Replacing battery cabling
Hey Guys
Looking for mobile marine sparky south of the river to do some work for me, I am in Forrestfield.
I am currently getting some power "leakage" through my battery isolators. After I switch off all power I seem to have some residual power coming through to some instruments. After some time the "leakage" stops and all power is isolated so a problem somewhere. Given that the setup is 13 years old, its probably time to replace with something that I can absolutely rely on. At the same time I would like to wire in a house battery to provide power to Radios, sounders, lights etc. This needs to be isolated from starting the engine and should charge up after my starting batteries are topped up. This is all a little beyond my "auto electrical 101" experience, so looking for someone to a good job.
Any recommendations or if anyone is interested can you please pm me to discuss ?
cheers
Rob H
Posts: 5743
Date Joined: 18/01/12
Personally I wouldnt bother
Personally I wouldnt bother with a house battery, I just replaced one with a 120A/H AGM and rewired the isolators so it is possible to run both outboards into the AGM to recharge it quicker, generally they can accept about 1/3 of their capacity per hour (40 amps) which both my outboards combined put out about.
I also have a solar panel running to it, mounted on the bimini.
When my Waeco (or now the 70l Evakool) ever gets to the point that it cuts from the low voltage cutout, it is still usually enough to start an outboard except maybe on a really cold morning, then just parallel the batteries to start.
I have a seperate isolator to run all accessories which also can parallel batteries.
Normally it will run off the AGM
Dozens of multiple day Abrolhos trips and it hasnt given me trouble.
Runs a 70L Evakool, 2 deck floods, invertor for charging battery floods/spots, stereo and a lightbar on the front plus other crap.
Are your batteries at the stern still?
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
Vinesh87
Posts: 2751
Date Joined: 02/04/11
Which 120A AGM batteries have
Which 120A AGM batteries have decent cranking amps ?
Rob H
Posts: 5743
Date Joined: 18/01/12
I bought a Thumper Redback
I bought a Thumper Redback AGM, rated at 880 amps.
Have had it 2 1/2 years now and still seems ok, $250 all up Ebay but theyre a little more now.
My outboards are only 115's though where your new ones will probably be triple 350 Vrods
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
Vinesh87
Posts: 2751
Date Joined: 02/04/11
Ah yeh you are talking about
Ah yeh you are talking about CA not CCA which is all good here anyway. Theyre a good battery, for others just be aware to check the specs as a lot of deep cycle AGM's don't have many cranking amps.
The Supercharge allrounder's are a cheaper option. Know quite a lot of people happily running them! Big amps/cca
Dunno what your talking about my 9.8 doesnt even need a battery !
Rob H
Posts: 5743
Date Joined: 18/01/12
had a look on their page,
had a look on their page, 680CCA and 880CA
Whats your 9.8, a trailer sailer?
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
Sharky1
Posts: 18
Date Joined: 17/08/15
No deep cycle batt has
No deep cycle batt has cranking amps. They work completly differently. You can get what they call a semi cycle battery which most marine/4x4 batteries are & they usually have a high cca & a high rc but they're not really a deep cycle at all.
Vinesh87
Posts: 2751
Date Joined: 02/04/11
Yes i didnt mean to say Deep
Yes i didnt mean to say Deep cycle, more dual purpose.
Sharky1
Posts: 18
Date Joined: 17/08/15
There might be nothing wrong
There could be nothing wrong really. Depending on what gauge of battery cable you'r using, they can store a bit of current. Your instruments have a pretty low current draw so can take a while to use the current held within the cable. You most certainly don't want to use a home security battery for marine use. You need to put a multi meter on it & see what it's doing.
I'm currently rewiring my whole boat & adding dual batts. I'm going to use the same system as I have in my 4WD, 1x Cranking battery & 1x Deep cycle battery for everything else. The motor only charges the cranking battery as the deep cycle charges from the cranking battery via a 30A DC-DC charger which stops charging either once it senses the cranking battery is no longer recieving charge or when the cranking battery drops to 12.5V which is usually within a minute of turning the motor off.
It's better for weekend trips. You don't have to worry about remembering to switch from batt 1 to batt 2 & by using a deep cycle you get longer use out of your accessories before it need a recharge. The DC-DC charger I have is fully waterproof. It costs about $400 & has much less wiring than isolators. I guess you could always have a charging switch from your motor to go between batt 1 & batt 2 in case the DC-DC ever fails & you need to charge the deep cycle.
Cruise control I live about 5 mins away from you. I'm ex mechanic with a lot of experience in these things. I'd be happy for you to bring it over & I'll have a look at it over a bourbon or 3.
White Lightning
Posts: 27
Date Joined: 08/10/13
sounds like your battery
sounds like your battery switch is the culprit,might need to take it off and give the contact a clean,, or just replace.
Off topic, Rob could you post a pic of your solar panel mounted??
Rob H
Posts: 5743
Date Joined: 18/01/12
dont really have a good pic
dont really have a good pic as Im at sea but here you can see the mount on the bimini.
Panel drops into it with channel section each side and cant go anywhere.
Also took the regulator off and mounted it at the other end near the battery
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.