cutwater 28 another house battery?

[Cutwater28GG]

Anyone managed to squeeze another house battery into the compartment on a cutwater 28? or somewhere else on the boat?
would love to pick the collective wisdom on the site for ideas for more house power.

 

[Red Raven]

Before considering another house battery you may want to consider another solar panel. Many think they need more storage when they really need more power generation. I know I did until having a discussion with a very astute sailor up in Campbell River this year. If your battery capacity is enough to get you through the night that is all you need. What is important is that it is fully charged before sundown the next day. If you can do that on a cloudy day then you can stay off the grid forever until something else runs out like water, holding tank or fuel. Having more battery capacity just means more capacity you need to charge up. You will only extend the inevitable just adding more capacity. If the solar controller on your boat is like ours then it can handle 25amps of solar charge. Two panels like the one I assume you currently have will generate around 20 amps max. You can add a third if you have the room but you may overload the controller on a sunny day. Per another current thread on Tugnuts the Morningstar controller will shut down if the current exceeds 25amps and restart later when the current has dropped below the max.

If you must add battery capacity consider adding a switch to add the thruster battery to the house bank. Much easier solution and you don't need to use thusters when you are not under way anyway.

I plan on adding a second solar panel to our boat this winter and leave the 2 house batteries as is. We should be able to charge the house on all but the cloudiest days.

Curt

 

[knotflying]

Before adding anything figure out what you anticipate you amp consumption will be while at anchor. Then figure out what you will get back from your solar panel during an average day. The critical part is from sunset to morning where you are getting nothing from solar. We can usually go three days at anchor before we have an issue.

 

[Cutwater28GG]

good feedback!

 

[elan]

Good evening M/V Living the Dream,
We have a 26 Cutwater & took our thruster bat from it's dedicated position & combined it with our house battery system,thus increasing it's capasity by thirty %, after one year it works great!
Reamamember when you are using your thrusters the engine is running & soooooooooooo unless you leave them on for VERY long periods they work great.
Cheap & simple solution!
Any Questions, just call, (360)620-0990)
Mike
M/V Elan
26 Cutwater 2012
180 HP Yanmar

 

[Dorman]

I increased the size of our house batteries to size 31 which required a new battery tray but it fits fine in the battery compartment. I bought 2 closed cell batteries with the largest reserve capacity in size 31 that Batteries Plus stocks. If we shut down at noon even in the rain with no solar gain we still have power the next morning.
Dorman Holcomb
Sawdust

 

[oneeyedjackass]

If you must add battery capacity consider adding a switch to add the thruster battery to the house bank. Much easier solution and you don't need to use thusters when you are not under way anyway.
Curt

What is the proper way to do this? Why is thuster battery separated from the house bank?
thx mark

 

[Red Raven]

Knotflying can probably answer this question best as he has his thruster battery added to his house with a switch. I plan to make the modification this winter on our boat. The thruster/windlass battery is likely separate because of the large current draw from the thrusters and the windlass. It is possible that it may cause the lights or other house items to flicker when you use the thrusters. In most cases however, you wouldn't notice as you are likely underway and not using much house items. Each battery has its own switch. The addition of another switch between the house and thruster accomplishes the task adding 30% capacity to your house when switched on. The only other downside is that you may draw down your thruster battery making it underpowered when initially leaving the dock. It is not good for the batteries to draw any of the batteries down below 50%.

My main point is to balance the capacity need with the generating capability. You only need capacity to get through one night and part of a day if you have the generating capability to replace that capacity the next day. Don't need to add more capacity than that unless you always want to run the main engine or use a generator to charge back up each day. Capacity needed is based on your usage. Some boats have electric ovens etc. which will use more. We have a propane oven and do not use the microwave when on the hook. The exiting battery capacity on our boat is good for about 24 hours with no additional charge.

 

[knotflying]

I have a switch between the thruster battery and house so they can be isolated from one another. However, 99% of the time I leave it in the on position. When at the dock I have my charger on so all the batteries are topped off. The engine is running when leaving so I never had lack of power for the thrusters when leaving the dock. When on the hook I can't think of a situation when the thruster would be needed when leaving. The windless is used when the engine is running and there has never been an issue there either. With the three battery scenario I am at an 80% state of charge about 12.40 Volts. We will use the microwave, electric peculator and toaster while on the hook, but run the engine when any of them are in use. When on the hook, besides the refrigerator I use a C-pap. I power this with a small cigarette lighter type inverter rather than the boat inverter. Then there is the incidental LED lighting, stereo, Wabasto heater before bed and upon wakening if cold out. Then cell phones, ipad etc are plugged in to stay charged.