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bow
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September
2009
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SERVICE
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Blue Sea ACR is the only one I am aware
of that does have a 60-amp limiter built
in. Apparently it is very reliable but it
also has a drawback: it cannot be pot-
ted so it is not "waterproof."
It is best to attach the ACR to a stan-
dard battery to "extract" our 60 amps
for the thruster battery. We look at it as
a buffer between the ACR and the char-
ger. As you say, the primary battery will
still take the load fluctuations directly
from the charger and an acid/lead plate
standard battery does that far better
than a Gel or AGM.
We install thrusters "stand alone," so
we look at the rest of the ship's systems
only for a way to get the 60 amps. If it
is necessary to combine batteries to get
what we want then we would increase
the size of the primary battery so it
would not be necessary to do that.
From my perspective, thrusters draw so
much amperage that they must be keep
isolated from alternators, chargers, and
generators. An 8hp electric thruster will
draw 650-750 amps on startup and run
on 500-650 amps.
To read this thread in its entirety,
visit the Houseboat forums at www.
houseboatmagazine.com and search for
the "Battery charger help" thread.
