Charging electric motor batteries

[Big_Ren]

Hi all

I am in the process of purchasing a new boat which we will be taking to Awoonga in October.

The boat has 2 bank on board battery chargers for the electric motor batteries, but that is not my problem.

Our real issue is charging the leccy batteries while we spend a week on one of the houseboats up there.

The houseboat runs 12V.

Without having to resort to driving around for an hour or so at the end of the day to top up the charge, is there a more practical way to top up the batteries while we are on the houseboat........portable generator perhaps, solar panels.....I don't know really....it's got me stumped.

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Paul

[Roughasguts]

A 99 Dollar GMC generator will charge 8 Amps, bit noisy and smelly though.

[Kleyny]

I,d be trying to steal the power from the house boat some how.
buy a role of 6mm dual core put a couple of connectors on the ends so one end can go to the batteries and the other can tap into the house boat.
i would also make a cig. lighter end up as i'm sure the house boat will have a ciggy light some where.

neil

[Rodman]

Mate I purchased a solar panel designed to charge a battery
Make sure that you speak to a 12volt specialist like springers in Lawnton Brissy to ensure you buy the right size panel.

Ken

[mikooh]

Is your leccy 12V or 24V? If it is 12V you may be able to work out a system similar to mine. To keep the leccy batteries charged during a long stint without mains power, first I added a second 130A/H AGM so that I wasnt deep discharging one battery. I would alternate between each battery via a BEP 3 position switch after every session. Secondly I installed a charging circuit off my motor to top up while running around, and finally I had a small generator to run a 2 bank onboard charger while we were relaxing at camp. I am fortunate to have a Honda inverter generator supplied by my work, and it does a great job, however some of my mates just use those cheap scorpion gennies and they work just as well but with a bit more noise and smoke.
BTW we only needed 3-4 hours of generator power to fully charge the batteries after 10-12 hrs on the water each day for 7 days using this system

Mick.

[Big_Ren]

Roughasguts....thanks mate....if it comes down to it, the cheapo smelly, noisy generator will have to do.

Honky Dory.....that is very creative. I like it;D

Rodman.....appreciate the tip. I had heard of an idea of using a floating solar panel beside the boat while you are fishing. Just have to remember to bring it aboard when we take off:o Could act as a teaser in the water too. Would be an expensive lure to get boofed though;)

mikooh. Thanks for the great advice mate. The leccy is 24V. But I like the idea of the Honda. I will have to look into the price, but could be a good long term investment.

Cheers all.

Paul

[mikooh]

Paul,

The Honda inverters are not cheap, but if you do a fair bit of camping they are worth their weight in gold! They are compact and very quiet while running. My unit is 2000W, however some friends of mine have the 1000W version which is alot more compact and still runs all the camp neccesities ( lights & engles). If 1000W is enough to run your charger, I would definitly consider one.

Mick