Hunter 23 Power Maintenance

Crazy Dave Condon · Apr 8, 2015

Pretty simple. If your engine is electric start, it will provide a charge back to the battery when running. If you want to, you can add a trickle charge battery charger either permanent or temporary and when the battery is charged up, remove it. You can also add a battery tester or manually test it. However, do not put any battery on a continuous shore power charge as you can what we call "cook it" over a period of time destroying that battery. Always use a deep cycle battery as well and when the life of the battery is gone, good to replace it with a new one. As for preference of battery that will be your decision.

Kermit · Apr 8, 2015

I have two batteries and keep a 5 watt panel attached directly to each one. Keeps them charged just right. I paid about $100 each or less at West Marine. I bought the first one when I bought our H23 and it always worked. I added the second panel when we bought the H260 that has 2 batteries. You can probably get the panels now for less than what I paid.

Kermit · Apr 8, 2015

omnivox42 said:
Kermit, are the panels providing a constant flow or is there a logic board of come kind in between? Where did you mount the panels?

I attach them directly to the batteries with alligator clips. Nothing in between. I set them on the companionway cover when I leave the boat. I take them off and stow them in the cabin when sailing. I'm not smart enough to figure out how or where to mount them. I'd show you a picture if I had some. Sorry about that, Chief! (Apologies to Maxwell Smart.)

p.s. You'll have people tell you the boom will shade the panel from time-to-time and they're right. But we don't sail as often as we'd like so they get plenty of sun between sailing trips. I had way more electronics on the H23 than I do on the H260 and the single battery was way plenty. I sometimes wish I didn't have two batteries on my H260. I'm not smart enough to figure out how to remove the second battery and still have the first one work. One won't work without the other.

C Jones · Apr 9, 2015

I switched all my lights to LED's and I now have 1 Interstate marine battery. My boat is in a slip year round and my 1.5 watt solar panel always keeps my battery charged. We night sail a lot in the summer and the battery is always charged and ready.

C Jones · Apr 13, 2015

omnivox42, Look in my profile pics for the running lights. I got all of them online and the pics tell you name brand. I put my solar panel in my port window as it faces south in my slip. One bungee holds it in and it's behind my curtain so it does not show inside. I added a female plug to my battery to plug it into.

Ward H · Apr 13, 2015

o42,
You didn't mention if your outboard has electric start & charging capability. If it does, it depends on how you use your boat.
On our O'day 25 we have a Yamaha 9.9 Electric start, power tilt and charger. When sailing we run a dedicated GPS and use an auto tiller.
Typical for us is to warm up the OB for 5 to 10 minutes, run it about 10 minutes to get to sailing area. After sailing we run it 10 to 15 minutes to get back to the slip. Hr meter usually shows .7 hr run time per trip.
We did this once a week or so with one 6 yr old battery the first season. The second season we were using the lights a bit more so I bought a charger in early Sept to top off the battery for a vacation.
We are getting ready for our third season and if I decided instead of a solar power I think I will put my money to a 2nd battery. Use one for everything and if it happens to die or gets low on charge, I will just switch to the fully charged battery.
I can then charge the low battery once back at the slip.

Chris14830 · Apr 13, 2015

omnivox42 said:
C Jones, how do you have your solar panel rigged? Also, did the new LED lights fit in the spots that the factory lights did or did you have to do any extra work? Can you show me where you got them from?

Hi, I got mine from superbrightled.com (but there are many suppliers):
http://forums.hunter.sailboatowners.com/picture.php?albumid=1534&pictureid=19022
I got the Warm White, festoon shape, I forget the length, just measure the old one in millimeters. About 1/10 the current of the old ones.
-Chris

Tommy T · Apr 14, 2015

I don't think I would use the lighter outlet. I used a solar panel clipped to the battery for years with out any problems.

Chris14830 · Apr 15, 2015

omnivox42 said:
Howdy ya'll.

1. CJones I will look at your pics thanks.
2. Ward, it is a pull start :-(
3. Chris, thanks

I see that under my fuse box I have a DC cigarette lighter port. Could I use one of the solar chargers directly into that port to charge hte battery?

I may disagree with Tommy T here, but from an electrical perspective the lighter port would be fine. There is such a low current out of a typical small solar panel that the wire size at the lighter port should not be an issue. That being said any voltage drop from the panel is critical. As far as neatness, the battery connection is best. Also if the breaker to the lighter port is turned off accidentally you come back to an uncharged battery. Hmmm, maybe I do agree with Tommy T...
-Chris