www.iFourWinns.com

Hi I have a 05 348 with 5.7 and i/o engines. Have been reading where people have added 2 6 volts batteries for the house. In my set up there is not much room beside the factory batteries, is there any owners who have some pictures where they either added a house 12 volt or changed to the 6 volt type and if so would they be kind enough to pass some pictures of the install.
I need to up my house capacity as we sleep on the hook most weekends, there is not near enough reserve to make it for even one day.
I have searched the sites but was not able to find any pictures of a boat with an engine room configured close to mine.
Thanks in advance..

_________________

Terry
2005 Vista 348
5.7 Volvo I/O

Hey Terry,

I don't know how close the configuration of our engine rooms is, but here's the pic of my second house battery installation. Bill K. has the 6 volt batteries in his 348 but he also has inboards.

_________________
Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Thanks Sierra.
How does it work, my main fridge will not even come on with DC now. Just bought the boat and am trying to work through all this it works on AC but not DC. As I only have one house the Novakool people think the low voltage may have taken out my DC converter. When you come off AC do you show 12.5 to 13 Volts then go down from there? And if so how long before you have to start the generator?
Your engine room is a little different than mine but will see if I can make it fit in that area.
Thanks for the reply.

_________________

Terry
2005 Vista 348
5.7 Volvo I/O

Many of the marine fridges will not operate at less than 10.5V. That is a protection feature to not completely drain your batteries. Our Isotherm fridge has that feature, and it is nice to have. Many of the Norcold fridges in FW cruisers will run your battery down to nothing.

As far as battery location, just pick a place in your engine room where one fits, it is your choice where it can go. Just make it easy to access and to run the additional wires.

There are several ways to add a third battery. You need to decide which method you want.
use an isolater or not. If you do add an isolater for a third battery, upgrade your current isolator from a two alt. two battery to a two alt. three battery ( Guest # 2503 ) pretty simple addition.

Here is one way you can do it without an isolator.

Wire 2 batteries in parallel to BAT1 and the single battery on BAT2. Parallel mode: wire the + red posts together with a one foot long #4 red marine grade wire with connectors on each end. Wire the - black post the same way but use black wire. Connect the two parallel configured batteries with a red wire to BAT1 of 2-way battery switch. Wire the single battery the same way to BAT2. Connect all the black battery posts from the 3 batteries together and wire them back to system return, usually the motor block.

Configuring 12vdc batteries in parallel keeps the batteries at a 12vdc output. Wiring the 12vdc batteries in series (red-to-black) doubles the battery voltage to 24vdc.

There are several other ways to do it, this method may not be the best for your application, just one example, it's your choice.

_________________
One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

thanks Cap'n Morgan
So you are suggestion to take the house system from one to 3 batteries, I was going to first start by adding one then if that did not work change all the house to 6 volt. Your explanation was great just wanted to be clear how many house batteries you would recommend.

_________________

Terry
2005 Vista 348
5.7 Volvo I/O

There's no particular magic to using a pair of 6v in series vs 12v in parallel. At the time I just wanted greater capacity and two batteries would fit (back in the space under the swim platform, but I have inboards). The pair of 6v batteries was less than the cost of one 12v, at the time anyway. Were I to do it again today I'd probably shell out the extra monies for 12v, if only to have batteries that could get rotated in with the other 3 already in the boat. I changed those out to AGM batteries, so I've already learned to fell the pain of THAT expense.

Batteries are heavy so chose their location and mounting with some care. You don't want the battery to come loose and break things. That and you don't want the terminals on them to be at risk of anything shorting out across them. I put my new batteries inside battery boxes. This protects them and guards against any of the battery acid in them from getting directly onto any surfaces, or from rotting out the straps (which happens). But it does keep me from seeing the batteries for quick visual inspection. So it's a trade-off. However you mount them be SURE they're secure and check the hold-down straps or brackets regularly.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Thanks Bill.
Once again good advice.

_________________

Terry
2005 Vista 348
5.7 Volvo I/O

Terry -

My setup worked very well last season and there was a noticeable improvement over the single battery. I also added the practice that has been discussed of powering down the fridges overnight. If it's not super-hot and the doors remain closed there is usually not an appreciable rise in temperature (enough to spoil food) over the course of what is usually about eight hours. The fridges really are the power hogs. I can't give you a handle on my voltage readings, but I will note that this year, for some reason, I am not getting as much life out of a charge. I stored the batteries on board this winter, disconnected, but I'm afraid the yard may have run them down before pulling the leads and it is not good to store them in a discharged state. I am going to try to reset the 'memory' that AGM's have by giving them a full discharge and a full, clean charge and I'll take it from there. Hopefully they're not toast. I'll report back at some point and take some better readings.

_________________
Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

If your looking for 6v batteries check Costco. I bought mine there for $68/each they are made by Trojan and have been great. I figure even if I only get 3 season out of them I am money ahead of a $300 west marine 6V.

_________________
2000 268 Vista "Reely Nauti"
http://www.facebook.com/#!/rivercruiser