A nice one for a Sunday morning...

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:26:59 -0400, "Reginald P. Smithers III" <"Reggie is
Here "@yahoo.com> wrote:

>John H. wrote:
>> and it should put a smile on your face.
>>
>> http://youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY
>
>It did put a msile on my face. I wish I had seen that video before my
>son went on his trek.
>
>He has taken photos but no video. My wife hated the ones of him para
>gliding in the Himalayas and bungee jumping at Victoria Falls. I am
>sure he could have worried her even more with a video camera.
>
>PS If you haven't seen the "Free Hugs" video check it out.
>
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

Yup, another nice one.
 >> Stay informed about: A nice one for a Sunday morning... 

The pontoon boat I bought (haven't picked it up yet) has a single 12V
Interstate battery and a 60 HP "Tracker" by Mercury O/B
It has an automotive type CD player/radio and a 12V "cigarette lighter"
outlet.
Has anyone ever tried to run an inverter off such a set-up ? Nothing too
big, maybe 400 watts

I had never considered an O/B motor as having a significant electrical
OUTPUT but I guess it must be enough to keep the battery charged.
Also, I'm wondering if the boat is stationary at night with the nav lites on
and also the CD player, (O/B not running) how long the battery would last
before it might fail to start the O/B ?
 >> Stay informed about: A nice one for a Sunday morning... 

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 >> Stay informed about: A nice one for a Sunday morning... 

"Rudy" <NoSpam.DeleteThis@no-onehome.net> wrote in
news:gzyek.98114$gc5.7380@pd7urf2no:

> The pontoon boat I bought (haven't picked it up yet) has a single 12V
> Interstate battery and a 60 HP "Tracker" by Mercury O/B
> It has an automotive type CD player/radio and a 12V "cigarette
> lighter" outlet.
> Has anyone ever tried to run an inverter off such a set-up ? Nothing
> too big, maybe 400 watts
>
> I had never considered an O/B motor as having a significant electrical
> OUTPUT but I guess it must be enough to keep the battery charged.
> Also, I'm wondering if the boat is stationary at night with the nav
> lites on and also the CD player, (O/B not running) how long the
> battery would last before it might fail to start the O/B ?
>
>
>
>

Do the arithmetic....

400 watts divided by 13.5 volts = about 30A.

Let's say the battery is a 130AH deep cycle/starting boat battery. You
shouldn't discharge it below 50% or you'll ruin it very soon so you have
65 ampere-hours of usable power.

65AH divided by 30A is a little over two hours at 400 W, 4 hours at
200W, 8 hours at 100W.

Outboard motors were never designed to charge deep cycle batteries, only
to recharge what little cranking the outboard uses out of a starting
battery. The charger consists of some coils in the stator the magnets
in the flywheel rotate around and your little 60hp Tracker is no
different.

Direct from Mercury:
"Using an outboard to charge two batteries is only effective if the
outboard charging system is capable of delivering more than 15 to 20
amps. One point to remember: most systems are rated at wide-open
throttle and charge substantially lower amounts at slower engine speeds.
"

This is caused by the speed of the magnets on the flywheel.

You didn't tell us what year/model is good enough to look up the full
power ampere output of its little charger circuit.

It won't put out anywhere near 400 watts!

To recharge the battery properly from 50% down takes about 10-12 hours
of charging.....not 500A for 30 minutes...charging batteries is a SLOW
process, no matter what boaters tell you they can do.
 >> Stay informed about: A nice one for a Sunday morning...