Carver Owners Forum

OK tell me what is wrong with my plan?

I want to add power to my 326 aft simply for a little extra longevity on the hook to run lights in the evening, perhaps and couple hours of tv in the evening and make a cup of coffee in the am. My boat is located at Bayport in Midland and I have had two quotes to do this professionally 1 quote was to add 4 - 6V's with inverter, new charger etc and the installed quote was just shy of $10K. So I then had them quote the above with 4-6V's with separate charger etc and it was $5K. Way too much in my opinion. The quote included isolating the 2 - 12v's as starters only as well which currently these double as starters and house. Boat has a separate starter battery for the Genny so I am fine there.

My plan is to add 2 - 12V's to the existing ones so I will have 2 on each side to double as starters and house and I plan to add 1 - 6V under the counter in the kitchen and run an eliminator 2000W inverter simply for power to the TV and coffer maker when needed which will also be located there. Would have a separate smart charger to charge the 6V when plugged into shore power or running the Genny.

I know this is a little bush league but based on the quotes i have received this do it yourself plan is far more economical and 1 that I can tackle.

Other than the obvious that I should have separate house/starters any potential problems???

Thanks in advance

Wow those quote s are ridiculous. If youll change all your 12v lights to led youll save a ton of power from your house bank .For one thing you need to keep everything at 12v. So the 6v batteries will be wired in series to make 12v. If you use 4 they will be in series and parrallel. So can't do the 1 6v under the sink thing you mentioned. You could do 2. I run inverters in my boats and have so for along time although I have set mine up for more of a draw than you mentioned. Do you have a genset ? the cup of coffee you could start gen in am and charge house/ inverter battery while making coffee And just use inverter for tv etc. If not then ok with inverter just asking .If you are only doing what your saying about a couple hours tv and coffee. then you could just set up a standalone system with charger and leave your start batteries etc alone. 6v trojan T105 is very good battery around $130 a piece . How many days between charging is this just for a weekend? You could just up size your housebank with 6v's also. 12v can be used but youll find good 6v batteries will do better over time. Have to know which is house bank and start. I dont know your boat but is your house just one of your 12v start batteries or does 1 12v act as start for both engines and the other as house? Diy is very doable especially for that kind of quotes and pretty straight forward. You can make it as easy or complex as you want

What you want to do should be no problem if you take the time to research your plan and follow the basic rules for boat 12 volt systems. Attention to the correct wire gages for the intended amp draw etc.

Some thought needs to be given as to where you put batteries, as they need to be safely charged, and off gas during these events, so ventilation is key.
Was this quote from their people or an outside guy if you don't mind me asking ?

Marty- I’m in the process of going through the same process on my ‘new to me’Carver as well. I had a Magnum 2800 inverter/charger connected to (4) Trojan 105’s that gave me 450Ah and found that to be plenty. You may want to consider the inverter/charger option as they generally have the capability to do high amp charging meaning less genny time time to get the house charged up and then leave your existing smart charger for your starting batteries.

Some additional considerations are battery placement as the DC cabling can get expensive, especially connected to big battery banks. Ensure you have plenty of ventilation for your inverter

Marty, if you just want some lights and tv, one group 31 deep cycle battery will power that for many hours if you have led lights and an led tv. I have a 500 watt inverter for my tv's and can run them and the fridge all night and still start the engines on the same battery. As mentioned, you could fire up the generator for the coffee or microwave (breakfast) and to recharge as needed (that's what I do). I upgraded my charger from 30 to 50 amp to help charge a bit faster. We don't anchor for multiple days, just weekends when its not to hot. As we have the other battery and the generator battery, I am not really worried about running one down.

I have been down this road many a times, bottom line for me is larger bank, no large inverter. I found out through experience that any large load from the inverter seriously draws down a bank in no time which unfortunately takes 10x the time to put back in. Anything using resistive heat should not be used such as hair dryer, stove, heater. I have heard countless times the main reason for the inverter was to make a cup of coffee at 6am while at an anchorage so as not to disturb others still sleeping and/or other boats near by. Expensive cup of coffee if you ask me. Get a butane stove and do it the old fashion way.

That being said dual 6v or better yet quadruple 6v is without question the best bank for the buck. Breakfast lunch and supper you run the genny for the short period it takes to make coffee, boil water, cook a meal, cool things down a bit while at the same time adding a bit of juice back as opposed to drawing the bank severely down running an inverter.

Inverters are great but small ones are the most beneficial in our applications IMHO. Get a pure sine wave not modified sine wave as some electronics won't work, have even seen coffee machines not function due to the digital part on them not liking the modified wave! I use a single 400W inverter that does all my entertainment system plus a single 110v outlet which comes in handy for those items that need 110 such as charging a laptop and I tapped off of this to charge my Dyson vac 24/7.

To add a 4 battery 6v bank and a small inverter with wiring and misc connectors will set you back around $2000 cdn on the high side. Shop around a bit and you could easily drop this down to $1500. Some Costco stores carry 6v in Canada, definitely a good buy there.

Ok, you have a genset. Just bump up your battery amperage by going bigger or adding an additional battery to each bank. Switch out all lightbulbs to LED's. Get a new LED TV that runs on 12v. In the morning when you want coffee and breakfast, run your genset for 20 minutes to cook and recharge your batteries.
2 new batteries, new TV and replacement LED lightbulbs...$600 maybe. And the best part, no need to hire someone to do this. Easily DIY.

Great recommendation. Yes change everything to LED. Especially the anchor light if you anchor out that is.

I am even careful when adding other items such as a clock. I am so used to projection clocks when I sleep I have a hard time without one. I look up what they run off of which will be printed on the 110v wall wart. Found one the works from 5vdc. Hmmm, this is standard USB voltage, buy or make an adapter and you are all set. Same goes for my entertainment remote control. Love Harmony remote, guess what, the wall wart is 5vdc. My aft cabin TV wall wart was 12vdc and my weather centre is also 5vdc. . That being said I obviously have usb connections all over the place or have converted 12vdc to 5vdc via a drok transformer (there really handy by the way). Easy to convert any 12vcd power to USB with a socket like this. https://www.amazon.ca/Blue-Sea-Systems-Charger-Socket/dp/B074JZMS83/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_263_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=E4Q2ND0A32PFQ2TZQ3T8

Or a direct connection with an adapter like this. https://www.amazon.ca/Converter-DROK-Waterproof-Transformer-Motorcycle/dp/B01DBQP7OS/ref=sr_1_cc_6?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1550778991&sr=1-6-catcorr&keywords=drok+5v

Bottom line is to plan a little before purchasing any electrical device you want to use on board.

You can get Rolls surette and Trojan batteries at Total battery in Barrie....I got my Rolls stuff from there, fresh batteries....

Local company....here is the quote..

Not trying to sewer anyone but I was told this company does exceptional work, however right now I have 2 - 12V that double as starters and house and a separate 12V for the 6.5KW genny.

I asked for a proposal to isolate the 2 - 12 V's as starters for each engine and a bank of 6V's to power the house with an inverter.

1 x Sterling 134 isolator 2 alt 3 banks $599.00
1 x Magnum 2812 inverter/charger $2499.00
1 x RC 50 remote ( Magnum) $229.95
1 x Battery monitor kit (Magnum) $219.95
1 x BSS5510E Battery switch ( both engines) $94.99
1 x BSS 6006 Battery switch ( house) $45.99
1 x Type T fuse block (Inverter) $76.99
1 x 350A fuse (inverter) $57.99
5 x 70 Breakers ( Alternators and Batt banks) $76.99ea $384.95
1 x Selector/isolator switch( main elec pnl) $329.00
1 x BSS2300 buss bar ( main pnl neutrals) $28.99
3 x BSS2104 Buss bars (battery cables pos and neg)
149.00ea $447.00
10/3 cable ( AC power to panel) $2.89ft as required
4/0 cable ( Battery supply) $16.99ft as required
#4 cable ( engine charging to isolator) 3.12ft as required
1 x 4 battery tray custom (house batteries) $399.00
4 x Interstate 6VDC deep cycle batt $249.00ea $996.00
4 x Core charge 25.00 per battery $100.00
Misc $100.00

Sub not incl cable $6608.80
Labour 22-26 hrs @ $120.00 per

again my goal is to have a little more house power in general and to be able to run a tv for a couple hours a day and make a cup of coffee without having to start the genny if i'd rather not...