Carver Owners Forum

On my single engine Albin 25 I had a start battery and 2 golf cart batteries with an ACR distributing the charge. I loved the leave-it-alone aspect and let the ACR make all the decisions, aside from on/off.
Now on my Riv there are 2 Group 27s and a regular old fashioned 1/2/both/off switch, and I have to rely on a 36 year old voltmeter at the helm. The batteries look to me like those not-true-deep-cycle marine batteries.
Should I be satisfied with this setup? What is the group wisdom on retro-fitting these older battery arrangements?

They now make a deep cycle/start batteries group 27 or 29, I personally run my batteries on both when starting and under way. If I'm going to sit on the hook for awhile I will switch to #1 or #2 and then back to both when I start my engines. Now I also have a separate Genny battery and most likely run my Genny every time out to exercise it and thus my battery charger is working too. Your battery possibilities are many if you so desire.

There has been considerable threads on here regarding battery banks, upgrades and battery types, how to use different systems ( the one, all,two off battery switch etc ).....some searching on here should produce what I think you are looking for.

At a minimum I would add an ACR/VSR so you know the other battery is getting a charge and ready for action if you ever need it. Then I would occasionally switch between bank 1 and 2 when I was going out for a cruise.

You can get as complicated as you want or your cruising demands. How often do you sit on the hook and for how long? That usually dictates if you need a dedicated house bank. How far are you away from shore?

I like to think I CAN be away for a long time, even if it rarely happens.

Some good posts above. i might add i would really consider uping the house bank. From a 27 or 29 battery. As you said before you used a couple golf cart batteries which I also like. At least you were used to what you had previously on the other boat.. Use the search on here as mentioned for lots of information on this topic.

Here are a couple diagrams. They don't show everything, like the ground circuit for the VSR, or the circuit protection, but just the routing of the main lines.

This first one is how I modified my 3607. It originally came with two batteries (#1 and #2) with just one 1/2/both/off switch that controlled everything. I added a house bank with its own switch and a VSR so the house would be charged with whatever engine(s) were running.

This second one is what I was planning to do. It totally isolates the two engines with their own battery, but gives you the option to tie any or all of the batteries together on the "buss" for either charging or to help with a load. Normally all the switches would be in the "1" position, which tied each load to a dedicated battery. The engine alternators would be isolated to its own battery. The VSRs would connect to allow either or both of the engines to charge the House battery.