Hunter 42 Passage

[Bill Roosa]

Hi Terry

If you are looking at AH consumption and genset/wind/solar output I have an excell spreadsheed that tidies up all the calculations for you. It is not what I'd call ready for prime time but if you know excel it is just cut and past to get you what you want.roosaw@saic.comFor the record: solar is great and so is wind. Both work on a sunny windy day out in the ocean but tuck up in that nice secluded river bend and the tall cliffs shade your solar and stop the wind. Seems nothing is quite as advertised.Roosa FamilyTRITIUM

 

[Terry Cox]

Hi Bill, that woudl be great. My address...

is 'tandpcox@verizon.net'.TerryP.S. Paul, great location for a third and maybe even a fourth 8D. Also a convenient cable route to the existing bank. I wonder if 2-0 cable might work out better.

 

[Paul Cossman]

P42 third battery wiring

Terry and Ted,I really can't remember if there is room for two 8D batteries in that spot, but you'll be able to see that upon inspection. (I think the hull may have enough curve there so only one will fit). I would wonder a little bit about adding that much weight right over the rudder, as it may affect handling in rough conditions in large seas. Probably not an issue, but something to think about.I used the 3-0 cable (rather than 2-0 cable) under the philosopy that larger is always better since it lessens the resistance over the longer runs. That is why I use 3-0 throughout all of the battery runs. I run the cable under the bunk and under the floorboard through the cutless bearing access area between the bunk and engine compartment, and up through the engine access area to the batteries there. I have measured the voltage on each of the three 8D batteries during various stages of charge/discharge/charging with an accurate digital multimeter, and the batteries never vary in voltage by more than 0.01 volt. So I don't think the distance variance among the batteries makes any difference to the batteries. We have lived aboard our P42 for a total of about 6 or 7 years with that arrangement, with most of that time being off of shore power and running off of engine alternator, generator alternator (130 amp alternator belted to a 5 HP Kubota diesel engine), and wind/water-tow power. It's worked great.

 

[Grant]

Terry, in answer to your question

My Passage 42 is a 1990 model with an original 4 kw Onan genset. It's also fitted with a circa 1990 Hood Stoboom boom furling system which works well once you get used to its quirks.I find the true sine wave charger and 510 amp hr AGM battery combo works so well that I've bypassed solar and wind generation so far. I try to keep electrical useage sort of minimal, to limit generator time at anchor, and I try to coordinate cooking so that I can do some of it with AC rather than burning up CNG. I keep the old 1800 amp Hart Interface charger/inverter handy just in case the new Prosine 2000 decides to pack it it but, so far, very good luck with the entire charging system. It's tempting to run the batteries lower than 12.2 volts before kicking in the genset charge but I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not.

 

[Terry Cox]

Grant, three years ago I replaced our Heart 1800..

with an Xantrex Freedom 24. If you have good quality deep cycle batteries they should handle below 12.2 volts just fine. I will normally draw down to the low side of 12 volts before I start the Genset. I wonder why Hunter installed 8kw on our 1991 and 4kw on your 1990. Do you have heat pumps?BTW, I purchased the Freedom 24 through the website 4storepower.com. This site resells as-new Xantrex certified products at 50% of retail including a 12 month warranty. When it arrived it looked brand new.TerryP.S. When I was in the buying process Hunter Marine, unsolicited on this website, advised me to go with the 24 rather than the 20. They said it would be kinder to the batteries.