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Topic: Balmar SmartGauge and other upgrades (Read 209 times) previous topic - next topic
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Balmar SmartGauge and other upgrades
Our 7 year old original equipment Lifeline's were getting a little long in the tooth. I could probably have squeezed a little more time out of them, but with a planned 2-3 month trip coming up over the winter - I figured restoring some capacity now was the wise move. Not wanting to invest much time reconfiguring the battery box, and not wanting to deal with ongoing maintenance of lead acid - I stuck with the originals. A new set of GPL-4CT's were ordered, and while at it - I decided to toss in a couple upgrades.

A new charger is on the way to replace the stock Parallax 7345. I'm right there with others who think this charger is far from ideal, especially when paired with the expensive Lifelines. A PD 4655VL along with remote is on the way from BestConverter.com.

I also see in searching the forum I'm not the first to install a Balmar Smartgauge. As mentioned elsewhere here, there's lots of good advice over at marinehowto.com that's also applicable to RV's - and his glowing recommendation over there made that choice easy. I've the Victron BMV700 in my boat, and while it works fine - everything about it is more complicated than the SmartGauge. The installation, the usage, the need to routinely recalibrate...I'll miss none of that, and was glad to pay a little more for the simplicity.

The one complaint I've read on the SmartGauge is the odd size and lack of any kind of included mounting bracket/options, but on our 27' rear bath, that was no problem at all. It couldn't have been much easier to install. I'm not familiar with the battery layout of other models, but perhaps some of the following would work on some of them as well.

After triple checking measurements every which way I could, I determined the SmartGauge would fit well flush mounted on the back side of the dinette half wall. The interior depth of the wall is almost exactly the same depth as the SmartGauge, but wires need to come out the back so it wouldn't fit without a small spacer. A pair of scissors and some 1/4" foam took care of that minor issue. I traced the outline of the gauge body on the wall, and cut the hole with a Rotozip just barely leaving the line visible. The gauge fit the hole tightly, and the foam spacer adds to the friction fit. It won't come out on its own.

This location makes wiring a breeze. The only tricky part, was drilling up through the bottom under the seat to get access to the inside of the narrow half wall. It takes a longer than typical drill bit, as there's a solid piece of framing wood that needs to be penetrated about 8" up. Otherwise, it's just an easy 3' run or so down through the wall, along the seat box and into the battery box.

Lot's of words - pics might show it better.








2002 26.5 MB

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