel.  The battery wires come up thru the back of the instrument panel and follow the #4 wires from the batteries.  They go into the upper aft portion of the waste tank compartment, just under the seat lip, down by the macerator, under the flooring and into the battery compartment.  I still think you only need #8 wire!
Any wires going into the hanging locker are going into a dead end !!   

Look about your boat and find where the factory wires are routed and use the same pathway - if possible!! 

[Ron Hill]

Steve : When you connect batteries the negatives are all connected together.  I assume that you have one + wire to each of 3 batteries and then one battery in parallel with one of those 3 ?
The + charge come into the positive terminal and goes out the negatine terminal.  You want that single negative wire from the charger at the furthest downstream battery negative terminal so the charge goes THRU all of the batteries.  If the negative is at a closer battery then the furtherest battery will only be "charged" by equalization, which is not a full/best charge. 
I'd add wire and move that negative to the furtherest battery negative terminal, if I were you.   

[Ted Pounds]

Ron,

I'm not sure whar you're talking about.    If all the negatives are connected together then they are all at the same potential (as long as wire resistance is negligable, which it is unless the wire is grossly under sized).  So it makes no difference where the negative from the charger is connected. 

[Ron Hill]

Ted : Then don't follow my advice.   I'm only professing the way Zantrex (the maker of the True Charge) said to install their charger!!   

[Rick Johnson]

Ron,

Thanks.  I talked to an engineer at Catalina today and then saw your response.  You and the engineer both said the same thing.  I took the flashlight out to the boat and I think I'm ready to start running cable.  Except for the fact that the #1 cable I got for a great deal on eBay is too short....  Damn....  I would have never guessed how fast this electrical project would go up in cost....

Cheers

[Ted Pounds]

Rick,
If you're using #1 cable it makes ABSOLUTELY no difference which battery you run the negative to.  I don't know where the Catalina guy or Ron got their training, but my electrical engineering degree is from MIT.  (Sorry, I know I sound like a snob, but I want to emphasise I know what I'm talking about.)

[tonywright]

Here's a possible idea (maybe it's a silly one). If you run it to the futhest battery, is it easier to tell if you have a bad connection between the different batteries, if the negative is daisy-chained back to the engine block?

If it goes to the first battery, you wouldn't know that all the batteries aren't getting a good charge until you go to use them?

Just the question of a curious mind, I'm no expert.

[Jon Schneider]

Wait a minute... they teach practical stuff at MIT? 

[Stu Jackson]

Rick

Another way to look at it, without getting involved in a "he said, she said" is this:  If you have considered wiring your boat with a positive and negative distribution post, it just doesn't matter.  How's that for being "Mr. In-between?"  As described in my previously referenced article, we have our PDP in the battery box and the NDP underneath the galley sink, about as close as you can get to being in the same place.   The PDP takes all charging sources, and has a positive wire going to the first of the three house bank batteries, and then that positive is wired to the other two. The start bank positive comes from the combiner.  The negative wire from the NDP goes first to the house bank battery in the battery compartment, and from there goes two places: one to the start bank (battery) and then to the other two house batteries.  Based on my wiring diagram, it would be essentially the same as putting them both on one of the house banks.  As I mentioned, if you have a combiner, a single one the charger outputs can go to the house bank and the combiner will take care of the start bank.  If you plan multiple charger outputs to each individual bank, the negative could go to either bank since the negatives are wired together.  Just think it through and with a wring diagram and you'll find what works for your arrangement.  The other reference with a wiring diagram is Jim Moe's article in projects:  http://www.c34.org/projects/images/CatalinaElectricalschematic.pdf  Also see John Garsner's article, which has pictures and a wiring description, but not a wiring diagram, per se.