advice needed on manage electricity on board

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MillerDamon

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I am brand new to this forum and have recently been considering how to manage electricity more efficiently on board (mainly to deal with main power supply failures). I would like to ask everyone if they have any experience with adding energy devices or backup batteries to boats. If so, could you share your choice and usage?

Any thoughts would be welcome! Thank you.
 
MillerDamon said:
I am brand new to this forum and have recently been considering how to manage electricity more efficiently on board (mainly to deal with main power supply failures). I would like to ask everyone if they have any experience with adding energy devices or backup batteries to boats. If so, could you share your choice and usage?

Any thoughts would be welcome! Thank you.
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Welcome, Perhaps, you will get some sensible suggestions and answers if you could give the forum some idea of your boat and present electrical installation(s) DC and ac. The more information the better. It is always the bit that is left out that is important :p
 
Alex_Blackwood said:
Welcome, Perhaps, you will get some sensible suggestions and answers if you could give the forum some idea of your boat and present electrical installation(s) DC and ac. The more information the better. It is always the bit that is left out that is important :p
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Thank you for your reply.

The company has rented a Bertram speedboat for our team-building outing. In addition to the necessary DC equipment, we also have a small fridge, microwave, kettle, and coffee maker.:):)
 
Following up on Alex's reply seeking further information, what exactly is "the necessary DC equipment"? It varies from boat to boat and owner to owner. And your desire to militate against "main power supply failures", what exactly does that mean?
 
MillerDamon said:
Thank you for your reply.

The company has rented a Bertram speedboat for our team-building outing. In addition to the necessary DC equipment, we also have a small fridge, microwave, kettle, and coffee maker.:):)
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If you have rented a boat you shouldn't be doing any modifications. If you feel that you require a fridge, microwave, etc on board it strikes me that the wrong type of boat has been rented.
 
Saying it's a speedboat doesn't give much information. Most speedboats have virtually no mains powered devices and it would be common for them to have very little battery powered devices other than navigation lights and an electric starter for the outboard or inboard.

Saying Bertram speedboat seems to indicate something at their lower end such as a 28CC and that has no real space to spend long periods onboard. Larger models will probably have berths, a loo, domestic batteries and possibly a generator. However, that type wouldn't be described as a speedboat. The equipment you mention would indicate it isn't a speedboat.
 
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Anyone think that another probably new user will soon be along to promote exactly the solution the OP is looking for as a way to AstroTurf links?
 
MillerDamon said:
Thank you for your reply.

The company has rented a Bertram speedboat for our team-building outing. In addition to the necessary DC equipment, we also have a small fridge, microwave, kettle, and coffee maker.:):)
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If you want to run equipment such as that just for the day then rent a power pack such as this bluettipower.co.uk/collections/portable-power-station?cmp_id=15382227049&adg_id=138748506908&kwd=bluetti&device=c&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=15382227049&gbraid=0AAAAABcQOQNRbzpvrC0t-Wx5gHAmRv_i2&gclid=CjwKCAjwi-DBBhA5EiwAXOHsGV0Lghn_uPnsAPg0NJmhhKeg6A6IAoEQT_fZfF7AAiYLx6kqrto2KxoCy2YQAvD_BwE

Capacity will depend on how much power you need for the day. BTW this is not a typical boat issue, but no different from providing power at say a barbeque away from mains power.
 
This is likely to read dogmatic ;/(
1/ most people dont realise how long it takes an engine to charge a half empty battery. They assume that a 60amp alternator will fully charge a half empty 100AF battery in an hour. It wont. Put a clamp ammeter on the main cable and likely you will see a starting current of maybe 40A gradually fading away to almost nothing but after say 4 hours or more.
2/ You can improve this situation to a degree by installing something like a Sterling battery charger gadget. This forces your alternator to charge at a higher output but in doing so it generates more heat. If your engine boax is well ventilated - no issue. In my case the box was tight, the alternator first fitted was Chinese, and all I did was melt the soldering of the alternator diodes to give a dry joint and failure. 3 alternators later and with helpful advice from Sterling I bought a decent quality european alternator where the maker had used silver solder on the diodes. Problem went away, but it still took more than the 30 minute engine run to fully charge the battery.
3/ tried a windmill, the best and most highly rated one I could find. Yes , that worked if you were where the mind was blowing 20kn or more. But you tend to anchor/ moor where there is shelter, and windmills make noise. Depending on how mounted the boat hull can act like the sounding box on a guitar. Life inside an amplifier.
4/ Final solution was a solar panel. When cruising port to port the engine is often on and with 2/ above the batteries never got even half empty. Leaving the boat on a swinging mooring, a 50 watt solar panel ensured that the 3x100AH batteries were full when I came down at the weekend
5/ Pal had a 40 footer with a diesel genny built in. Best answer of all - electric blankets in winter, toast for breakfast, hot water without moving the boat from his swinging mooring. Price was extra weight, extra cost and extra maintenance.
 
ylop said:
there's probably bots doing it now but certainly when if first started happening on forums there were actual humans being paid to get products mentioned and links to improve search engine rankings etc.
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God bless my innocence, or even ignorance. I googled your astro turf links bit expecting to find a golf course with an artificial surface.
 
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