mixman
Senior Member
36' Gulfstar twin diesel trawler w/ 4.4kw generator. I'm beginning a refit and trying to size a house bank. On my present 30' power cat I've got 3 group 31 flooded batteries for 315 amp hours of power. That along with 235 watts of solar and a 2k Honda generator work very well for extended periods away from the dock. With the larger boat I will most likely want to have closer to 600 amp hours in the house bank. There's 250 watts of solar so far and I will likely add more along with a wind generator I have and am considering installing. We anchor quite a bit and this boat will be used for cruising. My concerns/questions are:
1 - I tried AGM batteries on my cat and they lasted one season before losing all capacity. They were charged with a smart charger set to AGM. But as Cruising World tests have shown, AGM batteries do not do well when not fully recharged after every discharge. This is not very practical for a boat at anchor. I've heard some AGM batteries do better than others with equalizing and partial recharges. I like AGM batteries for their low-maintenance aspects as well as high charge rates, but going through a house bank every year is not going to fit the cruising budget very well. Has anyone had luck with AGM batteries in this scenario?
2 - The boat came with a 70-amp inverter/charger (pure sine wave, 2000 continuous, 4000 peak watts). The current refrigeration system is 110v. I'm used to 12v everything. How have experiences been using an inverter/charger to run some systems at all times instead of going 12v for things like entertainment and refrigeration?
Thanks!
--Kurt
1 - I tried AGM batteries on my cat and they lasted one season before losing all capacity. They were charged with a smart charger set to AGM. But as Cruising World tests have shown, AGM batteries do not do well when not fully recharged after every discharge. This is not very practical for a boat at anchor. I've heard some AGM batteries do better than others with equalizing and partial recharges. I like AGM batteries for their low-maintenance aspects as well as high charge rates, but going through a house bank every year is not going to fit the cruising budget very well. Has anyone had luck with AGM batteries in this scenario?
2 - The boat came with a 70-amp inverter/charger (pure sine wave, 2000 continuous, 4000 peak watts). The current refrigeration system is 110v. I'm used to 12v everything. How have experiences been using an inverter/charger to run some systems at all times instead of going 12v for things like entertainment and refrigeration?
Thanks!
--Kurt