[Rhodes22-list] Dead Battery (Again)

[Leland]

Bill,

About four to six gallons a year.  It doesn't take much to get in and out of
my marina and as a daysailor I rarely need my motor to get anywhere.

In warm weather the battery always has enough juice to operate the lift and
start the motor.

Lee


Bill Effros wrote:
> 
> Lee,
> 
> How much motoring do you do?  How much gas do you burn in a year?
> 
> Bill Effros
> 
> R22RumRunner at aol.com wrote:
>> Lee,
>> Sounds like a lot of problems without an easy way to determine exactly 
>> where 
>> the problem is. Many years ago a hail storm took out my solar panel so I  
>> removed it and replaced it with a MARINE charger on board. They are
>> sealed units  
>> with no accessible or serviceable parts anywhere. All solid state. I like 
>> this  arrangement because I always know that I will have fully charged
>> batteries. 
>> I  would isolate the batteries or at least put in a battery switch
>> allowing 
>> you to  chose how you want to use the power.
>> Your house battery should be a deep cycle battery and your battery for
>> the  
>> motor should be a starting battery. West Marine and several others have a
>> duel  
>> purpose battery which can be used as a starting battery and also takes to 
>> deep  discharges.
>> If you go with just the starting battery for the motor, I would isolate
>> it  
>> from the rest of the electrical and have only the motor connected to it. 
>> Running  the motor should keep it fully charged. If it doesn't, at least
>> you have  
>> isolated that problem.
>> I don't have an electric start motor so I don't have that problem. I have  
>> two deep cycle batteries beneath the V berth. One is connected to only
>> the  
>> running lights. The other runs the cabin lights, VHF radio and a very
>> power  
>> hungry stereo. Hope this helps.
>>  
>> Rummy
>>  
>>  
>> In a message dated 11/26/2008 12:16:49 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
>> LKUHN at cnmc.org writes:
>>
>>
>> I  seem to ask the same question around this time every year and I hate 
>> to
>> beat a dead horse, but I am about ready to start beating my dead 
>> battery.
>>
>> I have two batteries and two solar panels.  
>>
>> The  cabin battery is for everything but the motor and has both solar 
>> panels
>> attached to it.  For three years it has been fully charged,  although it
>> is
>> rare that it operates much aside from my depth/fish  finder.
>>
>> The motor battery is only for the motor and is hard-wired to  the
>> motor--it
>> gets charged by the motor.  All three years it has lost  its charge
>> during
>> the winter.  It is also connected to the cabin  battery.  Last year there
>> was
>> a charge coming from the cabin battery  to the motor battery, but I
>> suspect
>> that it is too low to keep the motor  battery charged.
>>
>> I haven't checked the batteries' charges yet nor have  I cleaned/checked
>> the
>> connections, but I certainly will.
>>
>> I own a  trickle charger that connects to a 110 outlet and I own an 
>> AC/DC
>> convertor.
>>
>> I think my new marina only has 220 electrical and I  haven't yet
>> purchased an
>> expensive 220 cord nor have I had a need to do  so.
>>
>> 1.  Should I re-run the solar panels so that one charges the  motor
>> battery
>> and one charges the cabin battery?  I assume there is no  danger with the
>> motor battery being hard-wired to the motor.  I don't  want to do this if
>> one
>> solar panel won't be strong enough to keep the motor  battery charged or
>> if I
>> will risk not being able to keep the cabin battery  charged with only one
>> solar panel connected to it instead of  two.
>>
>> 2.  Should I break down and buy a 220 cord and use my AC/DC  converter
>> and
>> trickle charger to charge the motor battery?  Any  dangers to the trickle
>> charger, converter, or battery?
>>
>> 3.   Should I buy one of those rechargeable jumping battery panels to
>> start
>> the  motor when the battery is dead?  I was thinking about getting one
>> for  my
>> motorcycle anyway.  I hate it when I want to go for a ride or a  sail and
>> have to wait for the trickle charger to do its  thing.
>>
>> 4.  Any other recommendations?
>>
>> Thanks for your  advice.  Just want to make sure the electrical juice is
>> worth the  economic squeeze.
>>
>> Lee
>> 1986 Rhodes22  At Ease
>> Kent Island,  MD
>>   
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