Where to mount Victron IP22 or Mastervolt Easy charge unit ?

[Refueler]

I have a 24ft motor boat :

With twin battery setup in the engine bay :

A small helm console :

The cabin is open plan with midships cooker one side and hanging locker other. There's no real other locker or facility to mount the charger unit ....

So where to mount the unit ? It would also have to have the multiple cables through to the batterys and mains power ...

I am thinking of inside the cabin ... aft bulkhead other side from Helm Console - so cables can pass through and then down to engine bay ..

Only other location I can think of - is one of the side undercockpit areas .... but then its out of sight for checking status etc.

 

[Tranona]

It will be the best bit of kit on the boat (at least the most modern ) so good to have it visible. Also seems a sensible place for running the cables.

Boat is looking very smart.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Why not in the engine bay ?

 

[Refueler]

Thank you T ... boat is looking a bit grimy at preset having sat waiting for repairs to starter and water pump.

Mount in engine bay ? If its the BT equipped Victron - yes it could as info would be available on the phone. But I think the Mastervolt would be better here - which has no remote data function. Why ? The motor boat has only two LA batterys ... when on a trip - its of course engine powered .. when not - its plugged into mains. This means that the lower charge rate Mastervolt at 10A and twin output would suit.
The Victron will go on the 38 sail boat as it has higher amp rates and 3 outputs - 38 has 3 LA batterys..... but will only use two outputs as two batterys are parallel on the domestics.

The Mastervolt then would be in a visible place .... depending on if the MV is weather resistant ... I could place it above the solar controller ...

Bottom left corner - you can just see the controller ..... that's survived being out in cockpit !

Or underneath the console on the bulkhead ...

 

[jakew009]

Thank you T ... boat is looking a bit grimy at preset having sat waiting for repairs to starter and water pump.

Mount in engine bay ? If its the BT equipped Victron - yes it could as info would be available on the phone. But I think the Mastervolt would be better here - which has no remote data function. Why ? The motor boat has only two LA batterys ... when on a trip - its of course engine powered .. when not - its plugged into mains. This means that the lower charge rate Mastervolt at 10A and twin output would suit.
The Victron will go on the 38 sail boat as it has higher amp rates and 3 outputs - 38 has 3 LA batterys..... but will only use two outputs as two batterys are parallel on the domestics.

The Mastervolt then would be in a visible place .... depending on if the MV is weather resistant ... I could place it above the solar controller ...

Bottom left corner - you can just see the controller ..... that's survived being out in cockpit !

Or underneath the console on the bulkhead ...

The reality is you will never actually need to look at it. What do you think you will need to monitor on it?

 

[dpb]

If charger has fan then engine bay could be best due to noise.

 

[Refueler]

If charger has fan then engine bay could be best due to noise.

I am reluctant to use the engine bay as its a Petrol engine ... if it was diesel - then no problem.

Because of the petrol engine - it has a 'ventilator / blower system to be run before starting engine ... to clear any accumulated HC vapours....

As to monitor ... I like to see state of batts / items without need to lift up panels etc.

But all suggestions gladly rec'd.

 

[dpb]

Please check but I believe that these chargers are spark protected and OK for petrol engine compartments.

 

[Refueler]

OK ... the Victron is now mounted in the 38cr ....



To the cabin front of engine box ... I like to see even though it has BT ..

To be honest .. without shunts / other gear - the BT seems to be pretty basic info only .. but I've only just fitted the charger - so early days.

 

[PaulRainbow]

OK ... the Victron is now mounted in the 38cr ....

View attachment 184404

To the cabin front of engine box ... I like to see even though it has BT ..

To be honest .. without shunts / other gear - the BT seems to be pretty basic info only .. but I've only just fitted the charger - so early days.

The Bluetooth is only to show you what the charger is doing and to allow settings changes, it's not meant to be a battery monitor.

 

[Refueler]

The Bluetooth is only to show you what the charger is doing and to allow settings changes, it's not meant to be a battery monitor.

I appreciated that but it is basic isn't it ... I thought it might show a little bit more like amps rate ? I know it wont show A/hr status / % charged.

I suppose I'm spoilt by the Solar system I have had installed to the house ... on default pages on phone .. I see rate to/from town system, rate from solar array, rate to/from backup battery storage, rate house is using ... daily / weekly and monthly totals of each ... even the amount of money I get paid for what I send to town !

 

[Refueler]

Next job is the Mastervolt system to the Motor boat ... which was original of this thread.

There's one niggle with it ... the unit has built in charge leads with large crimped rings at end of fuse lengths ready for battery connection. I really do not want to cut them off to thread them through minimal holes etc to get to batterys. As manual says clearly not to cut cables .. it would invalidate warranty if anything goes wrong with it.
I may end up joining my own cables to those rings to get around it. I'm hoping that I can feed the fuse holders through and seal up after ...

 

[PaulRainbow]

I appreciated that but it is basic isn't it ... I thought it might show a little bit more like amps rate ? I know it wont show A/hr status / % charged.

It's only connected to the batteries, so the only "external" data it can show is voltage. Other than that, it only knows the output current from the charger and the charge phase. It should show all of those three, do you not see amps ?

 

[Refueler]

Will be back at boat later to look again .. but probably amps was shown ..