Batteries and Charging

[Rumdirty]

Going from $500 to $750. This might be difficult to slip in. Lol. That 547xs looks sweet though!

Forgot about Costco - doh! thank you!

[Russ]

$531.35 free shipping
http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-GPSMAP-Wat ... artplotter

[Russ]

RussMT wrote

Our outboards can be started with almost a 9v battery

That depends

Hee hee,. Well maybe a bit of an exaggeration. However the Etech can be pull started without any power whatsoever.

My Suzi can be started with very little power. Big honkin cranking batteries are good for those large diesel inboard engines.

[Rumdirty]

You got me all excited about the 547xs and then try to slip in a 531s ?

[Russ]

I have an 8 year old Garmin 440sx. Love it. And it's only 4' display. I'm sure this 531 has more features than mine. Maybe not as many as the more expensive one.

I did buy the advanced charts because the default charts were coastal and I don't boat on the coasts. I wish I had this thing years ago when we cruised to Block Island. Would have been great to know where we were in the middle of the night off the south shore of Long Island steering by compass.
Even one rainy day at Tices shoal it would have been great to have instead of calcing a compass course to the other side of the bay.

In my opinion, if I were boating the intercoastal waterway (like you are) a chartplotter would be high on my list. You still want paper charts, but the ability to see exactly where you are is invaluable. In/out of channel etc.

[RobertB]

Big price issue with Garmin is the resolution of the display. The 54X products have the higher resolution (if I remember right). My old eyes will take all the help they can get. Other options to consider: NMEA 2000 and the older NMEA 0183 - useful in using your GPS chartplotter for location data to your VHS for distress calls, interfacing with your engine for fuel consumption data (virtual fuel gauge), and interfacing with an autopilot to provide course data. You may not do all these soon but in a few years in they could be important. Then there may also be differences in basic features and upgrades available - such as the Garmin Blue Vision G2 chart upgrades.

[grady]

Just upgraded to the Garmin 7607. All the new chartploters for this year have some very cool sailing specific features. You may want to check them out. At this point I would not get a chartploter that is not NMEA2000 just for future expandabilaty.

[kevinnem]

you say no solar ... but I might suggest you re consider it.

Even a small pannel, .. mounted quickly, (or even at your private dock?) might be exactly what you need, even though the power output is small.. a 100$/tiny 50 watt panel working for say 8 hours a day for 5 days, would generate 166 amp hours. this is likely enough to fill up the batteries while you are away. note- due to all the ineffeicencies, and the fact you will not get full output -- you will not get the fulll amount, . but that is also a lot of power getting made and stored while you are not even at your boat.


http://www.eco-worthy.com/catalog/worth ... p-182.html

That controller is what I just bought, pretty sure you can change setting for all types of batteries ( except lithium ion that no one uses in this class of boat yet $$$$). it is able to handle a lot more solar, so it isn't like you have to replace it, once you want more solar on board.

[dlandersson]

Ditto. Mine is off my starboard aft - I never notice it.

[Rumdirty]

Had to rename the thread.. lol!

I would reconsider solar Kevin, except that everything I can find for 50 watts is $500+ for the kit and a flexible panel. Primarily looking at Defender and such. Rigid panels won't work at this point, I have no where to mount them. I would need a complete kit soup to nuts, controller, wiring, panels, lord knows what else. Wonder if one of them little 5 or 10w with no controller would be usable for a battery tender? Orrrrr... did I miss something? At eco-worthy a 50w semi-flexible goes for $189. Still need a controller, mounting, and cables yes? I'm so confused!

Still would love a chartplotter. May have to go with the older ones but I just *might* be able to squeak in $700ish with wifey approval. Autopilot will be on the 2-3 year list so I'd rather buy with an eye toward that future instead of needing to buy the same gear twice. Otherwise, I'll just have to wait.

I'll swing $100 or so for solar if it works. Otherwise I'd rather wait.

[Seapup]

Just upgraded to the Garmin 7607. All the new chartploters for this year have some very cool sailing specific features. You may want to check them out. At this point I would not get a chartploter that is not NMEA2000 just for future expandabilaty.

The 4/500 series with the gray case are the older retired models. There are only a few new ones still left over. Most have NMEa 2000. I picked up about a dozen 4/500 series last year in a bulk buy from a wholesaler and sold them off on CL and ebay. I still have a 441s coastal a 430 inland unit and a handful of vision cards that came with them left to sell. I played with them a bit along with the newer model I have on my X. When comparing them I noticed the replacement series has a faster processor so is quicker panning detailed charts and has the higher resolution as Robert said. The newer series also takes 2 microsd cards and allows multiple custom mapset names, so you can have multiple vision maps and even navionics with contours at 1' all running at the same time. The older series is very similiar though and the cheapest way to get NMEA 2000 if you don't mind buying used.

The echomap 50s is the budget buy 5" plotter that is basically identical to the 547 without nmea 2000. It still has the sailing screen and NMEA 0183 for wind sensors and AIS with a simple two wire hookup and no backbone. It won't integrate with NMEA 2000 motors though. I saw recently they have a new budget 4" model that incorporates the all the wires into the mount like a docking station which is slick.

[Gypsea Wind]

Back to the batteries... Is there any concern of the lead acid batteries related to "gassing" inside the cabin area? I was told the AGM batteries solve this problem, but is it really a problem? And, I love my Garmin 740s chartplotter

[RobertB]

The cabin is not sealed enough to be a problem. I would recommend you coat and inspect regularly your battery terminals and keep wiring terminations in the immediate area to a minimum.

[Gypsea Wind]

The cabin is not sealed enough to be a problem. I would recommend you coat and inspect regularly your battery terminals and keep wiring terminations in the immediate area to a minimum.

So both my batteries are in the compartment behind the ladder. Should the bus bars be located in a different one with all the accessory connections located there?

[Russ]

I would reconsider solar Kevin, except that everything I can find for 50 watts is $500+ for the kit and a flexible panel. Primarily looking at Defender and such. Rigid panels won't work at this point, I have no where to mount them.

Yes you do. On the aft mast crutch.
Mine is mounted over the outboard. It's 80w and now they are much cheaper and more powerful.


Here's a 50w starter kit. $132 gets you going. Gives you all the power you will probably need until you install a fridge.
http://www.amazon.com/Renogy-Starter-So ... el+starter