On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 09:08:17 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 08:57:54 -0400, Wayne.B wrote:

On Sun, 16 Sep 2018 07:35:58 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/16/2018 7:08 AM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:43:11 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/15/2018 11:29 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:07:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/15/2018 10:16 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:34:49 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:
The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight
years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little
warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck
in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as
it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was
probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement.
I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools
with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got
into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it
didn't even grunt. Dead.

Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having
loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that
may just be a girl thing. ;-)
I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I
know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going)
I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in
with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the
auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the
price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will
fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group
24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually
fit.



Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still
quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on
the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the
skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in
was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big
son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a
higher output alternator and a big ass battery.

Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the
Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling
the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the
boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't
a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output
ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries
over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida
when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the
boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he
never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though
because I didn't think of it either.

The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with
multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time
and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the
batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an
issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the
original charger did.


===

I've replaced all of our 8D batteries with 2 group 31 AGMs in
parallel. They have more cold cranking amps than a single 8D. I'm
getting much better life out of them, with less maintenance, and much
easier replacement effort. The physical footprint is slightly
different but not radically.


I've noticed that AGM's have become very popular. Do they require
a special charger?

===

They are rugged, have a higher charge acceptance rate and high cold
cranking power compared to conventional lead acid batteries because of
their lower internal resistance. Ideally they should be charged with
a somewhat lower float voltage to prevent over charging. Most modern
chargers have an AGM mode setting. That said, I have not changed the
voltage regulators on my alternators, and my port side charger does
not yet have an AGM setting although I'm planning to replace it with a
newer unit.


Now that you mention it I think the new, "smart charger" I installed in
the Navigator had settings for either lead acid or AGM batteries. I
replaced the batteries with 8D lead acid. This was many years ago now
but I guess AGM type batteries must have been available then also.

The challenge at the time was finding a "smart", 3 stage charger with
three independent outputs and at a high enough current capacity. Smart
chargers had been around for a while but not many with the ratings I
needed. I forget where I got it.

The three battery configuration was one for each engine and one for the
genset but with the battery switches, you could direct battery power to
any or all if needed.

All I remember is those damn batteries were heavy suckers.

===

They sure are, about 175 pounds, way too much for one person to
reasonably handle but I did it anyway. Both of my engine starting
batts are behind the engines, and require a big lift to get them over.
I devised an elaborate system of overhead strong points, combined with
hoisting tackle and a 2 x 12 plank running between engines. I'd first
hoist the battery up onto the plank, slide it over to the middle of
the engine room, and then hoist it down to the floor where I could
ooch it over to the stairs. Getting it up the stairs to the main
cabin is where I'd usually trash my back. Once in the main cabin i'd
put it on a moving dolly and roll it to the side door. From there I
could use the dinghy hoist to lift it over to the dock. A few years
ago after trashing my back one too many times, I started looking for a
better way. :=)



The engine room arrangement in the Navigator was a little more
user friendly with the three 8D batteries sitting at the rear of
the port engine. It was still a bit of work to get them down
the hatch, forward about 8 or 9 feet to where the battery cradles
were.

One problem with the Navigator that I discovered shortly after I bought
and launched it was that apparently the weight of all three batteries
sitting off center on the port side wasn't taken into account by
whoever laid out the engine room. After launching it had a very slight
list to port. It wasn't much but it annoyed me. I remember asking a
bunch of friends at the dock to come aboard and I had them stand on the
starboard side, one by one until the list was gone and the boat sat
level. Then I asked for and recorded all their weights. It was finally
fixed by the dealer by glassing in some lead weights on the starboard
side of the engine room.

===

I think that's called "trim ballast", not uncommon. Even if a boat is
built perfectly symmetrical, add ons like generators and dinghies can
throw things out of balance.

I suppose a very overweight person would need some heavy duty 'trim ballast'!

===

Aye, especially if down at the stern...