www.iFourWinns.com

HI All. I have 08 four wins 318 V and I use 3 same Interstate deep cycle battery SRM#29 CAN I use for house AGM deep cycle #31 because I have 2 refrigerators on the boat and if I use stereo or TV the battery go down so quick. Please help JACK

Your best bet would be to have two starter batteries (one for each engine) and 1 deep cycle for the ship. You can always add another deep cycle which is what I did, and I would suggest group 31's for the ship power. As far as lead acid, AGM, etc, they all need to be the same composition or you could damage your charger/converter.

BTW: If your cockpit fridge shuts off too soon on battery power, replace the wiring to it with larger gauge

_________________
Bridgewater, PA
2008 Vista 318

Just a side note, have you switched your lighting to LED because that makes a world of difference when it comes to drawing down a battery (at least for me it did)?

_________________

Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

I got 3 battery one for each engine and there one for ship,they all interstate #29

A couple of years ago I upgraded my ship system battery to a Lifeline GPL-31XT. It's has extended our capacity greatly.

We did swap most of our lights to LED as well and I added a switch to shut off our DSM when we anchor out.

I recommend going to a Group 31 battery if you can.

_________________
Jnizi

2007 Vista 338 "Better Yet"
Previously:
2007 Vista 258 " Just Right"
2005 Horizon 230

I Have Intel-Power (model PD 2030) battery charger system on my boat if the will be save for a battery charger to add bigger battery size #31

I'll check which charger I have but it did have the capacity to handle the Group 31 AGM battery.

_________________
Jnizi

2007 Vista 338 "Better Yet"
Previously:
2007 Vista 258 " Just Right"
2005 Horizon 230

Take it for what its worth on the West Marin site. I was looking to replace my charger and wanted to see what I needed and stumbled across this.
"A good rule is to have enough amperage to equal the sum of the DC loads plus 10 percent of the amp-hour capacity of the batteries."
http://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/Selecting-a-Battery-Charger

One thing to note on the new chargers is that some load share. An example is if its a 60 amp total charger with 3 banks. It can send all 60 amps to one battery if the others are fully charged. But I haven't run into a charger that can charge different chemistry batteries at the same time but its not necessary to all be the same size.

_________________
--2002 3880 Regal Flybridge | Twin Merc 8.1HO **Seven**
--2003 AB 13 VST Console Inflatable | Tohatsu 40hp TLDI **Phish'n ski**
--310 Mercury Inflatable | 1982 9.9 Johnson

Just remember that you should not ever use more than 50% of your deep cycle battery's capacity (Depth of Discharge).
If you buy a 220AH battery, base your calculations on only being able to use 110AH.

_________________
2011 Four Winns H180 SS.
Aussie built Mustang 2800.
SOLD - 1997 Four Winns Horizon RS

Curious, what is the harm in running 1 starting battery and 3 house batteries. In an emergency the house batteries could start an engine.

_________________
2004 - 288 Vista
Twin - 5.0 Volvo Penta GXi DP

There should not be any issue with running more than 1 house battery. I have 2 group 31s. Others have used 4 6v golf cart batteries. These would be connected in pairs in series to get 12 volts, and the 2 pairs connected in parallel to double the amperage capacity while keeping the 12 volt configuration. The only issues are having a charger that will deliver enough amps for recharging, and weight or available space. Having a larger house bank gives you the option to run longer on the batteries for stereo, lights, galley, etc. If you have an onboard generator you probably don't need a large battery bank.

_________________
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

The only harm I would see is if the starting battery gets damaged, like a lost cell or something catastrophic, then its hopeless even to jump it. I've had a couple car batteries all of a sudden loose a cell. Very annoying and not at a convenient time.
If you can swap a house battery in its place then your fine but be careful using a true deep cell battery for starting. That is not recommended on newer engines with electronics. A deep cycle battery cannot supply enough amperage to the electronics while starting and could fry the computer(its noted in my VP manual)
But swapping a battery, especially in a crisis, is a pain.

_________________
--2002 3880 Regal Flybridge | Twin Merc 8.1HO **Seven**
--2003 AB 13 VST Console Inflatable | Tohatsu 40hp TLDI **Phish'n ski**
--310 Mercury Inflatable | 1982 9.9 Johnson