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Old 03-14-2013, 10:27 AM   #12
Underway
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Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 741
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nsail View Post
I'm having some electrical work done on my boat and am using a local, highly recommended marine electrician. He told me that my current charging system is not the most efficient as is, and is recommending that it be changed.

He says that the best way is to have one alternator charge the start batteries and the other alternator charge the house bank batteries. I have a generator in case I can't run one of the engines for whatever reason, so theoretically I should never be "stuck" (that is obviously if the generator is working OK).

I've searched on the forum already for this answer and found some information, including the current ProIsoCharge thread but it's still not totally clear to me if what he recommends is best, or if it's even a typical charging setup (assuming I don't use the ProIsoCharge or something similar).

And, I figured it would be better to start a new thread rather than muddying up the waters on the ProIsoThread.

Sorry if this seems to be a dumb question, but your thoughts on whether what he is recommending is the best system, a typical system, or something else, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
I reconfigured our system very much like what your electrician recommended, but swapped the original 55 amp alternator on one engine to a 150 amp unit with an external smart regulator to service the golfcart house bank. The original 55 amp alternator on the second engine is dedicated to the two paralleled group 27 start batteries (which I can separate to start individual engines via an interconnet switch). A Blue Sea device sends charge current to the genset battery after the start batteries are topped off.

I originally used the Blue Sea device to send charge current from the 55 amp alternator to the house bank after the start batteries were topped off, but discovered that the higher voltage signal from the "stupid" regulator would "take charge/overpower" the smart regulator and shut down the 150 amp alternator (and the tach on that engine).

There are no switch manipulations required to keep everything charged. The original 55 amp alternator that was removed serves as a spare.
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