THE best Marine electrical resource on the internet. Period. Jeff Cote is what the internet should be all about, giving his expert opinion FOC and giving away course notes via his website. Some good life-experience comparisons as well. BTU from me.
In the video you highly suggest that chargers be left on when the boat is not in use, to promote long life of the batteries (by preventing sulfation of the plates...I assume). I have 4 Fireflys and an AGM starter batt. Will having 2 (115 watt) solar panels on 24/7 achieve the same outcome?....Or should the charger be always on with the battery monitor lite flashing full after a day or so. Great vids, and thanks in advance for your answer.
will an inverter charger, Victron Multi plus or similar do teh same function as an Isolation transformer or will i need both? Cheers Jeff , learning so much form your Videos.
Great videos. You have peeked my interest with your warning about non-marine chargers and galvanic corrosion. Could you elaborate more? Inquiring minds want to know.
Jeff. Awesome program. Watched several. So here's one for ya on my charter boat. I wanna update my old Raritan charger. The company actually made a 4 bank for my dad because at time only offered 3 bank. So it is currently a 30 Amp four bank charger, charging 4 8D flooded batteries. Around 1400 CCA. I wanna update my charger with the vectron central 12v/60 Amp. All their units and most others are 3 bank only. So in theory I think this would work , but one would charger handle it and also am I cutting corners. So starboard side has battery one as house.... battery 2 start battery. Port side has battery one( which is 3 on current charger) and battery 2 ( which is 4 on charger lug) dedicated to nothing but a 12000 Ramsey anchor winch. So here we go, could I run port side batteries in parallel so that charger recognizes as one bank. If I do I believe I then lose the ability to switch from 1 to to 2 both on my switch. Does this make sense? What's your suggestion. My other option. Do I run 2 chargers and add my standard genset battery which is I believe just a group 27 flooded not big cranking amps. If I do this, does the charger require all 3 banks to be used on charger on no.
Great information. I’m using an engine battery and a service battery with a combiner charger. I’d like to add a third battery and get a battery charger. Do I need to get rid of the combiner? If I do will the engine battery no longer charge through the engine alternator?
A 3 output battery charger will provide DC charging when there is a AC source. Your battery combiner might be useful to recharge a 2nd battery bank from one alternator.
Jim P 5:11 PM (5 minutes ago) But if the isolator initially senses from a battery bank (1 or 2) to charge and senses the bank is already charged it would not switch to the other battery bank and charge since they dont see each other. Im doing this install as we speak so switching 1 and 2 or visa versa is no big deal.. Just want to do it right.
Hi Jeff. At some point I was in need to share the power source to two batteries. I mean one cable from alternator and one cable from battery charger. Is it OK to place both cables (one from alternator and one from charger) on the input post of isolator?
Hi Luis, it depends, many battery isolators have multiple outputs and those battery charger outputs should be connected directly the unswitched positive distribution of each battery bank.
What charger and isolator do you suggest for a Weekend 20' Recreation Boat, 2 battery, 65 amp Alternator. Recharging mainly stereo use, when boat was not running. Thanks Colin
Hi David, in some cases yes. For instance, it's not uncommon for PYS to install an inverter/charger for the house batteries and a smaller auxiliary charger for the engine, thruster, genset, etc... batteries.
Hi Jim, to my knowledge it doesn't matter which battery isolator post is connected to which battery. With a stock regulator, the voltage sense is done on the positive alternator post. Remember the battery isolator only shares a charging source to 2 or more batteries but it does not regulate or modify the voltage.
I have a 5x5 duel 10 amp in my 87 person 31, my 12 volt fridge is killing my batteries and I got a 10x10 20 amp now the wiring is old and it looks like on the old one they cut the plug part and ran the 3 wires. I do not wanna go cutting into this new one if the 20 amp is to many amps is it going to be ok?
For a 20 amp battery charger, you'll want to have at minimun a gauge 12 wire. Depending on the length of the circuit, you'll also want to get a large gauge, perhaps gauge 10 to offset voltage drop.
Growing up in a multilingual family, always finding ways to translate from one language to another, in this case electrical to perhaps something relatable "the matrix".
Hi Jeff. I have a power boat that uses two starting engine batteries140 amp hour flooded, 1250amp each , and one a 90 amp hour 1100 amp flooded for the generator. I have a 3 bank battery charger 20 amp. Now i have some doubts if this equipment may fit to my boat needs. If it is poorly fitted for the job, can I buy a separated one bank 10 amp charger (less than 100$) charger for the generator, and leave the 3 bank charger dealing only with the two engine batteries? How can I establish the total amperage of a battery charger, is related to the capacity of the battery (1250 amp) or the other value (140 ah)? Thanks!
Hi Luis, since all the 3 batteries you mentioned are used for starting applications, and considering you have two 140 amp-hour batteries plus one 80 amp-hour battery, i'd suggest to get a 30 amp charger, or even a 40 amp charger to recharge all 3. As you mentioned, you can reuse existing charger for one battery, perhaps generator, and then and new 30 amp for your two 140 amp-hour engine batteries.
Holy Fu*&! I wish I watched this a while ago... I just melted one of those ugly 70's "converters" keeping my boat plugged on while on the hard. I never had an issue with 30A marina connections before; but I definitely had an "ugly" charger. Grey metal box about 1.5 feet, by 6 inches, by 8 inches with an analogue amp meter on top. I could have set my boat on fire and taken at least a couple of the neighbouring boats with me. I'm happy with my insurance, but I DO NOT WANT TO MAKE THAT SORT OF CLAIM. I found a nice thousand dollar charger on sale for %25 off.
THE best Marine electrical resource on the internet. Period. Jeff Cote is what the internet should be all about, giving his expert opinion FOC and giving away course notes via his website. Some good life-experience comparisons as well. BTU from me.
Thanks Mark. Glad you are enjoying our content. Reading your comments inspires me to keep creating and posting new content.
We are blessed. What a great guy sharing his engineering knowledge for all boaters. I agree. Great resource.
Thanks Alan.
Thank you, Jeff. Just got a Victron Skylla IP-65 and it has a voltage sense feature.
This guy is spectacular! What a great resource.
Hi Jody, thanks for the feedback glad to know you are enjoying our content.
Thanks so much for posting these sessions, they're so helpful!
Glad you like them!
Thanks Jeff 😎
Excellent. Good job, well explained.
Glad you liked it
This is better than netflix
Thanks Abraham!
Excellent!
Many thanks!
In the video you highly suggest that chargers be left on when the boat is not in use, to promote long life of the batteries (by preventing sulfation of the plates...I assume). I have 4 Fireflys and an AGM starter batt. Will having 2 (115 watt) solar panels on 24/7 achieve the same outcome?....Or should the charger be always on with the battery monitor lite flashing full after a day or so. Great vids, and thanks in advance for your answer.
will an inverter charger, Victron Multi plus or similar do teh same function as an Isolation transformer or will i need both? Cheers Jeff , learning so much form your Videos.
Hi Steve, in short no. An inverter/charger does NOT provide any of the benefits of an isolation transformer.
Great videos. You have peeked my interest with your warning about non-marine chargers and galvanic corrosion. Could you elaborate more? Inquiring minds want to know.
Hi Jim, many non-marine chargers permanently bound the neutral and ground wires together. Only a source of AC power can do that.
@@PacificYachtSystems Thanks that explains it. White touches green, your circuit turns mean.
Jeff. Awesome program. Watched several. So here's one for ya on my charter boat. I wanna update my old Raritan charger. The company actually made a 4 bank for my dad because at time only offered 3 bank. So it is currently a 30 Amp four bank charger, charging 4 8D flooded batteries. Around 1400 CCA. I wanna update my charger with the vectron central 12v/60 Amp. All their units and most others are 3 bank only. So in theory I think this would work , but one would charger handle it and also am I cutting corners.
So starboard side has battery one as house.... battery 2 start battery.
Port side has battery one( which is 3 on current charger) and battery 2 ( which is 4 on charger lug) dedicated to nothing but a 12000 Ramsey anchor winch.
So here we go, could I run port side batteries in parallel so that charger recognizes as one bank.
If I do I believe I then lose the ability to switch from 1 to to 2 both on my switch. Does this make sense? What's your suggestion.
My other option. Do I run 2 chargers and add my standard genset battery which is I believe just a group 27 flooded not big cranking amps. If I do this, does the charger require all 3 banks to be used on charger on no.
Great information. I’m using an engine battery and a service battery with a combiner charger. I’d like to add a third battery and get a battery charger. Do I need to get rid of the combiner? If I do will the engine battery no longer charge through the engine alternator?
A 3 output battery charger will provide DC charging when there is a AC source. Your battery combiner might be useful to recharge a 2nd battery bank from one alternator.
Jim P
5:11 PM (5 minutes ago)
But if the isolator initially senses from a battery bank (1 or 2) to charge and senses the bank is already charged it would not switch to the other battery bank and charge since they dont see each other. Im doing this install as we speak so switching 1 and 2 or visa versa is no big deal.. Just want to do it right.
Hi Jim, the battery isolator only shares a charging voltage, it does not switch between batteries or disconnect one if over charged.
Hi Jeff. At some point I was in need to share the power source to two batteries. I mean one cable from alternator and one cable from battery charger. Is it OK to place both cables (one from alternator and one from charger) on the input post of isolator?
Hi Luis, it depends, many battery isolators have multiple outputs and those battery charger outputs should be connected directly the unswitched positive distribution of each battery bank.
What charger and isolator do you suggest for a Weekend 20' Recreation Boat, 2 battery, 65 amp Alternator. Recharging mainly stereo use, when boat was not running. Thanks Colin
Hi Colin, assuming you have an outboard, i'd recommend a bluesea 7610 battery combiner relay and either a Xantrex or Promariner battery charger.
@@PacificYachtSystems Thank you. Its an inboard 302 Ford Volvo Penta. What would the Model of charger Be?
Conisder this one: www.promariner.com/en/43020
Would you add chargers for redundancy ???? In other words if you have two chargers and one fails, will the system still work with one charger ????
Hi David, in some cases yes. For instance, it's not uncommon for PYS to install an inverter/charger for the house batteries and a smaller auxiliary charger for the engine, thruster, genset, etc... batteries.
Jeff, that's ferro-resonant. Nothing to do with ancient Egyptian monarchs, or habitation. :-)
Thanks for the info, useful as always. :-)
Does it matter which isolator terminal goes to which battery bank. Also which battery bank does the alternator gets its info from.
Hi Jim, to my knowledge it doesn't matter which battery isolator post is connected to which battery. With a stock regulator, the voltage sense is done on the positive alternator post. Remember the battery isolator only shares a charging source to 2 or more batteries but it does not regulate or modify the voltage.
I have a 5x5 duel 10 amp in my 87 person 31, my 12 volt fridge is killing my batteries and I got a 10x10 20 amp now the wiring is old and it looks like on the old one they cut the plug part and ran the 3 wires. I do not wanna go cutting into this new one if the 20 amp is to many amps is it going to be ok?
For a 20 amp battery charger, you'll want to have at minimun a gauge 12 wire. Depending on the length of the circuit, you'll also want to get a large gauge, perhaps gauge 10 to offset voltage drop.
Love it when he compared us to batteries lol *Matrix*
Growing up in a multilingual family, always finding ways to translate from one language to another, in this case electrical to perhaps something relatable "the matrix".
Minor nit: 13:20 s/b #NothingIsEverEasy
Hi Jeff. I have a power boat that uses two starting engine batteries140 amp hour flooded, 1250amp each , and one a 90 amp hour 1100 amp flooded for the generator. I have a 3 bank battery charger 20 amp. Now i have some doubts if this equipment may fit to my boat needs. If it is poorly fitted for the job, can I buy a separated one bank 10 amp charger (less than 100$) charger for the generator, and leave the 3 bank charger dealing only with the two engine batteries? How can I establish the total amperage of a battery charger, is related to the capacity of the battery (1250 amp) or the other value (140 ah)? Thanks!
Hi Luis, since all the 3 batteries you mentioned are used for starting applications, and considering you have two 140 amp-hour batteries plus one 80 amp-hour battery, i'd suggest to get a 30 amp charger, or even a 40 amp charger to recharge all 3. As you mentioned, you can reuse existing charger for one battery, perhaps generator, and then and new 30 amp for your two 140 amp-hour engine batteries.
@@PacificYachtSystems Thank you So Much!.. More than I can express
Holy Fu*&! I wish I watched this a while ago... I just melted one of those ugly 70's "converters" keeping my boat plugged on while on the hard. I never had an issue with 30A marina connections before; but I definitely had an "ugly" charger. Grey metal box about 1.5 feet, by 6 inches, by 8 inches with an analogue amp meter on top. I could have set my boat on fire and taken at least a couple of the neighbouring boats with me. I'm happy with my insurance, but I DO NOT WANT TO MAKE THAT SORT OF CLAIM. I found a nice thousand dollar charger on sale for %25 off.