Recap and review - Calypso electrical upgrades

[mark....@gmail.com]

I'm sitting in an airport waiting for a flight with time on my hands, seeing as I have gotten so much from this group, thought I would attempt to give back and share my experiences to date with the electrical changes I made last winter.

2008 - we couldn't last on the batteries, no matter what my 3 x 105Ah batteries would not give me the service we expected. Note there were 2 hidden issues which I discovered and are noted below.

Over the winter I rebuilt the supply side of the system :

- 440Ah Lifeline AGM deep cycle bank.
- New 50 amp Charles 3 stage 110v charger
- New 6AWG cables from charger to house bank
- Rewired alternator to charge the house bank (again through new 6AWG)
- charge flooded gp31 starting battery via Balmar duo charge from house
- charge Lifeline AGM Bow thruster battery via Balmar duo charge from house
- Install Xantrex Link pro to monitor house
- Honda EU2000i generator for charging at anchorage without running auxilliary
- had faulty OEM alternator rebuilt (rectifier?, diodes ...y

Have now used the boat 8-10 weekends and 2 separate full weeks of cruising. Here are my observations :

- alternator must have not been charging last year, I must have been charging on shore power only

- my estimates on current dray (90-110 a day) are reasonable, refrigeration/freeze (24/7) is the biggest draw easily taking 70 amps a day, more if it's hot or we open frequently or the box isn't full

- link pro gives me a very good view (I know it's not exact) of amps in, amps out amps used and amps remaining. Its a valuable tool. I have been noting state in log along with position etc, also making periodic notes in the log whilst at anchor.

- both the rebuilt alternator and the 110v charger will initially put 45A into a depleted bank, but this drops off to the mid twenties and then the teens. This confirms what this group advises on acceptance rate. When the charge rate drops below 14A I stop charging unless I am heating water or motoring.

- getting back to 100% is very difficult without prolonged running of generator or motor sailing, however high 80's is very feasible. We get back to 100% at the dock, usually within 12 hours.

- the lowest we dropped after a 44hr period on a mooring without charging was 68% this was with fridge / freezer running 24/7 and OEM halogen lights, stereo, etc freely used. If we were buring lights until midnight I would have marinebeam led's in there, but we are not, we are usually using less than 90 minutes of cabin lights a night

- when the battery charger is pumping out anything over 25A I cannot run the water heater and the battery charger on the generator (it trips the overload protection)

- swim platform is fine for the generator, I have it securely tied off to the stern rail in case of an errant boat rocking from a passing wave. With the unit at a slight angle I can direct the exhaust over the edge of the swim platform and either down to the water or round the side of the boat dependoing on wind. None of the detectors on the boat go off (we have 2).

- the generator does need 20 minutes to cool down before I feel comfortable putting it back in the lazarette. Also it has started first time, every time and is a one handed lift, even with a full tank.

- ECO mode on the generator keeps both the noise and the fuel consumption down (noise is high when water heater is on)

- I discovered a loose ground connection on the 100A ground fuse, it was getting really hot - I am sure this was causing some capacity loss as electrical energy was converted to heat (isn't this boyles law or something?)

- the duo charges work really well - "set it and forget it"

- a faulty alternator regulator will flatten a starting battery in less than 24 hours (this was before I finished that part of the work. It will also get very hot

Of this, I would rate the Link pro and the EU2000i as the highly recommends. The duo charges and the lifelines seem high quality but its probably too early to say.

Future improvements ?

- External regulator on the alternator or maybe a balmar 75A. So far, touch wood, that's it !

For now :)

Bottom line -I am very happy
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[bau...@comcast.net]

Mark,any Idea ofthe cost to get to this point ????

 

Bill

Subject: {Beneteau Owners} Recap and review - Calypso electrical upgrades

[mark....@gmail.com]

Cmon you know better than to track the cost of boat toys :)

-'ll tally it later for you, but don't tell the wife :)

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---

From: bau...@comcast.net
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:07:59 +0000 (UTC)
To: <Benetea...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: {Beneteau Owners} Re: Recap and review - Calypso electrical upgrades

[Bill Jarvis]

Mark,

Given what you have done and the performance you are now getting I would
recommend putting on the external regulator with your existing alternator.
It may require some minor modification to give you direct access to the
field but that should be a simple inexpensive modification. Any alternator
shop can do it, I have done it myself. You will see that the higher aoutput
of say 45A continues much longer before dropping off and hence your charging
time, while motoring, will be significantly reduced.

With a high output alternator you will need the external regulator anyhow so
this is not a wasted expense. You may find that you don't need the High
Output alternator and so save $400 or $500. The modification should be
around $50.

Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: Benetea...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:Benetea...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of mark....@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 7:39 PM
To: Beneteau Owners
Subject: {Beneteau Owners} Recap and review - Calypso electrical upgrades

[mark....@gmail.com]

That's on the list for this winter (when I can pull the alternator for the required period of time along with :

New wheel cover (bought, not installed)
Complete fresh water tank cleaning
Partial bottom strip
Adding finger pulls to some of the salon floor where I store stuff
Adding 12v outlets in cabins for charging phones
Adding 12v fans
Possibly adding sink insulation
Possibly replacing cockpit monochrome unit with color
Possibly replacing some thru hulls
Touch up engine paint

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-----Original Message-----
From: "Bill Jarvis" <bjar...@suddenlink.net>

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:53:53
To: <Benetea...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: {Beneteau Owners} Re: Recap and review - Calypso electrical upgrades

[mark....@gmail.com]

From memory :

Slightly over $3,000 total including the pieces associated with wiring and charging the bow thruster and the repair of the alternator - not including my labor which we all know is free. I would hope I have increased usability, reduced future maintenance and possibly increased resale value (though I am not planning to sell :) ).

Lifeline AGM's for house bank         a little over $1,000 I think for the 4 GPL-4CT's                A different brand AGM could save you $200 to $300

Lifeline AGM for Bow thruster - around $300 ?

Cables, wire, bus bars, terminal connectors, battery terminal covers etc        $200 - $300                
Note I do have good usable lengths of cable left over as I bought in quantities of 25/50/100ft where I did not buy custom length assembled cables

Aluminum bar and ratchet straps to hold batteries down $20 (Home Depot)

Charles shore power charger                $300

Link Pro                        $250 ish

Duo Charges                        $275 each (I think) - Note one of these I attribute to the bow thruster project, not the overhaul)

EU2000i                  $875  - we managed to take advantage of an ebay or paypal 10% deal to get a good price on this

alternator repair                        $135 - I would class this as a repair


If anyone needs supplier names I can provide on or off list

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

From: bau...@comcast.net
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:07:59 +0000 (UTC)

To: <Benetea...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: {Beneteau Owners} Re: Recap and review - Calypso electrical upgrades

[Max Lynn]

I agree with Bill. As long as you are using the gen set the way you are, a
high output alternator would be overkill. But a smart regulator is good
protection for those expensive batteries.

A really good source for details about all kinds of alternators is a book
titled "12 volt doctors alternator book". It will probably give you enough
info to enable you to bypass/remove the internal regulator when you install
a smart regulator. Google is your friend.

Max Lynn

----- Original Message -----
From: <mark....@gmail.com>
To: "Beneteau Owners" <Benetea...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 4:38 PM
Subject: {Beneteau Owners} Recap and review - Calypso electrical upgrades

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[bau...@comcast.net]

Thanks.

 

Bill

----- Original Message -----
From: "mark wilme" <mark....@gmail.com>
To: "Beneteau Owners" <Benetea...@googlegroups.com>

[Barac, Dan CAR]

Mark,

 

You've done pretty much what I did last year, even the same Honda generator. I did install a Balmar 80A alternator and MaxCharge 612 regulator though, with temperature sensors for the batteries and the alternator. Like you, I've been very happy with the setup so far, touch wood. I remember on one outing, immediately after I had installed the gear, I discharged about 160 Ah from the battery bank. Moving on, there was no wind so we had to motor for a few hours. Being used to the old OEM alternator at the time, I was amazed to see the batteries brought back to almost full charge in that time frame.

 

I went on to install 290W of solar panels and a wind generator. The best thing I ever did! The Honda now sees the light of day only when I want to heat the water or run wife's kitchen gadgets, which is not very often at all. Cheap and quiet, after the pain of the initial outlay has been forgotten. Two 80W panels were installed on a custom made stern arch, which I also use for the wind gen, radar, gps, lights, hf dsc antenna and dinghy davits. The larger 130W panel was installed on the deck under the boom. When at anchor I move the boom so it does not shade the panel. When sailing, I get what I get, depending on the boom position. There is a certain satisfaction in seeing your whole boat run from renewable energy sources, at least there is for me. I would thoroughly recommend going that way, instead of relying on noisy, smelly and expensive internal combustion engines of any description to make power. If you have to move the boat and run the auxiliary - fine, why not use it to make as much power as you can in the given amount of time. But once settled down in a nice spot, I like to keep it quiet. One does not really see the full benefit of this on short trips, but it does make a world of difference on a long haul, say one week and longer. It is also nice to be able to make power under way, when the engine is off, to run the toys we had to have. There are many opinions on this issue. I've heard from other Beneteau owners saying that I've destroyed the good looks of the boat by installing all the gear, others who just race their boats look at me in disbelief. I've also heard the argument about how many litres of diesel I could have bought for the price of the arch, panels, wind gen, installation, etc. Many, I guess, but it's also nice to think that we can do something for this world, unlike those on the dark side. :-)

 

Good luck with your upgrades,

 

Dan

'Babar' '94 OC440