Does ACR exist to charge start battery bank only if the volts drop below 12.45?

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sdowney717

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I have been thinking as to why charge the start battery bank all the time even on a small charge, it is not needed.
And if the charger has issues, the start bank can be overcharged.
So does an ACR exist that would allow charging like below 12.45 and stop charging when volts are fully charged like around 12.7?

A start bank can sit a long time and the battery is fine unconnected to a charger.
 
dingbat

dingbat

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sdowney717 said:
I have been thinking as to why charge the start battery bank all the time even on a small charge, it is not needed.
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Regulation of the charge source is handled by the voltage regulator. Has nothing to do with the ACR
 
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sdowney717

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I dont want it charging the start battery all the time. I will turn rotary switch to the starter bank to OFF. My car can sit for weeks and always starts fine. All this battery does is start the engine(s). Means when I want to start up, I have to move the switch. The alternator output is directly on the battery, so never gets disconnected by any switches. i am pretty certain the charger over last 2 years dried out the battery and ruined it. It is sealed so you can not check the water. The new battery is not sealed, water can be added.
 
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sdowney717

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The 'charge relay' I want to use does not exist yet. There is absolutely no point to leaving a starter bank on the charger all the time. If your battery drains itself down not being constantly charging, then your battery is bad.
 
jhande

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I think you should do some research regarding lead acid batteries and automotive charging systems. :eek:
 
dingbat

dingbat

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sdowney717 said:
The 'charge relay' I want to use does not exist yet.
Click to expand...
and never will.
What your saying makes no sense given how an automotive/marine charging systems works. See image below

The voltage regulator regulates the voltage coming from the charging system. The ACR simply distributes the charge between the two batteries

The only way you can over charge a battery is for the voltage regulator to malfunction or fail.

In fact, removing the load (battery) from the charging system while in operation (turn switch to off) will damage the alternator/stator

Now if you put an unregulated supply (battery charger, unregulated charging system) on the battery, you will damage the battery.
 
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sdowney717

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dingbat said:
and never will.
What your saying makes no sense given how an automotive/marine charging systems works. See image below

The voltage regulator regulates the voltage coming from the charging system. The ACR simply distributes the charge between the two batteries

The only way you can over charge a battery is for the voltage regulator to malfunction or fail.

In fact, removing the load (battery) from the charging system while in operation (turn switch to off) will damage the alternator/stator

Now if you put an unregulated supply (battery charger, unregulated charging system) on the battery, you will damage the battery.
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Everyone is missing this, I am talking about an AC plugged in charger, not an alternator run off an engine where you might use an ACR.

The AC charger runs all time charging the battery, heats it up and slowly but steadily cooks out the water eventually destroys the battery. There is no need to charge an unused battery all the time like for starting.

For now I am going to turn the rotary switch to off for the start battery, so it will be as if you take off the terminal wire, no more forever charging. AND on mine, the alternator output is direct on the battery, no switch disconnects it.

Last 2 starter batteries over 5 years, my charger wrecked them, IMO. I should get a lot longer life, similar to what all my cars get from their starter batteries. There is no point to having a starter battery constantly plugged into a charger, you dont do that to your car.

I have a house bank and a starter bank of batteries.
This time I bought a start battery I can add water, not anything with welded tops.
 
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Grub54891

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Sounds like you need a smart charger. They moniter each battery sepratley, and only charge/maintain each battery. Them old school chargers don't care what they do to a battery. They will pound out amps and burn up the good battery if the other one is weaker. It is recommended to replace both batteries to match the age.
 
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sdowney717

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jhande said:
Okay, you started talking about ACR and then without telling anyone you jumped ship. DAMN!!!

Go get a battery maintainer, I use one for my motorcycle battery during the winter.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Battery-...-007-17a903a4b480ef&athancid=null&athena=true
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I was attempting to relate an ACR like device to what I wanted to do, because people are familiar with them, but I dont know how many kinds of ACR things exist. I thought maybe some kind of an ACR would exist that could do this. This would be an ACR that would connect below 12.45 or so, and disconnect completely once battery is up to full SOC. My AC charger never quits putting power into the banks.
 
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sdowney717

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Grub54891 said:
Sounds like you need a smart charger. They moniter each battery sepratley, and only charge/maintain each battery. Them old school chargers don't care what they do to a battery. They will pound out amps and burn up the good battery if the other one is weaker. It is recommended to replace both batteries to match the age.
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yes, it is an older charger. For now, I am going to disconnect the starter battery by turning it's rotary switch to off. But I also know I will forget to turn it off after using the boat.
I used to think let the charger just charge all the time, but you dont do that to your car start battery, so why do it to the boat.
 
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sdowney717

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My old Raritan charger is a converter-charger. It has enough power to use 12v devices even if battery is not hooked up. It does have a simple feedback regulation circuit. It is set to about 13.8v, but I have noticed various banks can get more volts, like upto to 14.8. It seems to depend on what battery is on what bank as to what the final voltage output per bank is. It has a large transformer, and a SCR circuit to vary output, and each bank has a diode isolator, so 3 banks. It also shuts down when either engine ignition is turned on
 
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paulswagelock

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You are over complicating this. Spend $120 on an onboard marine smart charger and your problem is solved the better way.
 
JASinIL2006

JASinIL2006

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Cut and paste this into an Amazon search box:

NOCO Genius GEN5X2, 2-Bank, 10-Amp (5-Amp Per Bank) Fully-Automatic Smart Marine Charger, 12V Onboard Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer And Battery Desulfator With Temperature Compensation

$129 for a two bank charger. A one bank charger is less.
 
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sdowney717

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JASinIL2006 said:
Cut and paste this into an Amazon search box:

NOCO Genius GEN5X2, 2-Bank, 10-Amp (5-Amp Per Bank) Fully-Automatic Smart Marine Charger, 12V Onboard Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer And Battery Desulfator With Temperature Compensation

$129 for a two bank charger. A one bank charger is less.
Click to expand...
I looked into those, the comments were the charger shuts down, so cant be used as a power supply, anyhow some people did not like what they did.
I may get a Victron IP22 20 amp 3 bank charger for under $200. Can be used as a power supply.
I am going to wait and think about these chargers.
 
JASinIL2006

JASinIL2006

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sdowney717 said:
I looked into those, the comments were the charger shuts down, so cant be used as a power supply, anyhow some people did not like what they did.
I may get a Victron IP22 20 amp 3 bank charger for under $200. Can be used as a power supply.
I am going to wait and think about these chargers.
Click to expand...
What are you talking about? Only 19 people out of 740 on Amazon rated it below 4 stars. That means 97.4% of the people who rated it gave it four stars or above. The average is 4.8 out of 5. It doesn’t get much better than that…

And what is the big deal about using it for a power supply? I thought you were trying to maintain your batteries and stop cooking them into oblivion?
 
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paulswagelock

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Grub54891

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If it's wired correctly. turning off the battery switch will not prevent the charger from charging the batteries. Not supposed to be set up that way. And the bilge pump should go directly to the batteries also.
 
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sdowney717

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I decided to get a new smart charger, I bought the Victron IP22 30 amp 3 bank charger. It does 4 stages, the last one they call storage is at 13.2v
I think this will help prevent the new batteries from failing as quick as all the others fail.

Amazon.com: Victron Energy Blue Smart IP22 12-Volt 30 amp 120V, 3 Output Battery Charger NEMA 5-15, Bluetooth : Automotive

Buy Victron Energy Blue Smart IP22 12-Volt 30 amp 120V, 3 Output Battery Charger NEMA 5-15, Bluetooth: Battery Chargers - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
For $200, it is a lot less than some of those other ones.
 
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