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Old 06-11-2018, 10:02 PM
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Al Schober Al Schober is offline
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Concur with the assessment of the ammeter. Good sized studs is a sign of a direct connect ammeter. Problem with these being excess wire length to go from the current source to the meter then back to the battery. The way to go these days is with a battery monitor that does voltage, current, and state of charge.
Re: the generator. Worst part is the mechanical voltage regulator - major source of problems. I had one boat with alternators controlled by mechanical regulators - problems with the regulators. Recommend you convert to an alternator with a 3 stage electronic regulator. I think my last one was a Balmar ARS-4 - not state of the art, but quite satisfactory. Nice to watch the LEDs come on as the controller progresses from current limited to voltage limited then finally to float.
Also recommend separate batteries for house and starting. Each battery with its own ON/OFF switch. For starting, a Group 24 is fine. For house, whatever you need. Keep the individual batteries movable - I found Group 31s too heavy for me and went to Group 27s. I ended up running my alternator output directly to the house bank. When it came up to voltage, a VSR would send current to charge the start battery.
This will probably require some rewiring. As you do this, keep an eye on your voltage drops in the cables. I found that I had to add an extra ground cable to the house bank to cut down voltage drop. House bank was close to the distribution panel, but about 10' away from the engine/alternator.
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