A diffrent way of charging
 

This is my New Xantrex 60 Amp 3 Bank Battery Charger.
This I the way Im gonna devide and charge my battery's.
I have 6 105 Amp battery's. I have split the battery's into "3" 210 amp hr battery banks.
The battery's get broken into 3 banks via 2 Heavy duty continous use solonoids
This charger has 3 20 Amp outputs each output will charge each bank @ 20 amp's.When the Key is ON all 6 battery's link together. When the key is OFF the solonoid's split the battery's back into 3 banks.
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1274833263
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1274833174

The Charger has a Telephone cord style output. It sends a signal to a dash mounted remote. This is where you can see the status of the charge and change charging

These 6 Battery's run everything stereo starting ect. Yea I don't have a back up or a emergency battery. My thinking is I haven't needed it in 5 years so i don't see the need to have one. I don't let my system run real low so it shouldn't be a problem

Thats a very smart charging system you have established. Along side your Balmar your batteries should last a long time.

Xantrex makes killer chargers. I have landed on the Xantrex Truecharge 2 40a for my two batteries. It should be able to charge them in a 12 hour period even after very heavy use.

Hate: It was a funny conversation at the local West Marine store. Trying to explain why I was doing it the way I was doing it seemed to short circuit the sales man's brain. Ye see experience has told everyone the way you set up a boat battery system is big bank Vs Small bank and always have a back up Battery. I guess I can't disagree with that. If I had a stereo shop that's how I would set people up and push them out the door. I don't think most people have enough sense or self control in how to run your system so they need to protect people from them self’s. A large house bank and an ACR (Automatic Charge Relay) and an Emergency start battery is a good fail safe system.

I look at my system like a race motor. Most racers only care about one gauge "Oil Pressure"
As soon as you loose oil pressure in a race motor its game over. That's how I look at my volt meter. When that thing gets to a sertan voltage its time to start up or turn off. I’m always pretty in sync with how my boats voltage is doing so a low battery is never a surprise

Here is a Pic of the Xantrex battery remote this is so you can see or change the charge settings on your batterys. It uses a telephone cord style wire to relay information back and forth to the charger and remote.http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1275002628
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1275002628

There is also a Temp probe that you can mount on your batterys to help the charger pick a charge program thats best for the batterys. Right now you have cold warm and hot to pick from the temp probe can cycle threw all 3 modes with out you having to do anything.

Thats a nice controller. Interested to see it all integrated with the RGB's lol. No seriously if you can snap a shot of it installed when you are done I'd appreciate it.

Grant is right in that an audio shop would face problems trusting most boat owners to manage their system the way that Grant will.

Another aspect of Grant's scheme is that since all his battery capacity is active he is unlikely to cycle his batteries as deep and all batteries will charge/discharge more evenly. His batteries are going to get more cycles before serious degradation.

Btw, for others I wouldn't follow this scheme without a serious alternator.

Charging systems require a comprehensive approach. One design does not fit all systems. As the system grows new issues tend to spill over and create new problems.

Grant definitely has a handle on it.

David
Earmark Marine

I'm considering this ... Perko Switch, Two banks of 6v batteries, each in series to make 12v, followed by putting those two banks in parallel for stereo, sitting in party cove... then having a deep cycle for starting and running while on the lake. My questions are this --- Can I use a Promariner charger on each of the 'banks' of batteries (turn off the perko when charging) ... and just let the alternator keep the deep cycle charged as if i only had a single battery.

I might opt for a stinger from jonyb in paducah instead of the four 6v ... something to think about... i havent unboxed my promariner yet...

PS: Sorry for hijack -- just like where this thread is going ...

two 6V batteries = one battery bank

Going from four 6V to one stinger... The stinger is probably one fourth the power of the four golf carts. Just compare battery weights, it's a pretty close gauge of power capacity.

Note the Truecharge 60 requires a dedicated 120VAC/20A outlet so you will need to plug this into a dedicated outlet. That typical outlet on the 15A GFCI in your garage won't do it.

Nice charger Grant. We have had good luck selling Xantrex product. If your batteries split into 3 banks when the key is off do you have amps running to different banks? Do you have a way to switch the amps from one bank to another?