Wiring a Blue Seas ACR

[John Jones]

Charging both at the same time can be a bad thing as mentioned above.  A battery that shorted internally can kill your alternator and the other battery.  An RV parked in a KOA campground ain't the same as being 30 miles offshore and the motor will not start.

My onboard chargers are waterproof.  If I were to consider using that thing I would pot it with epoxy first.

[pete]

Herea a link I found for a blue sea acr $65,definately considering for next season.easy install
http://www.marine-electronics-unlimited ... k+ACR.html

[RickK]

Herea a link I found for a blue sea acr $65,definately considering for next season.easy install
http://www.marine-electronics-unlimited ... k+ACR.html

That's a great price - thanks for the lead.  That's only part of the puzzle though but a good start.

[warthog5]

Those pix's are from Pete's son Adam's boat.

[John Jones]

Wow, they have some good prices Pete.  Thanks!

[RickK]

Here's a question for you:
How would a battery charger affect or be affected by the ACR?  
The obvious charger to buy if you have mutiple batteries would be multi-bank and hook to the individual batteries.  The charger is designed to distribute current to the batteries in need up to a max of it's current capability.  Some also have maintenance mode so you can leave them on for extended periods of time (don't forget to check the water levels periodically!!).
With the ACR closing when it senses charging, will it undo or hurt the charger's distribution?
Would you not use a multi-bank charger and let the ACR distribute/control?
Even with individual on/off switches to open circuitry, the ACR bypasses all that when it closes.  So I'm confused.

[John Jones]

I see what you are saying.  I assume it would parallel the two batteries when the multi-bank charger is activated.  That might be a good question for Blue Sea tech support.  I don't think it will hurt the charger but it puts you back to charging in parallel.

I know how I would get around that but it would not be for just anyone to wire up.  The ACR can be connected to an OFF-AUTO-ON manual switch to override it's normal operation.  I would use a relay instead of a switch (again, I don't want too many things on my "have to remember" list).  Wire the relay where it forces the ACR to OFF when the ignition switch is OFF and where the ACR is in AUTO when the ignition switch is ON.  All it requires is having terminal #2 on the ACR grounded to force the ACR OFF and no connection to put the ACR in AUTO.

https://resources.myeporia.com/company_57/6330.pdf

Again, this is just me  


Blue Sea sells a ready made manual switch for this.
http://www.bluesea.com/product.asp?Prod ... d=&l1=&l2=

[RickK]

I'm starting to think that with this ACR you don't need a dual bank charger (quote from the spec sheet you posted)

The CL-Series BatteryLink™ ACR connected into your boat’s electrical system provides automatic control for charging dual battery banks.

I'm thinking you use a heavy duty single bank charger and insert it into the system after the engine switch.
JJ - for you, that already has a dual or 3 bank charger, using the relay you've described should do the trick to take the ACR out of the pic.
Anyway, I took your advice and sent the questions to them (and also a link to this thread).
I'm thinking of using this switch panel of theirs to save space - now I need to find a box to mount it to (may be the undoing of my space saving crusade   ). http://www.marine-electronics-unlimited.com/Blue+Sea+8080+2+Bank+Battery+Switch+Panel.html
Which, BTW, the 8080 looks different on the BlueSeas website, specs are different too - in fact I can't find the fancy looking one on their site.
http://www.bluesea.com/product.asp?Product_Id=24005&d_Id=6618&l1=7958&l2=6607#
This sheet, https://resources.myeporia.com/company_57/9862.pdf,
page 2 provides a good calc for wire size.

[John Jones]

I guess it all boils down to what one wants the system to do and what you think is reliable.

My priorities are:
1-back up on the water
2-no problems at the boat ramp at 4:30AM when launching the boat.
3-not having to remember to switch switches around depending on whether it's on the water or on the trailer.  
4-Lead acid batteries need to be fully charged all of the time for longevity.

#1-backup is done with the auxillary battery that I can switch to crank or house service.  All three batteries should be fully charged when I leave out because of the onboard charger.  Mine stays plugged in 24/7.  Yes, there is always chance of a battery failure but that's life.

#2-reliability should be covered because the onboard charger is on 24/7.  Again, a battery can fail but the trip isn't cancelled because I have a backup battery that can be switched to house or crank service.  Not parallel charging the batteries keeps a failed battery from dragging the others down.

#3-old age CRS-I don't want to have to remember to turn off the charger after a day of charging or to put the charger on the day before a trip.  Plus I make a lot of last minute trips with no preparation.  The way mine is set up all that I have to remember is to plug in the onboard 3-bank charger after a trip.  I should turn off all battery switches in case I leave a light on or something but I don't absolutely have to because the onboard charger will still have the batteries topped off unless I were to leave a hell of a lot turned on.  The ACR is nice to have but has not been a priority because I can parallel my batteries when running by using my battery switches.

Personally I do not like to rely on parallel charging.  My ONLY reason for even considering adding the ACR to mine would be to extend the length of a fishing trip by automatically charging the "house" battery between spots.  Depending on the ACR to have both batteries charged when you are ready to go fishing will bite you sooner or later when one battery fails and drags the other one down with it.

#4-longevity- A smart onboard charger takes care of this.  Just check the water a couple of times a year which needs to be done with any charging method.


Again, all this is my personal thing that makes me happy.  I cannot count the number of trips delayed or cancelled over the years due to batteries, my boats and other peoples boats.  Many times we have run back to the parking lot and robbed the truck battery to have a boat battery.  The live well dies halfway through the day because the battery wasn't fully charged as well as many other issues.  Almost all of these issues were caused by not maintaining a full charge on the batteries, forgetting to plug the charger in, and other crap like corroded terminals.  Very few times was it caused by a battery that had just failed.  My setup has been thought out quite a bit over the years and it has been the best solution that I have been able to come up with for ME.

Your way will work fine.  I just like my way better.  

[RickK]

I guess it all boils down to what one wants the system to do and what you think is reliable.

If I'm going to go through this to make sure everything is fine anyway, I figure I could at least try to do it somewhat right.  And I'm learning as I go.  Right now, there is no switch on the acc buss wire and having a "1 or 2 or 1+2" switch doesn't allow much flexibility without adding at least one more switch.  Either you have the starting motor on but no electronics or electronics but no.... you get the idea and understand why there was no switch on the ACC buss.

#3-old age CRS-I don't want to have to remember to turn off the charger after a day of charging or to put the charger on the day before a trip.

I drove off one day and forgot to unplug the on-board charger . Luckily I caught it before I got a few feet.  I could just see the looks going down the road dragging an extension cord.

[JimCt]

Used to be "dry-charge" batteries available.  Just add the electrolite and you had a fully charged battery.  Good for emergencies since shelf-life was infinite.  Don't know if these are still available.

[RickK]

Used to be "dry-charge" batteries available.  Just add the electrolite and you had a fully charged battery.  Good for emergencies since shelf-life was infinite.  Don't know if these are still available.

I remember those and I think the wet cell, regular everyday batteries are still like that, except someone has added the acid for you before you buy them. (date stamp)

[JimCt]

Got myself out of a jam with a dry-charge when I was working on a 53' ketch years ago down in the Grenadines.  When we picked up the boat after being away for a few weeks the cranking batteries for the 4-53 were too far down and the battery for the 6kw Onan genset was dead.  The dry charge got the Onan running and from there we could charge the 4-53 bank.  Inside of 4 hours we were back in commission.  Soon as we were back in the states I put another dry-charge in inventory.

[John Jones]

I drove off one day and forgot to unplug the on-board charger  . Luckily I caught it before I got a few feet. I could just see the looks going down the road dragging an extension cord.

I did that once.  Now I make sure to lay the cord where it will pull out easily and not damage anything.  Have to keep the CRS covered.

[JimCt]

Dragging the extension cord can't be as embarrassing as the woman I saw a year or so ago driving along with the gas station fuel nozzle and hose still in her filler.