GL: Battery-inverter-charger questions

[Ron Rogers]

This subject has been pretty-well covered by the respondents, but I do want 
to disagree on equipment selection and stress the need for perfect 
installation. You need to find an ABYC electrician at a reputable yard: 
Bock; Jarrett Bay; Sailcraft, etc. The wires must be of the correct guage 
and preferably ABYC plus 10%. In addition to getting the wiring right, the 
correct size and type fuses and breakers must be installed.

An experienced cruiser (George Hechtman) recently selected a Magnum 
inverter/charge with remote monitor and generator auto-start. The company 
was formed by the engineers who used to design the Heart Freedom inverters 
before they were bought out by Xantrex, a Canadian conglomerate.Magnum 
provides fantastic technical support while Xantrex can't spell it. Magnum is 
American made and reasonable in price. Xantrex is made in China in batches 
(sometimes you cannot get a warranty replacement and they don't do repairs.)

Get a Magnum sine-wave inverter as you never know what obscure appliance 
will be offended by a modified (clipped) square wave inverter. You will need 
the big charger that comes with a 2500 watt inverter to adequately maintain 
a large housebank of golf cart batteries. BTW, depending upon age, your 
Lewco is probably a good charger if it is a three-stage model. To avoid 
having to refill your lead-acid batteries frequently (a modern charger ought 
not boil off much water) you can buy "Hydrocaps" which capture the gas and 
return it to liquid form using a platinum catalyst. Solar energy companies 
often sell them at a modest discount, but they ain't cheap. Try to buy 
Trojan batteries from one of the many golf cart vendors here in Eastern NC.

Ron Rogers
1985 Willard 40FBS
AIRBORNE
Lying Washington, NC