Practical Battery Questions

Jan 11, 2014
11,319
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Here's the set up, 4 nice Deka GC batteries in a nice battery box from Dyno, two questions, the first on an easy way to lift the batteries from the box and the second how to deal with a crowded battery terminal.

The batteries sit on a shelf that is about 3 feet from the top of the locker. I have a device to lift the batteries out of the box, but it is nearing its end of life. It is a rubber strap (like a heavy duty rubber tie down cord) with hooks that slip into holes on the top of the battery case. Because the rubber is getting stretched out and weaker, I want to replace this with a longer lasting and suitable lifting device. Any suggestions?

Second, the negative terminal is getting a bit crowded. On the terminal are 6 connectors, 1 from the battery to the negative bus bar, 1 as part of the parallel wiring, 1 from the charger's temp sensor, 1 from the external regulator sensor, 1 from the Smart Gauge voltage sensor, and 1 from the regulator voltage sensor. The problem is the lack of threads to tighten the connections. Any suggestions?

Thanks.
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,319
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
MS,

Thanks for the quick response. The lifting strap is the one I have, I hadn't found a source for another. The local East Penn distributor gave me one.

I wasn't sure if it was acceptable to put the voltage sense wires on a bus. Reading the installation manuals they say to put them on the battery. Should have asked this question before I put all the batteries back in the box yesterday. :(
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,665
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
I wasn't sure if it was acceptable to put the voltage sense wires on a bus. Reading the installation manuals they say to put them on the battery. Should have asked this question before I put all the batteries back in the box yesterday. :(
As long as the positive and negative busbars are close to the bank, and the short jumpers to them 7"-16" or so, are sufficiently sized for bare minimum voltage drop, it is fine for anything but a Smartgauge to land them on the pos or neg distribution busbars.
 

Blitz

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Jul 10, 2007
672
Seidelmann 34 Atlantic Highlands, NJ
As long as the positive and negative busbars are close to the bank, and the short jumpers to them 7"-16" or so, are sufficiently sized for bare minimum voltage drop, it is fine for anything but a Smartgauge to land them on the pos or neg distribution busbars.
Makes sense, and that is good to know since if you are taking the sense wire ring terminals on and off the batteries every year for the winter the small ring terminals for the sense wire can get pretty messed up.
 
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
The gc2 I just removed didn’t have a spot for lifting straps so I used some jumper wires I was replacing. Just tapethe free end up good and what ever you do bony use the same wire for neg and pos terminals!!
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,319
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
The gc2 I just removed didn’t have a spot for lifting straps so I used some jumper wires I was replacing. Just tapethe free end up good and what ever you do bony use the same wire for neg and pos terminals!!
Guess you won't be buying that brand of batteries again! It does seem surprising that the battery didn't have a way to lift it without suing the terminals.