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Re: House battery not charging when engine is running.

Posted: October 1st, 2017, 10:31 am
by Scott
I just wanted to quickly point out that the draw of your starter will vary with temperature, possibly by "quite a bit." A hot start (hot engine, heat-soaked starter, hot wires) versus a cold start are different both in terms of the amount of torque required to turn it over, and the efficiency of the starter motor. If either of you guys gets a clamp to confirm draw, it would be interesting to note the difference.

Re: House battery not charging when engine is running.

Posted: October 1st, 2017, 10:34 am
by reddingnative
Scott-

Is there a device to measure that a various temps?

Re: House battery not charging when engine is running.

Posted: October 1st, 2017, 12:39 pm
by Scott
Do a quick search for "amp clamp" and you can probably find something off-brand for under $100. At work we used the Fluke units, but the good ones are pretty expensive. For personal use, I just have a standard DVM without an amp clamp; it's all I've ever needed, really. Everything I want to know in my Chinook current-wise is on a shunt anyway.

Re: House battery not charging when engine is running.

Posted: October 1st, 2017, 5:16 pm
by reddingnative
Shunt?

Re: House battery not charging when engine is running.

Posted: October 1st, 2017, 6:56 pm
by Blue~Go
A shunt is typically used along with a coulomb (amp) type counter to give some insight into the state of charge (SOC) of a battery bank, plus it shows you what is going in or coming out of the battery (in amps) at any given moment. In order for these to be able to "count," there is a hunk of metal called a shunt that goes in the negative line. (You would typically do this on a house bank.) So, every negative cable that would normally go to the negative terminal of the house bank goes to the shunt instead (or, better, to a buss bar and then one wire from there to the shunt to avoid clutter). Then ONE negative wire goes from the other side of the shunt to the negative house bank post.

One example (which I have) is the Victron BMV 700. There are other similar ones as well, and I've had a couple of different brands in the past (not on the Chinook). I like the Victron for a few reasons, but I won't clutter this up with them since you only asked a simple question :D. They are not totally foolproof for knowing battery SOC for a few reasons, but they are VASTLY better than going on just voltage readings (especially difficult to use if your batteries don't spend long periods of time in the resting state (no charging; no loads).

Another good way to keep track of SOC (I'd say better for just pure SOC, but not as useful for the other things) is a Balmar SmartGauge. (Although they can't be used on Lithium banks.) I have both and find both useful, but if I could only have one.... hmm, well I'd like the shunt type for a couple of weeks to see how much this and that draws, and then I'd take the SmartGauge for the long haul (while I have lead-acid batteries anyway).

Re: House battery not charging when engine is running.

Posted: October 5th, 2017, 9:19 am
by reddingnative
BG-

Checked out both of those, like the BMV 700 with the bluetooth option. Thanks for the info.

Re: House battery not charging when engine is running.

Posted: October 5th, 2017, 9:25 am
by reddingnative
Scott wrote:Do a quick search for "amp clamp" and you can probably find something off-brand for under $100. At work we used the Fluke units, but the good ones are pretty expensive. For personal use, I just have a standard DVM without an amp clamp; it's all I've ever needed, really. Everything I want to know in my Chinook current-wise is on a shunt anyway.

Scott-

Thanks, I've got a lot to learn here. Very interesting.

Re: House battery not charging when engine is running.

Posted: October 5th, 2017, 6:50 pm
by Blue~Go
For an amp counter type meter, I don't think you can go wrong with the Victron. Granted, there are other ones that can also count amps, but there are a few things particular to the Victron I like. One is that previous (other brand) meters I've hooked up involved many tiny fiddly wires. The Victron uses a snap in "phone cord" type connection for those. Ahhh. Sounds minor but is so darned nice. They also have a very forward looking tech department and answer queries promptly (even though they are in The Netherlands, they speak good English and answer e-mail very quickly).

And now a few links you may find helpful. (By now you probably think I earn money from this fellow's website, but I don't (actually I spend money there!). But he's a fellow boater who is very good at what he does and at sharing the information.)

Anyway, these are a couple of good photo-articles to read to get a handle on what this type of meter can and cannot do, and also how to set it up so you get the best info. (He also has a page on the Smart Gauge in case you are interested in reading about it).

Installing (this is the model pre-Bluetooth, but still applicable otherwise):

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/battery_monitor

Keeping it accurate:

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/prog ... ry_monitor

And, just for the record, the Smart Gauge page:

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/smart_gauge

******

While I'm tooting his horn, and on another topic altogether, he has specified and sourced the "real" good old fashioned butyl and sells it by the roll. I had some from out boatyard old stock (must have been over ten years old and this was ten years ago) and it was the real deal. Would stretch a mile, just as good ten years later as day one. Then that ran out (and this fellow wasn't selling it yet) and I bought some from a normally excellent specialty trailer place. Um no. Very little elasticity and the windows I bedded with it (not on the Chinook) leaked almost instantly. Boo!

Then Bed-It became available from this fellow's shop (he contracts with a company to make it to his specs) and.... yes!!! It's JUST like the good old stuff. If he ever stops sourcing/selling it I'm going to have to give up boats and RV's :o

Re: House battery not charging when engine is running.

Posted: October 6th, 2017, 10:44 am
by reddingnative
BG-
Thanks for that info, I’ve got some other issues to deal with, but I like what you and others have posted.

I don’t know about the butyl stuff your talking about. Should I acquire some?

On another note, can to point me to a thread regarding LED upgrades. This Chinook is loaded with 12v flouresent tube fixtures and need advice on color temp., fixtures and what not.

Thanks again for all the intel-

Re: House battery not charging when engine is running.

Posted: October 8th, 2017, 12:25 am
by kdarling
reddingnative wrote:On another note, can to point me to a thread regarding LED upgrades. This Chinook is loaded with 12v flouresent tube fixtures and need advice on color temp., fixtures and what not.
Most people want the "warm white" color. Not knowing which one at first, I bought both warm and cool white. The cool is too blue for normal lighting, so I used it inside the cabinets. You can also mix them to get a more flourescent like color.

Also get strip-to-strip connectors. You can use them to connect two strips on either side of the old flourescent tube fixtures, and you can cut them in the middle to create two strip-to-switch connections.
image.jpeg
Basically, you just turn off the flourescent light, remove the lens and the inside metal cover, cut the power and ground coming in from the switch and ceiling (honestly you could remove all the flourescent parts... no one goes back to them), and wire in one, two or more LED strips that you scissor cut from your peel & stick LED roll.

Personally I like to also wire in remote control switches / dimmers as well. Only a couple of dollars from China!

Couple of threads on lights:

Replacing flourescents:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=352

Adding multiple remote control wall switches:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=756