Charging with Shore Power

[Traylor67]

Perhaps this question is overly basic, but I'll ask it anyways. By way of background, I have a 1978 Hunter 27 moored in Portland, OR, and I would like a system wherein I can plug into shore power and charge my batter without plugging a charger into the boat's AC outlet if possible. I would also love to get it set up so that all on board equipment runs off of shore power then I have the boat plugged in. Currently everything runs off of the batter. Is there a way to do this? Is it easy? Is it expensive? Thanks,
-Jeff

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

There are all kinds and prices of marine battery chargers you can install. Just make sure you buy one that is a 3 stage charger rated appropriately for the size battery bank you have so as to not waste money on overkill

 

[Stu Jackson]

The West Marine Advisors have some good information. Scroll down to Electrical:

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...51&catalogId=10001&page=West-Advisor-Articles

 

[Steve Dion]

Jeff:

Do you currently have shore power? If you don't it may be a bigger project than you may want to tackle.

 

[Bill Roosa]

All your stuff that runs on 12 volts will still run off the batteries. The charger will kick in to keep the batts topped off though so it is as if they are running off of shore power.
You will want to get a charger that has enough capacity to charge and run the normal appliances that are left running like the reefer.
If the reefer draws 3 amps and the charger supplies 5 amps that only leaves 2 amps to charge the batteries as an example.
Also a massively big charger does not charge the batteries that much faster than a moderately sized on due to that darn acceptance charge thing

 

[Cajun1900]

I recently added shore power to my Hunter 260. While I was at it I installed a ship-and-shore battery charger that kicks on only when it senses a drop in power. I run all my 12 volt systems as needed and the charger maintains the battery. So far it's worked well even with a 12 volt refer running, those things are power hogs. Hope this helps.

 

[Benny17441]

You indicate the boat has an a/c outlet where you might be pluggin in the charger. This tends to support the notion that the boat may be wired for shorepower. A proper a/c installation will have an electrical panel with breaker switches to the various circuits. It is a simple task to hardwire a battery charger to an unused or adequate breaker switch on the panel. Having said that I need to emphasize that working on electrical circuits and appliances can be deadly if one does not know what they are doing. I would suggest the hiring of a proffesional to perform the installation or at least someone other with adequate expertise. You do not mention the size of your home battery bank nor the appliances that you intend to run so it is kind of hard to recommend a charger size in amps. Do get a smart 3 stage charger. For light work you can get a 10A(5/5) Quest which will service two banks at around $110 or you may go for a True Charge2 with 40A to service three banks at around $400. Besides the obvious difference in size and price there are differences in quality as well as features on the units. Unless you live aboard and burn lights and run refrigeration the less expensive unit should do nicely for two deep cycle batteries. You mentioned the boat is moored and I was wondering if you are going to move it or how do you get a/c power on a mooring?