Left my owners manual on the boat for my Link 20 Battery Bank Monitor. My question has to do with the 4 little "green" power level indicator lights that light up for each battery, when they are good and hot....then... in thereory, they change to yellow (caution), then drop to two yellow (real caution), down to red (go ahead and get ready to jump off the motors to start)..... Mine stay on all 4 green lights.... and have had to jump off to start a motor....and all 4 lights on/for both batteries were still burning green.. Is there a calibration/set up that I have to do for MY battery system??? That is why I wanted to bring home and read the manual. Comments/experiences please.
Link 20 Battery Bank Monitor
- Thread starter Byrdman
- Start date
Pat,
Sorry, I can't answer directly but I can say that I've noticed the 4-light phenomenon virtually all the time as well. I was delighted that we used "so little" electricity aboard Naknek, but looking back on it, there should have been SOME reduction I'm sure! I'll have to look into that when I get home.
An alternative would be to follow the actual voltage readings rather than using the (convenient) lights.
Chris (Rana Verde) suggested using only one battery at a time, thus keeping the other as a start-battery if the battery being used gets depleted. Sounded like a good idea to me. During last summer's trip I used one battery at a time, and alternated between #1 and #2 weekly. Worked like a charm, had plenty of power, and Always had a backup battery for starting, if needed. (But never ran the in-use battery down below 50%).
Other stuff. What's your decision on retirement? Are you going to step up to the bar and pick up that silver oak leaf, or gonna go Play???
Casey
C-Dory Naknek
Sorry, I can't answer directly but I can say that I've noticed the 4-light phenomenon virtually all the time as well. I was delighted that we used "so little" electricity aboard Naknek, but looking back on it, there should have been SOME reduction I'm sure! I'll have to look into that when I get home.
An alternative would be to follow the actual voltage readings rather than using the (convenient) lights.
Chris (Rana Verde) suggested using only one battery at a time, thus keeping the other as a start-battery if the battery being used gets depleted. Sounded like a good idea to me. During last summer's trip I used one battery at a time, and alternated between #1 and #2 weekly. Worked like a charm, had plenty of power, and Always had a backup battery for starting, if needed. (But never ran the in-use battery down below 50%).
Other stuff. What's your decision on retirement? Are you going to step up to the bar and pick up that silver oak leaf, or gonna go Play???
Casey
C-Dory Naknek
I understand the numbers and amp(h) draws, but one of the reasons I spent the big bucks was to have that "quick glance" .... and not have to get up... Wow... that sounded real lazy... but, just the truth. Sure wish I had thought to get the manual out of the box. On the hook I generally plan for Wallas 100% of trip, CD player about 8 hours a night, interior roof light about 8 hours to allow for reading, and the anchor light for 10 hours. Not that bad of a draw...but warrants paying attention to the batteries......especially when the ice storm hit us.... Big differance in DC power draws from the battery reserve banks when the temp gets down below freezing...... and.... I had not been properly charging/equalizing my batteries either... More than likely time for a new pair.
Stepping up: Have a possibility from FORSCOM to go to DC and be part of a Joint Force IED task force... If that or other tours materialize between now and 31Apr05, I can/will pin on 05 and go. If not, there will be no need for me to rush home from the Nashville Gathering...and follow-on trips. Kinda taking the "if it was meant to be ..it will happen" attitude. 180 degree swing in getting focused on total retirement vs getting refocused on deployment prep/issues.
Stepping up: Have a possibility from FORSCOM to go to DC and be part of a Joint Force IED task force... If that or other tours materialize between now and 31Apr05, I can/will pin on 05 and go. If not, there will be no need for me to rush home from the Nashville Gathering...and follow-on trips. Kinda taking the "if it was meant to be ..it will happen" attitude. 180 degree swing in getting focused on total retirement vs getting refocused on deployment prep/issues.
The Link 10 on my 16 Cruiser works as it should and even with the single RED LED illuminated I can still crank the engine. The unit itself has an insidious low amperage draw which, with our low use, will take lots of amp hours from the battery when not in use. I'm going to rewire it thru the master switch to prevent this, right now it's connected all the time.
The bar graph is based on what you set the battery capacity to be and the default is 200 amp hours (on the Link 10).
Years ago Spa Creek Electronics came up with a useful amp hour rating based on how boats use power which has served me well.
Useful amp hours = RC/2.4
A 200 amp hour rating (default Link 10) would then require the battery to have a reserve capacity of 480 minutes! A darn big battery. A Group 4D battery may be rated at 200 amp hours, but with a RC of 405 minutes will really only give you 170 useful amp hours.
I suspect your batteries are much smaller than Group 4D.
Anyway, I've got the Link 10 manual if you need me to walk you thru setting the battery capacity. You need to find the RC of your batteries first though.
Great! Another bottle cap colonel here..... :smilep
-- Chuck
The bar graph is based on what you set the battery capacity to be and the default is 200 amp hours (on the Link 10).
Years ago Spa Creek Electronics came up with a useful amp hour rating based on how boats use power which has served me well.
Useful amp hours = RC/2.4
A 200 amp hour rating (default Link 10) would then require the battery to have a reserve capacity of 480 minutes! A darn big battery. A Group 4D battery may be rated at 200 amp hours, but with a RC of 405 minutes will really only give you 170 useful amp hours.
I suspect your batteries are much smaller than Group 4D.
Anyway, I've got the Link 10 manual if you need me to walk you thru setting the battery capacity. You need to find the RC of your batteries first though.
Great! Another bottle cap colonel here..... :smilep
-- Chuck
You might have some luck finding the manual on line. You can always print off the section you need to read.
The following link may be the one you need.
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/76/docserve.asp
The following link may be the one you need.
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/76/docserve.asp
