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View Full Version : Perko battery switch ? - 275 medallion



FISHIN SUCKS
08-17-2007, 07:32 AM
A friend of ours on our lake has a 275 medallion and he is not sure what to set his battery setting on. He has a 2-battery system but keeps an extra one on board because he tends to go dead sometimes. Our Blackwidow is set on 'all' and we don't have any problems, his is set on all and he has problems. Should he switch to '1' or '2' or just quit doing his weekend baking in his galley with his microwave (just a joke, I don't think he or his wife bake much on the boat)? Any help is much appreciated:yes:,

tom

VetteLT193
08-17-2007, 07:48 AM
Depends, is he going dead from doing stuff, or just going dead sitting there?

He may have a bad battery, or may have a draw on it. if that is the case, set it to 1 or 2, so you have the other as backup. set it to all when running to charge both batteries.

FISHIN SUCKS
08-17-2007, 07:59 AM
Thanx Vette:yes:! As far as I know, He just has his fan running (portable oscilating type, wife pregnant:boggled:), maybe his laptop for a little bit, and some stereo. The duration of all of this running without starting the boat may be about 6-7 hours on average on the weekends.

I will tell him to try switching his switch to '1' or '2' while parked and all when running the boat. Much appreciated:yes: from one corvette owner to another,

tom

Ranman
08-17-2007, 08:54 AM
My opinion is that he has two issues.

1) He has a battery that has been compromised by over discharging. Once you allow a battery to go dead even one time, it's performance and capacity have been compromised. Even with deep cycle batteries which allow you to discharge up to 70% of their capacity suffer irreverible damage if discharged beyond that 70% mark. Once this happens once or twice, you will be fighting with that battery forever.

2) He is using more than he is putting back. My guess is that a few hours of laptop and stereo time is consuming more of the battery's capacity than he's replacing. Alternators are not really designed to be battery chargers. They mainly just keep a full battery full and provide juice for everything when running. Charging is secondary. A problem I experienced with my Donzi is that I would run the stereo at the sandbar for a few hours and then go for an hour run and that run did not put fully back into the battery what I had used at the sandbar. Over the course of the season, I slowly ran the battery dead by continually using more that I was putting back and I was always fighting a weak battery.

The solution? First off, two new batteries. Second, a nice battery charger. Good maintenance chargers have built in charging algorithms that allow them to be continuously hooked up and will not overcharge. Some are designed for permanent mounting in a boat and can handle multiple batteries. for my Donzi, I run a Battery Tender. This little charger is one of the best things I've bought in a while. The Battery tender will only do one battery at a time, so every time I come home from the lake with the Donzi, I hook the charger to one battery and plug her in. Occasionally, I will move the Tender to the other side. This keeps the batteries tip-top all the time and are ready to go when I am.

For a 275, if it's kept in the water, I would wire in and mount a permanent charger (Xantrex or other) in the boat and plug it in when not using the boat. I'm assuming the boat has shore power and no on board charger already. If there is already an onboard charger, something else is wrong or he is not using the charger properly.

For the switch, you should really alternate between 1 and 2, only using "all" in an emergency situation when you need to combine the power of both batteries to get you going. Charging in parallel (All) is not great because each battery is slightly different (even if same make and model) and one will always suffer or give way to the other.

FISHIN SUCKS
08-17-2007, 10:59 AM
Thanx Randy:wink:! I will run that past him on the on board charger, I don't know that he has one. He does leave it in the water most of the time, occasionally goes to lake erie with it. He and his wife are thinking about coming down to AOTH next year as well. It would be the first time I have ever seen a Donzi Cruiser there and I would hate to see him be dead in the water (batteries that is).

So are you saying I should switch ours to '1' or '2' as well instead of 'all':confused:? If you say so...hell, I don't know anything anyway. I guess I would follow you off a bridge if you said it was the right thing to do. Tell Jen we said 'hey',

t

Ranman
08-17-2007, 11:10 AM
There has been some discussion on the "1" "2" "all" thing in the past. A search may come up with better info or other opinions.

Some say run 1 on odd days and 2 on even days. On my boat, I always use 1 (I call it my primary battery) and have 2 at the ready if I need it from running 1 too much. This way when I get home I put the Tender on 1 to bring her back up after the wekend and 2 should be good if it wasn't used. Occasionally, I put the Tender on "2" to make sure it's topped off as they will discharge slowly over time.

My advise is to use the same approach or something similar. I used to run "all" all the time too until I did some reading on the topic.

Donzigo
08-18-2007, 09:04 AM
Randy has given you the best explanation that I've heard in a long time. He covered all the bases.

I would recommend one other thing. If the boat is kept in the water, you might want to tell him throw a slave zinc overboard connected to a masterground on your boat, to make sure you aren't picking up any electolysis from anywhere.

It's always best to have each engine run off of and charge it's own battery. if it's a single, Randy said it best. Charge each one alone.

Lastly, I buy a new set of batteries every June 1st, just to make sure. Batteries problems can drive you nuts and chasing down a problem, just to find out it was a bad battery cell is very difficult to determine.

joel3078
08-18-2007, 12:32 PM
My black widow is setup like Tom's - single engine with 2 batteries. However, on mine, battery 1 is a starting batter and battery 2 is a deep cycle. I typically run on ALL setting also. However, if I float or anchore for awhile I switch to #2 wich runs then just the deep cycle. Gotta keep #1 for starting in good condition.

For battery chargers, look at the kind the bass fishermen use. They run their trolling motors for hours on end and beat the hell out the batteries. The plug it in and forgetaboutit automatic chargers they use are SWEET! Hard wire them in with heavy duty wires and run the 120 volt plug to a handy location. Here is an example of them.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?type=pod&id=0013381

FISHIN SUCKS
08-20-2007, 08:48 AM
Thanx guys! Always an educational experience.

Okay, so let me throw one more question at ya regarding my situation...do you think these solar-powered trickle chargers will get the job done? I have no power on my property at the lake, my batteries on my boat lift have a solar powered charger hooked up to them but I can't ever tell if it is working or not. Yes, my batteries are strong enough to raise the lift up and down, but one of the two batteries (purchased 5-06) took a crap on me and had to get it replaced. If you know how to test them or if you think they are worth while, I will get one for the boat as well and let it charge when I am not using the boat during the week.

thanx in advance for some $.02.

joel3078
08-20-2007, 11:19 AM
Tom, the little solar chargers are a joke. The bigger ones actually work. Bigger meaning over a foot long and over 100 bucks. Hook up a DC current meeter in series with the battery to see current draw from battery. A DC volt meter will also tell you if the solar plates are putting out voltage to charge the batteries. Dirty solor plates put out less juice so clean them from time to time. Glass and plate breakage is an issue also.

The extended stay RV guys use solor chargers in their rigs also. The RV's are parked for months on end and they don't want to use the generators all the time to just charge up batteries. Go to http://www.woodalls.com/ and find a RV park by you. Then just go there and ask the guys what they like best.

I tent camped in many RV parks this last month on a cross country motorcycle trip. Went from Minnesota to California and back. About 5,400 miles round trip. The guys that run the big RV rigs really know there stuff. You think a boat is maintenace intensive, try a luxery RV coach. They are just as bad as a big cabin cruiser boat. Big money and big problems from time to time.

A very small honda, coleman, etc. gasoline generator will work to charge up batteries. Lots of the tournement fishing guys use them overnight to charge up trolling batteries when there is no shore power. Budget 400-1000 bucks for the generator. We use them for ice fishing. Keeps the lights on inside the fish house all night and they use very little gas.

zelatore
08-20-2007, 02:01 PM
You think a boat is maintenace intensive, try a luxery RV coach.

Oh, I beg to differ.

Granted, it's been a while since I delt with an RV, and it wasn't that big, but I deal with mid to large size yachts daily. RV's have it easy! No raw water cooling systems, only one propulsion system, only 12v and 120v (maybe 220v) but no 24v systems. Less pounding and rolling to deal with. And the big one .... NO SALT WATER!

I don't know how picky the RV guys are, but when we've done smaller out of the water shows a few RVs have shown up. Typically, they look chintzy next to a nice yacht. These are decent RVs - I don't remember the makes, but the prices were in the $2-300 range. Judging from the overall fit and finish level, I'd say the guys servicing them have a lot more room for error than on a yacht.

Of course, I'm on one side looking at the other. The grass is always greener, right?

BUIZILLA
08-20-2007, 02:26 PM
my coach has a purty good size solar charger on the roof, and it darn sure works... :yes:

FISHIN SUCKS
08-20-2007, 03:12 PM
my coach has a purty good size solar charger on the roof, and it darn sure works... :yes:
Hey Buiz, is yours one of those 100 buck ones that Joel is referring to, or was yours more?

BUIZILLA
08-20-2007, 03:49 PM
I'm pretty confident mine was way past the $100 mark,,,,,

joel3078
08-20-2007, 06:57 PM
I'm a land lubber what can I say. Boats are smaller up here with no oceans. Ya we have 10,000 lakes in MN but only 10 of them can host my 24' Donzi much less a big ass yacht.
Look at these RV coaches. It's the same type of luxery conversion they do for jets and yachts. Millions of dollars is the sell price. Heck some of the preowned stuff is over a million. Start out with a top of the line Provost chassis and then go from there. They are amazing.
http://www.marathoncoach.com/index.cfm
These are a little above the 200-300K typical RV you see retired couples driving around.

zelatore
08-20-2007, 08:36 PM
Nice stuff - a much better comparison than the things I've seen around.

I suppose it would make more sense to compare a $300K RV with a Bayliner/Meridian than a Carver/Marquis.

(of course, I better watch out about badmouthing the Bayliner guys...they keep trying to recruit me and one of these days I just might go work for them after all...)

joel3078
08-20-2007, 09:18 PM
I wished I lived closer to the coast as our boating season is so short. Oh well, keeps our boats in really good condition for a long time. Probably why there aren't too many yachts up here. Last time I checked, the MN Vikings football team were having sex parties on the yachts close to me. :eek!:

TOM click here
http://www.talcoelectronics.com/c-8-marine-solar-panels.asp
Lots of choices and lots or prices. The 200-300 dollar units are what you would need.

FISHIN SUCKS
08-21-2007, 07:25 AM
Thanx Joel.