[Sentoa] Best Battery Type for Thruster and Windlass

[nick lacy]

Good advice on the filler apparatus Joe.   EXCEPT if there is no overhead space above your battery bank, as in almost all 26 NT's.   There is no room for the filler device you describe.   Buy a turkey-baster type thing...a bulb with a tube, and it's easy to fill 'em   Available at auto parts stores..

Nick Lacy
Daisy NT 26079
Seattle---- Original Message ----- 
  From: Joe Hildeth<mailto:jkhildre at pobox.alaska.net> 
  To: South East Nordic Tugs Owners' Association (SENTOA)<mailto:sentoa at lists.samurai.com> 
  Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 12:43 AM
  Subject: Re: [Sentoa] Best Battery Type for Thruster and Windlass


  Use a voltage combiner to seperate your batteries, as the dual-diode isolator has a .6 vdc lvoltage drop and will not allow your batteries to receive a full charge.  These isolators can be obtained from most marine supply houses such as West Marine and are quite simple to install, as well as being very inexpensive. 

   If you are using flooded cell lead acid batteries, go to NAPA auto parts and purchase a battery water filling jug, which has aan offset pouring spout that fits into the cell opening on top of the battery and allowes you to fill each cell to the proper level with a minimal mess of fuss.  Over a short few days of use, these batteries lots of water during the charging process.

  Use good distilled water and do not use any of the quack additaves that are on the market.  You can purchase an electrical grease to coat all your bare electrical connectuins  or Vasoline works just as well and isn;t so messy.  Just a thin fikm betweer connectors will  keep away cooroosin and the blue buikduo yu see ib nost battery connection  By coating these connectors with this thin film of grease it wikk help keeo moisture and other salt compounds frim attacking your electrical connectuiond,
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Ron Matuska<mailto:ramatuska at gmail.com> 
    To: 'South East Nordic Tugs Owners' Association (SENTOA)'<mailto:sentoa at lists.samurai.com> 
    Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 9:29 PM
    Subject: Re: [Sentoa] Best Battery Type for Thruster and Windlass


    Mark, 

    Ideally, you should consider separating out the house bank from the other loads.  Since you won't be drawing from the starter circuit when running power from the house bank, you always have a fully charged starting battery.   Another positive feature when wiring this way is that your electronics and other battery powered devices will not "reboot" when you re-start the engine as when exiting a lock.  Use properly sized deep cycle batteries on the house bank, we use Lifeline AGMs.

     

    You can leave the starter, thruster, and windlass on the same high current circuit, but even better would be to have two separate circuits for the high current loads.  We've had good luck with Optima Group 31 starting batteries for our starter & thruster circuits.  But then we only have a 100hp Yanmar.  You may require higher rated batteries for your starter/thruster circuit(s).

     

    You will also probably need to replace some battery switches and cables, and provide a means to keep all the batteries fully charged ( and monitored for state of charge.)

     

     

    Ron Matuska

    Morton, IL

    Two Far Out NTK26-160

     



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