Bow Thruster install... battery up front or not?

[Ian MacAulay]

Fitting a bow thruster.

Can I get away with 70mm cables over 8m from my battery bank or is it best to do a dedicated battery next to thruster?

Thanks

Ian

 

[Danfarry]

As I understand it, the closer the better. You will get a volt drop over that distance, as the volts drop, the amps increase so you may also need larger cables and lugs.

 

[rafiki_]

Fitting a bow thruster.

Can I get away with 70mm cables over 8m from my battery bank or is it best to do a dedicated battery next to thruster?

Thanks

Ian

Near to the thruster as sensible. You need some way of charging the battery, so you will still be running cables from the back to the front, unless you have a stand alone charger up front.

 

[Ian MacAulay]

I was planing a 140a durite voltage sensing relay to charge it up front and it's own dedicated battery. But I was then advised perhaps it be easier to just increase the cable sizes and forget the battery and split charge.

Looks like I should go with the second dedicated battery idea then?

Thanks

Ian

 

[nigelmercier]

View from a WAFI: if my forward water tank is empty, I often need extra weight on the bow to make the bow thruster work well.

 

[Croftie]

Not sure which thruster but a 55 Kgf Vetus is listed as needing 350 amps.
16m cable run (2 x 8M) with 70mm cable could result in a 1.5 volt drop, quite significant.
Just had the above thruster fitted and I put in a dedicated battery with its own small Ctek charger.

 

[Momac]

A starter type battery near the thruster is fitted in my boat and seems to me to be the usual arrangement on motor boats.

 

[Momac]

By the way...
Use a sealed type battery if the compartment is not vented.

 

[Ian MacAulay]

I got two numax xv24 batteries that are sealed that I was thinking of using as they supply 1000cca

Thanks


Ian

 

[KevB]

Originally I had cable running from the domestics to the thruster but a couple of years ago changed to a dedicated battery next to the thruster and used the old cable to charge the new battery. The thruster at a guess is almost twice as powerful as it was before.

 

[wipe_out]

Our new Merry Fisher has an AGM battery up front right next to the thruster with a VSR linked to the domestic batteries.. Then we have a second VSR linking the domestic battery to the starter battery.. So it's a bit of a daisy chain but seems to be working fine..

 

[darrenw]

I'm just having one fitted myself, but am leaving to the experts. As I understand it though, they will be installing a dedicated battery in the bow on a new glassed in shelf and running a cable back to the engine for charging.

 

[Ian MacAulay]

Cheers all

I will defo go with batt up next to it and 140a split charge system with voltage sense relay to keep the thruster bank topped up.

Be nice to get someone else to do it but seeing as I deal with 33kv all day at work paying someone to connect my 12v system would be a bit daft but I wanted to check the norm and common way that thruster systems are put in.

Here is a picture of my planned install

Thanks

Ian

 

[C08]

Our new Merry Fisher has an AGM battery up front right next to the thruster with a VSR linked to the domestic batteries.. Then we have a second VSR linking the domestic battery to the starter battery.. So it's a bit of a daisy chain but seems to be working fine..

Apology if this is thread drift but what size (AH) battery do you have andwhat size thruster?

 

[Croftie]

Apology if this is thread drift but what size (AH) battery do you have andwhat size thruster?

My boat is a little different to the Merry Fisher, its a 10m Dutch Steel. Just fitted a Vetus 55Kgf
http://www.vetus-shop.com/vetus-bow-thruster-55kgf-12v-powerboat-bundle-p-2056.html
with a Yuasa Glass Matt 140amp CCA 815 mounted up front
http://www.yuasa.co.uk/batteries/commercial-vehicles/cargo-deep-cycle-batteries-gm-glass-matt-separators/727gm.html
Not tried in anger yet as only went back in the water last week but certainly puts some movement against/towards the pontoon. It feels like it will be big enough to do the job.

 

[EugeneR]

I asked the same question here a few years ago. I went with a smaller battery up front, charged by a 10a 12v to 12v echo charger. In my case, thicker cables would have been heavy, expensive and difficult. Charging at 10a risk is lower e.g. fire, and avoids flattening the main batteries unexpectedly.

 

[Ian MacAulay]

I thought about a smaller relay but then opted for 140a circuit as if I need a bit of extra oomph I be able to pull that little bit more power if needed.

Going with perhaps two numax xv 24 86ah 1000cca one either side to keep weight balanced

Ian

 

[KevB]

I thought about a smaller relay but then opted for 140a circuit as if I need a bit of extra oomph I be able to pull that little bit more power if needed.

Going with perhaps two numax xv 24 86ah 1000cca one either side to keep weight balanced

Ian

What make/model thruster is it?

 

[Ian MacAulay]

Max power ct80

 

[darrenw]

This is how they've just installed mine...