www.iFourWinns.com

Looking to add a second house battery, group 31 deep cycle, on a 2006 288 Vista. My plan is a wire in parallel with existing group 31 deep cycle. My question is , will the present charger/converter (not sure of amp rating as boat is still in storage) be large enough to handle the increased charging needs? Also, running two group 27 dual purpose batteries for starting with each dedicated to each engine. Are there any other 288 owners out there that have added second house battery as I have outlined? If so, please send details. Thanks.

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"One Moor Time" 2006 288 Vista
"Kalin II" 1995 258 Vista
"Kalin" 1985 Four Winns 215 Santara

I put 2 group 31s in parallel for the house battery bank in my 268 Vista. The existing battery charger should handle normal charging fine, but may not recharge 2 batteries as fast as 1. The charger puts out up to a maximum amperage on each bank. Charging 2 batteries in parallel may lose a little bit in efficiency, but mathematically it should not make a difference whether it is one battery or two. Just as a battery can be charged at different amperage rates(2 amp, 5 amp, 10 amp), your batteries should be able to be charged just fine as long as there is enough amperage to charge.

Batteries should be matched in size, age, etc any time that batteries are joined in parallel. In other words buy two matching batteries. Hope this helps.

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Surface Interval: A scuba diving term for that time between dives to relax and prepare for life's next great adventure.

Current boat: '02 FW 268 Vista
Previous boat: '95 FW 190 Horizon

Re the charger, I recently swapped the two 15A fuses for the charger on my 2009 278 ( hidden behind the battery switch panel) to 15 A breakers in the engine compartment. I looked at the old waterproof fuseholders as I wanted to use them for something else if I could. I don't know whether FW bought them already assembled with cables or wired them up in house. The crimping looked OK, identical on both, but when I opened up the part that clamps on to the insulation the wires literally just fell out; the crimped area was not crimped onto the conductors ! At least they were easily reuseable with new cables crimped on securely. I imagine there's a batch of these fuseholders with that fault out there

+1 on above
My 288 has 2 x house under the main bed, and 1 x house in the engine bay.
Charger should work AOK - you will just have a bigger bucket to fill up with amps.

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GI Auz
2004 288 Vista
Twin 4.3 Merc


Previously:
Beneteau 411 Non-Stink

I have done the same on my 328.. Recommend when wiring, that you use heavy wire between the batteries for your jumpers, and connect your battery charger with the positive on one battery, and the negative on the opposite.. I've done both ways, and either will work, but I've seen that the recommended way is to do as described above.. As was mentioned previously, your charging time will increase, because you've increased your running time, but your current charger should do the trick, just will take a little longer to fully charge a drained bank. For me, we stay on the hook a lot, and the problem I've run into is that if we're having a great day, and I get a little crazy with the stereo, the house batteries are pretty well done by morning, and sure, I can fire up the generator and keep having fun, but, on the hook, I don't gain much with my battery charger, because the one installed is a 30 amp, 3 bank (max 10 amp per bank), and when I'm on generator, I'm running a blower that probably burns 5-6 amps (maybe more) of my charging amps, so needless to say, not a lot of charger power goes to charging the house batteries. Now, I suppose I could rewire the blowers and get them off the house bank, and on a starting motor, but I'm going another route. I'm upgrading the charger. Just purchased a Charles Marine 80 amp 3 bank charger (of which it can run all 80 on one bank if needed). Formula uses these chargers in their boats stock, and they are awesome, but pricey.. A friend of mine a couple of years ago, had a starting battery that was going bad on him, and we literally were able start the generator, and use the charger to start his big blocks (of course, it's not designed to do that, but was able to do it in a pinch).. lol

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2004 Four Winns 328 Vista
1997 Larson Cabrio 290 - sold
1988 Rinker Fiesta Vee 248 - sold

Rule of ….. The charger should be rated 20% of the total amp hours or close to it. You may need to a 2nd charger or a bigger charger. Personally I would add a 2nd charger, for redundancy.

Add up each battery, find out how big your charger is.