2002 Sundancer 340 Batteries and Charging system.

[Motoguy2158]

I just purchased this boat in time to take a couple rides and then pull it for the winter. I'm the second owner of this boat and assuming the boat is wired as it was from the factory does the on board charger charge all the batteries. The PO replaced the generator with a Westerbeke 5.0 KW. My set up is as follows...
I have (2) batteries on the Starboard side in front of the Gen. I can see that one battery goes to the generator for starting, the other is the starboard engine starting battery.
Behind the motors and in middle are (2) other batteries, hooked together in parallel that go to the port motor and I'm assuming the house battery as it goes to the panel in the engine compartment. I have the Sea Ray owners book and wiring diagrams and it's not clear how this works. The broker said the emergency start will tie the port and starboard batteries together in the event one dies. All (4) batteries are the same size (Group 24MS @575MCA)..
So on my limited time on the boat I could see the charger was keeping the port and starboard battery charged, based on the gauges on the cabin control panel. Just wondering if the Generator battery is typically on this circuit or not....
Second part....So I plan to do some extended cruising and spend some time on the hook. I have the generator but the house battery seems pretty small. Since the House and Port motor share a common system would i need to upgrade both batteries if I wanted longer drain times? I plan to do some checking at the marina in a few weeks to see if i can figure it out. I'm wondering how its suppose to be!
Thanks....

 

[Stee6043]

Typically your battery charger is also charging your generator battery. Though it can be hard to know what prior owners did/undid when they replaced items.

Your house batteries are all that really matter for "extended cruising". Group 24 is small for a boat this size. I thought 27's were the minimum and 31's are "quite popular", especially with folks staying out on the hook frequently.

Two group 27's is more than enough for a couple nights without your generator (in my experience). More than that and you may need other plans. But I generally like to shower with hot water on the hook so my generator is going to run daily no matter what. I'd rather just run the gen for an hour and save the money on batteries for more beer budget...

 

[Motoguy2158]

Thanks.....I was thinking similar thoughts... I'm thinking that at some point I will upgrade the the two batteries used as house and port starter to a larger group deep cycle or dual purpose battery. I did blow up the DC electrical diagram in my Sea Ray manual and it confirms that the generator battery is charged by the converter as well as the other batteries. The generator battery does not appear to be hooked to the engine alternators so its not charged while the boat is running like the starter batteries. May be by design to keep it from being drained if a problem with the charging system happened. I agree that i would run the generator daily for hot water for showers and what ever else.
Its so quiet its hard to tell its running either above deck or in the cabin... Come on spring.

 

[CJM]

I have a similar setup and I replaced my charger last year. The charger has 3 output connections, 1 for both port batteries (house), 1 for the starboard engine battery, and 1 for the generator battery.

 

[Motoguy2158]

I have a similar setup and I replaced my charger last year. The charger has 3 output connections, 1 for both port batteries (house), 1 for the starboard engine battery, and 1 for the generator battery.

Thanks for the feed back....Getting a better understanding of how this works from others and studying the electrical diagrams.

 

[CJM]

Also, the generator should charge it's own battery while running (without the charger being turned on).

 

[suss1173]

For what it’s worth- The Home Depot’s here on Long a Island have Excide group 27 (deep cycle) batteris for $75.

I’ve never purchased batteries from HD b/f, but figure Excide is a reputable brand, and they were Marine/ RV deep cycle batteries and with a shot for $75 each.

 

[MonacoMike]

If you have Sams they have a great price on the AGM batteries group 31 for $149.

http://clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/group31s-149-at-sams.90376/#post-1025318

MM

 

[Motoguy2158]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm making my list for spring and will check out both Sams and HD as we shop at both.

 

[beaniemanman]

Has anyone replaced with Lithium batteries? Pros? Cons?