AC/DC Refit Project

I just completed my first major project on Sleipnir…

A few months ago I decided it was necessary to replace the batteries on the boat. They are 7 years old now and barely hold a charge at all. In fact 2 weeks ago when we were out in the Sound for a couple hours, I had to hand crank the engine because the batteries didn’t have enough charge. In addition, the on board charger isn’t designed for marine use and needed to be replaced.

So I’ve been doing lots of research, reading, and ordering of parts over the past weeks and collected the following…

Icom IC-M422 VHF Radio
Pioneer Premier DEH-P490IB CD Receiver
2 x Trojan AGM Group 31 batteries (about 100 amp-hours each)
1 x Xantrex Freedom Marine 10 charger/inverter
2 x Blue Sea Systems A/C Breaker panels
1 x Xantrex Freedom Remote
Tons of bolts, washers, and nuts
30 feet of 1/0 Gauge tinned Marine battery cable
1/0 gauge ring terminals
Large gauge crimping tool
Marine grade A/C power wire
Butt connectors, ring terminals and a whole host of other wiring accessories.

I spent some time up at the boat a couple weeks ago measuring and checking cables and drawing diagrams. I also removed the 31 year old Pace VHF and the CB, then installed the new VHF radio while I was there.

Then two weeks ago I took a buddy up with me and we started work. First we removed the old batteries, charger and some unnecessary wiring. I removed the old A/C panel because I needed to split the A/C system into two parts, one before the Charger/Inverter, and one after. We have an A/C in wall heater in the boat that uses a lot of power and I don’t want it to be sucking up battery power from the Inverter when we are out at sea. The new panels are the same brand as the old one but they came with backlighting kits and I added switch covers to prevent accidental switching.

The new A/C panels installed.

I think I spent at least 2 weeks just trying to figure out where to put the Xantrex Freedom because it ended up bigger than I pictured it. In the end, I think I put it pretty much the only place it would work. Under the port-stern quarterberth, next to the engine compartment.

Here is the charger/inverter hanging upside down in the quarterberth storage locker. The wiring got cleaned up later.

A while back, Devon’s dad picked up several pieces of aluminum that he felt could be used to make a new battery tray. The existing battery tray is made of wood, and wasn’t large enough for the new batteries. So I picked up a metal cut-off blade for the chop saw on Tuesday, then on Wednesday I cut and built the new battery tray. Ultimately I think it turned out quite good.

Here I am installing the new battery tray.

And now the installed battery tray. You can also see the large battery cables that hadn’t been cut to length yet.

The old Batteries and New batteries…

Yay! The new batteries fit in the new tray

Finally, James and I cut the battery cables to length, installed the 225 amp fuse and block, crimped the ring terminals on, and shrunk the heat shrink tubing. You can see the fuse block on the bulkhead in about the middle of this picture.

And now the fully completed install. Batteries and strapped down, all cables attached and they are now charging.

That’s it. Everything works and the Engine turns over and starts in less than 1 revolution. I’m looking forward to testing everything soon.