waterat

Hi Is there a web site that lists how much it cost to go on a canal or river that is not covered by your normal BW Licence, I know the Thames charges you extra, but having trouble finding the info for anywhere else ie are you charged to use the river Trent?

Sorry Tony I ment to put relay but for some reason I typed Diode. Sorry to cause offence.

Hi I have been reading Tony Brooks on-line electrical notes. At one point Tony states if you have 2 alternators one for starter batt and the other for domestic. You just insert a blocking diode to your starter battery and join the positve side of the starter batt to the domestic side both alternators will then charge to domestic bank. Owing to the fact that the starter takes very little charging. Is it that simply?????

I have a Kipor IG2000 so it should be man enough for the job.

Hello, have been serching threads on this subject. Ihave just installed a Sterling Pro Charge D 40amp. Have followed the instalation instructions to the letter. However when I power it up from my genny I only get about 14.3volts max from the charger, I should be getting 14.8. Everything is correctly set. It also seems to go into float mode very quick even though batts are not fully charged. Run charger for about 4 hours today with only 2 110ah that need charging. When I took a SG reading it was about 1.2 Any ideas please

Thanks for the advice Tony was it you who had a link to carry out a power audit? I guess this is the first thing I should do is determine how much power I really do need. Does power consumption increase if you are running 230v items through the inverter? Because I have a 230v fridge on my boat but it has the AAA rating. The way I'm reading this is if at cruising speed my Alternator gives me 14.4 volts I am wasting my money fitting an Adverc system? The boat was built in 2007 so I guess the alternators will be up to spec, I do know the previous owner had a 2nd alternator fitted which is dedicated to the starter batt. I have just been mulling around in my head how I can make better use of the starter alternator when I'm running the engine. I have a good genny so I am now thinking just buy a good quality charger and when I'm not crusing use the genny to charge my batts.

I think I have come to a decision but I have one final question, can I use the SmartGauge and have a another none smart system charging my batteries? wotEver only reason I'm adding a 3rd battery is because with only 2 domestic it's taking them way below to recommended 50% discharge. Dave

wotEver thanks for advise and I have read the SmartGauge site. Am I correct in this! As I see it the Smart system is really good if you charge your all your Batts of 1 Alternator? Because it looks after both banks automatically. On my boat I have 2 Alternators one dedicated to the starter batt only and the other to my domestic side, so I have don't have to worry about split charging. It seems to me that my alternator is not spining fast enough at idle to push out ample charge rate, (I checked the volts last year and they were fine but not amps). At the moment I am unable to check this becaus I'm out of the country and not back till April, but trying to do all my reserch before I get home. It just seems to me that the the alternator dedicated to the starter batt is wasted most of the time, and I thought linking them up to charge all the batts was the way forward but Gibbo (the font of boat electrics says not). In essence my domestic Alternator is not putting enough charge back in. When I check with a Hydrometer it is rarely higher than half charge state, I know i need to add another domestic battery which will give me 3 110ah, but even so if I have run my domestics down to below 50% the alternator should still be able to get them back up to full charge. Am I correct. Sorry to be a pest but need to get this straight in my head before i go ahead and part with my hard earned dosh. Dave

Gibbo, many thanks for the advise, I think maybe the alternators are not operating at full power at tick over, is there an easy way to tell? I have run the engine for many hours and by using a Hydrometer have never seemed to get them fully charged. As for size I think they are both about 80 amp alternators. Does the Smart system influence the alternator at all? because I have read lots about the alternator and how it struggles getting the battery to full charge? Which is why I have also considered Adverc, Why is adverc not so popular?

I know this subject has been disscussed many times. I have 2 Alternators on my engine one soley for my starter batt and the other for domestic power. If I buy a SmartGauge with the SmartBank Advance, will this look after the charging utilising both alternators for all my batts? I have 3 110ah domestic and 1 110ah starter. I addition I have some solor panels to trickle charge batts when we are away, also I want to fit a mains charger to charge my batts from a genny, can these be intergrated into the whole system? Will it reduce my engine running time to recharge my batteries? Finally is the fitting within the scope of a DIY with some electrical knowledge, I have fitted an Adverc system in the past? Any comments and advice will be much appreciated.

Many thanks for you advise Dave

Can someone give a web site to sourse Cable Connectors and good quality crip tool. Want to install a better battery management system so want need cables and connectors to be good. Cheers

Thanks for all your help on this. Dave