2 questions;
I have a boat with a house bank of batteries, and I wish to feed 12v from there to my new 24v bank of batteries in the bow for a newly installed bow thruster.
I already have a set of heavy cables (4/0) running about 25ft from the house bank up to my 12v windlass (very tip of the bow). I want to install this dc-dc charger in the bow next to my thruster batteries and thruster on a nice new wood panel with all the electrical stuff mounted on it. Ideally I would like to cut into those 4/0 cables, about 75% of the way to the bow, add some battery "posts" and then carry those on to the windlass. This way I could connect my 12v side of my orion charger to those posts, and feed my 24v bank. Otherwise I will need to run two more sets of #6 wire (+ and -) or larger another 25ft from the alternator or house bank.
1) Does the dc-dc charger HAVE to be connected to my alternator to sense it, or can I simply connect it to my 12v bank via the existing 4/0 cables (I am thinking it would sense the voltage rise when the alternator starts charging my house bank and turn on?)
2) It states that I need to run #6- but when this is only 10A @ 24v. max fuse is like 25A, so I am thinking I can just run #10 on both the 12 and 24v side of this converter and that should be adequate- assuming I don't have that long run to my house bank- just 2-3ft from the converter to the battery posts. Thoughts?
Thanks, Ty.