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Battery box for a 384

capnbrown

Larry Brown
My batteries are under the forward portion of the quarter berth. I must confess that they are not well secured. I plan to change to 6V batteries in the near future. What I'm looking for is some advise on a good battery box, or system to adequately secure the batteries while providing some ease of access. Drawings, dimensions or advise will be appreciated.
 
Ed,
I have changed my two 12 volt house batts to four 6volt in a series parallel arrangement in order to double voltage and current. I placed them in the same quarterbirth location, however the 6 volt batts are a bit taller than 12v batts. I had to take them out of their individual battery boxes for them to fit, not good. I am planning to relocate them in the port lazarette locker in their own wooden/painted box which I will build to fit the batteries. There is plenty of room in the lazarette and will be close to the centerline (in respect to their current location) so boat trim shouldn't be effected.
Don't forget to beef up your wiring for the increased amperage output!
Fred
 
Ed,
I just finished installing four new 6 Volt batteries under the quarterberth. They are high-capacity gel cels weighing in at 72 pounds each (!) and are tall enough so that they don't fit the original compartment. Actually, only one of the batteries was too high (the aft-most battery), but I solved several problems at once by raising the quarterberth bottom above the batteries so that the q-berth is now flush with the teak around the front of the area. I have long wanted to sit higher at the nav station, plus I wanted more and better organized storage under the quarter berth. The new seat height at the nav station height feels much more comfortable and the quarterberth bottom now has three large access panels to the storage under -- the improvement in access is wonderful. It's also very nice to now have a 370 AH battery bank for the house. A final bonus came in the form of the battery hold-down design. I built a shallow tray that exactly fits over the top of the batteries and, besides restraining the batteries in case of being rolled (yuk!), it serves as a convenient place to keep my general boat maintenance tools. The tray is pinned in place with six fast-pins so that I can remove it and get to the batteries quickly if ever necessary. The four Dynasty gel-cels have large rectangular lugs to fasten the 2/0 battery cables to, and since the batteries never need water, I doubt I'll need to pull the tray and inspect the battery terminals for corrosion more often than about once a year.
I have some photos if you are interested in doing something similar.
As long as I'm on the topic, next I plan on adding a single 12V engine-start battery in the engine room and then hard wiring the house bank as a single large bank. This is the most efficient system for a cruising boat since the charge acceptance rate of a large battery bank is great enough to use the full output of a large alternator, and recharging the batteries less often will make them live longer (unless you discharge them too deeply before recharging). The bottom line is you can't have too large a battery bank on a cruising boat.
 
<div>After much thought, I placed 4 six volt lead-acid batteries in the quarterberth location. I raised and divided the berth floor with a piano hinge that provides excellent access to the larger compartment. The new floor is raised
only 3/8 inch and within this compartment, against the aft bulkhead is placed the shunt and 400 amp fuse for the single 500 amp battery bank, and against the forward seat area is located the windlass switch and positive distribution post.I placed a Group 30H starting battery in the port laz. by removing a portion of the floor area under the waste bin, this only raised the waste bin by 1 1/2 inches. I used a
AmplePower isolator Eliminator2 to charge and isolate this start battery. All wiring was changed to 2/0 and a Heart inverter placed in the aft most portion of the compartment under the quarterberth where it is close to but separated, from the battery compartment. This arrangement has worked well for 7 years.This house and start bank are charged by a 135 amp alt., 2 solar panels and a Windbugger wind generator. The solar panels are removable.
</div>
 
Four Interstate SRM-29 deep-cycle lead acid batterys fit nicely in my 382's quaterbirth battery box. No modification was necessary. These batterys are rated at 120 amp hrs. (30% higher than gel-cells). There is room just aft of the battery box to mount a dedicated engine batt. I used a MTP-24 and it feeds both my engine and generator starters.

 
Ed. I am installing 6, six volt golf cart batteries under the settee in the main soloon just forward of the galley sinks, where the alcohol tank and draw used to be. They will provide 650 amp hours (325 amp hours per cylce) and will be charged by a 200 amp Balmer (I have a Perkins 4-108). This should provide enough juice to operate a frige, radar and autopilot for a couple of days. While at anchor I should be able to fo three days before charging. I may install a solar panel or wind charger as a backup electrical source at a later date.
 
This ties in with my question under alternators. Can you drive a Balmar 200 amp alternator from your Perkins 4-108 efficantly with one belt, or do you work on a different arrangement.

 
No. 200 amp alternators need two belts. I needed to change the front pulley on the engine and water pump.
 
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