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My boat has a bank of 8 house batteries (110-amp Victron Deep Cycle Gels), wired in series for 24 V, i.e. 4 sets of 2 batteries each.
I have a 24V 60W alternator on the main engine, which puts out about 28.5V 30A constant at cruising speed.
Question: can I use the alternator to charge my house battery bank when cruising, without danger of damaging the batteries? I'll be cruising for a month, as much as 8 hours a day.
Thanks in advance,
-David
I am assuming you are also wanting to charge the boat battery and the house bank. You need to look at a split charging system, so that the house bank connects and disconnects as needed to prevent overcharging. And since they are deep cycle batteries will need the charge stages managed.
Also you do not want your starter battery to be drained by the house set. The Cyrix Battery Combiner may work.
https://www.victronenergy.com/battery-isolators-and-combiners/cyrix-battery-combiners
Here are some examples if you scroll down lower on the pages your see some system examples.
https://www.victronenergy.com/markets/marine/large-yacht#generation
https://www.victronenergy.com/markets/marine/sailing-yacht#complete-system
Another option is the Argo or the Argo FET maybe?
https://www.victronenergy.com/battery-isolators-and-combiners/argo-diode-battery-isolators
I am not familiar with these so you would need to work out which one suits your needs.
https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Book-Energy-Unlimited-EN.pdf
Section 5 - Page 31 explains about alternator charging of batteries.
I am not knowledgeable of alternator electronics & wiring. But I am trying to use the new Victron Battery Protector that is a transistor relay. They have two series of these at various current limits, one a Smart enabled which feeds off the dongle BMV and one set not. Obviously the Smart BP-65A series is more expensive. I purchased the cheaper BP-65 device and researched how to wire and operate it. It comes with about 10 preset voltage ranges you can select via programming for both over voltage and under. I was interested in under voltage protection to help me get extra longevity or life from my deep cell battery investment. I wanted to consider cutting off my loads when the batteries capacity fell to 70% of its charge. The BP-65 "none smart" choices were an unusual set starting. The highest voltage you can select for protection is 12V which is 50% SOC. I wanted to be able to have it trip at 60 or 70% to significantly increase to batteries life. I then discovered they had the Smart version that allowed me to create my own voltage set point. I had to return the first order and order the 65A model. My smart MTTP controller has a relay function where I think I could accomplish the same thing but the instructions are too skimpy for my level of electronic knowledge.
I have a complaint. Victron products are about the most expensive out there. Info about the products is scattered all over in multiple pieces of their written materials and a few videos. It's taken me ages to trip across all these sources and get what info I need. For basic systems this engineering-oriented company expects most of us are either controls techs or EE's.
