Battery Management

Battery Management

Aristo-Cat II is setup a bit different from other Island Spirit 40s. We have upgraded the charging system. Each engine has a 55 amp alternator to charge the starting battery as well as a 124 amp alternator for the house batteries. The boat is also equipped with four 75watt solar panels. You should rarely have to run the engines just to charge the batteries. However if you are going to be using the microwave a lot I suggest running one of the engines. Normal motoring around to and from anchorages is all the batteries will need to keep fully charged.

When charging the batteries or idling the engines run them about 1700 RPM. Shortly after the engine gets up to speed you will hear the engine pitch change as the larger alternators engage.

To manage the batteries we have the best system available. The Xantrex Link 2000, tied in with the Link 2000 is a 2000 watt charger/inverter. The inverter is required to create 110v. When the shore charger or inverter is enabled you will hear a cooling fan running under the salon settee.

Creating 110v is very inefficient so don’t use the inverter to set the timer on the coffee maker. Feel free to use the inverter for charging camera batteries or using a blow dryer. When under heavy load (Microwave, Toaster, Blow Dryer) the inverter will put a very heavy draw on the batteries. I would suggest running an engine if you will be operating under these conditions for a long time.

What the Xantrex 2000 shows you is:

Current battery consumption in Amps; when charging this is number is positive. Watching this number shows how fast you are depleting the batteries or how fast they are being charges. You will notice as you turn on lights the negative number gets larger quickly, especially at night when we lose the solar.

Total Amps used (negative number), when you are charging the batteries, this number gets closer to zero. The number can become positive, but once the charging input is stopped it will start again at Zero.

To turn on the inverter you push the button on the upper left corner "Invert idle Mode", the cooling fan will come on in a few seconds so you know it is working.

When on shore power you must push the "Charger" button or the charger will not be enabled.

Also on the display is Volts. When charging generally it will show about 13.5 – 14 v. Fully depleted is about 11 volts. The refrigeration and autohelm should quit working about 11.4 volts.

Should you have an issue with a starting battery, on the starting panel is a toggle switch. Holding up this button ties all the batteries together to start the engine. Do not leave this button up.