House Bank Size ?

[mat0jab]

We have a 32 PDQ LRC and were wondering what others have for a house bank size... Our PDQ came with 4 T-105s, stored in the locker under the helmsman’s feet. This is one of the lockers that many PDQs have their starboard outboard engine. Anyway the 4–T105s give us about 450 Amp Hrs and I am now wondering if that bank is large enough for extended cruising. Have any of my fellow 32 PDQ owners increased their house bank size? If so how and where did you place the batteries? Or on the other hand, are you managing to live within the 450 Amp hrs “window”? Also I’m curious as to the methods others have chosen to replenish their batteries…. wind, solar? Did you keep or replace the standard 3x50 watt panels?

I look forward to everyone’s input.


Mark Thomas
s/v Whistler II
PDQ 32 LRC #41

[Tanah-Keeta]

I cruised the Bahamas for 5 years in my 36. We also had the same batteries and solar panels as you.

I found it adequate. I had the Adler Barber fridge and an Engel freezer. I used a Honda 2000 to charge the batteries about every day and a 1/2. Also made 25 gal of water at the same time. The Link 10 really helped me manage the batteries.

[mikeandrebecca]

We have an altair classic. The previous owner had installed 8 - 6V Exide GC batteries: 2 in each engine well and four below the cockpit steps. I too am giving serious thought into the capacity of the batteries and creating an energy budget. I "think" each of our batteries is rated at 105 AH and thus if my math is correct, having them connected in series-parallel that gives us a max. of 420 AH. Feel free to correct me on that.

We have the standard solar panels and plan on picking up a honda 2000 generator.

How long would one have to run this generator to charge up that battery back, assuming they were fairly depleted?

I keep hearing conflicting info as to weather to place our money into more solar or a wind genny.

Very interested in hearing others thoughts on this subject!

Mike

[Tanah-Keeta]

I would normally run the Honda for about 4 hours. It would begin charging at a 75 amp (DC) rate and reduce as the charger controlled the flow.

I used the Link 10 to determine when the batteries were 50% down and then charged to 95 - 100 %.

[mikeandrebecca]

Thank you Ron. That is helpful.

[SecondWind]

In the Solar vs. Wind generator debate ask yourself if you want to anchor where it is windy all of the time. We have both and my take is to load up on solar panels. The wind generator requires maintenance and is noisy (even our "quiet" Fourwinds, and often there is not enough wind to produce more than 3 or 4 amps. If you max out the solar panels(~400 watts) you will fully charge the bank during most days and the batteries will carry you through the night. We impose our heavy loads during daylight (watermaker, computers, etc.) and keep the load lighter at night. Our battery bank is the 4 Trojan 105's that everyone else uses. A Honda 2000 makes a great backup.

[mat0jab]

Ron,

When you use the Honda 2000, do you use the 120v A/C out and plug it in using your shore power inlet ?

Thanks,

Mark

[Tanah-Keeta]

Yes. The Honda is an inverter. It makes 12 volt and inverts it to 120. I initially used a dryer cord and an adapter from 20 amp to 30 amp plugged into the shore power inlet. The cord and adapter would get hot so I changed over to a regular 30 amp cord with a 20 amp plug to plug in to the Honda. I tried to charge my engine starting battery once with the DC clips that came with the generator but it was putting 20 plus volts into the battery and that did not seem safe.

[maxicrom]

Matojab,

You might look at the current post from Duetto on battery equalization. I've been looking at a way to have stable AC power from a smaller generator for a number of years after reading about the new inverter technology. The Victron systems inverter charger Duetto mentioned compensates for AC spikes using your battery bank and provides stablized power to the boat no matter what the AC power supply is doing (shore or generator). From my understanding all boat AC power is managed through the inverter. In essence you should be able to handle 30A occasional loads from a 20A gen set without killing the generator.

Our goal was to have to option to run AC (16,000 BTU) on occasion using a small Honda 2000 genset, plus a nominal AC load (battery charger, computer,etc...) which is probably more than the Gen set alone would be able to take when the AC pulls 12A plus on start up (personally I prefer to put light loads on small gensets and they live long happy lives). On the Chesapeake in August with no wind and black flies it would really be nice to be able go inside and cool down without having to hunt for a marina.

We only do bay weekend cruising so we've been able to do OK 4 6D combo Marine-RV deep-cycle\start (house) and one 6D combo (Motor) (actually they might be smaller - they are the size of large car batteries).

Good luck,

MB

[mat0jab]

Good information from all....

Thanks !