How long away from the boat to disconnect shore power

MapisM

MapisM

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I mean, assuming that you don't have any fridges left on, or anything else requiring electricity, when do you consider a leave from the boat long enough to leave shore power disconnected?
Or do you keep shore power (hence also the battery charger, I suppose) on 24/7 regardless of whether you are onboard or not?
 
We often leave shore power off for a few weeks or even a month with the battery master switches off. As soon as we arrive back on board I pop it back on with the battery charger and fridge. The domestic batteries have always been fine. Despite todays smart chargers I don't like to leave battery charger on for months on end. If we are just gone for a week or two we sometimes leave the fridge on 220v mode but the boats domestic 12v system off and battery charger off.

During winter storage we also leave battery charger off except for a few hours mid winter when we do our inspection.
 
I have a day boat (but it still has a fridge) , but I only ever connect to shore power when I go back to the UK.

When I'm in Mallorca it's disconnected from power, when I leave Mallorca I plug the boat in to keep the batteries conditioned, and to enable the bilge pump to run forever should the boat develop a leak while Im away.
 
We don't have power on our pontoons
As long as your battery is good with
power switched off it will be ok for a few months,
Battery sit on the shelf in the shop for up to 12 months
 
Well it must be a couple of weeks since this was discussed so I shouldn't be surprised that it's cropped up again.

I leave my shore power and batter charger on all year. The logic being that if I sprung a leak then the bilge pump couldn't drain the battery. Of course the risk is that you fry the battery and start a fire.

The optimum solution would be a boat monitoring system that would alert me if the bilge pumps were activated or the battery charge dropped. That way I'd be happy to disconnect.
 
petem said:
I leave my shore power and batter charger on all year. The logic being that if I sprung a leak then the bilge pump couldn't drain the battery.
Click to expand...

Same here.

Interestingly, my insurance has a clause that I can't be away from the boat for more than 45 days or some number around that.
 
petem said:
I leave my shore power and batter charger on all year. The logic being that if I sprung a leak then the bilge pump couldn't drain the battery. Of course the risk is that you fry the battery and start a fire.

The optimum solution would be a boat monitoring system that would alert me if the bilge pumps were activated or the battery charge dropped. That way I'd be happy to disconnect.
Click to expand...

+1,
Its almost impossible to have consumtion in the boat 0 amps, so batts need to be topped up.

We recently installed the new YachtSentinel alarm system, monitors all kind of signals, ao water in bilges, DC batt volt, AC 230v present, position, door contact, ...
 
All my boats have inc this one the charger is permanently on when we leave .
Assume float / trickle mode .

Same with all my cars they are on trickle chargers in my absence .

The only potential prob I,am told is quicker poss zinc anode depletion.
But they are all replaced annually anyhow .

This extra rapid zinc depletion might need further investigation for those have Ali outdrives dangling in the water .
 
For the summer months, our berth has no power. We're normally on the boat every weekend, but sometimes it could be 2 - 3 weekends.

Master switches off, never had any issue. That said, we have 3 huge golf-cart batteries in place (the things weigh 50Kg!) and make sure to run the genny for a few hours every weekend when we're on-board.
 
We always leave the boat disconnected between visits when afloat , mainly due to concerns over galvanic corrosion to the leg.
We are seldom away from it more than a week so batteries are fine with this. (If they are not its a good early indication that they are on their way out)
During the winter when its at home on the trailer its connected all the time.
I imagine it would different in a bigger boat with more systems, especially if no drives present!
 
Our previous berth didn't have power routinely available (arrangements could be made for tools) so our electrical system is based on the engine as sole source of charging. We've since moved to a berth that does have power, but decided not to pay for it since we had no problem without it before. So in our case, every time we leave the boat it is disconnected.

Lots of others are plugged in year-round though, I don't think there's anything unusual or wrong about that.

EDIT: To be clear, I don't mean we disconnect the boat when we leave, but that it is never connected in the first place.

Pete
 
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Our previous boats have been plugged up 24x365 and we saw no problems until very recently. We just changed boats, part exchanging the previous one and when she was hauled out, we discovered that most of the propeller was gone - simply eroded away. This must have happened over a period of less than 12 months because the boat had been lifted for cleaning and anti-fouling and nothing was reported then. It may have been caused by the anti-fouling - previously we had never applied anything to the propeller but this time round the boatyard wanted to paint it - I'm not sure what they used, but a prop in apparently perfect condition was reduced to scrap in just over a year.

With the new boat, we are disconnecting when we go home for the weekend. It's still hooked up about four days per week because we are aboard. In the depths of winter we will probably leave it on permanently to power a dehumidifier and a couple of tube heaters while we are away.
 
MapisM said:
I mean, assuming that you don't have any fridges left on, or anything else requiring electricity, when do you consider a leave from the boat long enough to leave shore power disconnected?
Or do you keep shore power (hence also the battery charger, I suppose) on 24/7 regardless of whether you are onboard or not?
Click to expand...

every time i pack up & go home
 
MapisM said:
I mean, assuming that you don't have any fridges left on, or anything else requiring electricity, when do you consider a leave from the boat long enough to leave shore power disconnected?
Or do you keep shore power (hence also the battery charger, I suppose) on 24/7 regardless of whether you are onboard or not?
Click to expand...

Well if you are in Carloforte, the marina disconnects your shorepower cable the minute you leave your boat! Personally I like to leave my shorepower permanently connected with only the battery charger connected for the same reason that petem says ie. if the bilge pumps have to operate continuously if the boat is flooding then the shorepower is ensuring that the batteries do not go flat and the boat sinks. However there is a risk to this for sure. A few years ago I arrived at my boat after a few weeks away and not even the pasarelle would work. When I eventually managed to get onboard there was a strong burning smell. On further investigation it turned out that 2 of the domestic batteries had overheated. If the batteries had caught fire, I guess the engine bay fire extinguisher would have dealt with it but it would have been an awful mess and probably our holiday would have been ruined

I suppose the ideal situation is to have crew or a reliable person who looks after your boat who can plug the boat into shorepower for a few hours every week
 
mersey said:
Interestingly, my insurance has a clause that I can't be away from the boat for more than 45 days
Click to expand...
Is anyone aware of similar requirements in Y policy, by chance?
Actually I can't remember to have read anything along those lines, but I might have missed it...
 
While we are “ doing “ permanently on chargers ,another disadvantage I found out in Nov , while on a maintenance/ clean week end the bats when you arrive are fully topped up - obviously.
So 30 secs after disconnecting the shore power the engines fire up as per normal .
But if they are past it they discharge quickly and don,t hold the top up from the alternators .
I took my boat out for a winter run end of last Nov to Antibes , bought a few hundred L of fresh fuel , maybe parked up 1 hr tops
Dead mans click of the starter solenoids .
Fridges and other domestic stuff left on , just about enough juice using the parallel x over switch to fire up .
I did run the geny for 40 mins before to attempt seemingly successfully to bulk charge the lot .

But I don,t know how you can get round that , after all like a leaking bucket a duff batts just gotta big hole and haemorrhaging charge when the main charger is off .

Remember some engine alternators juice goes to power the ECU,s and electrotwackery to run the engine.

We just changed out the pair of engine bats 2x 180 ah when we returned and the problem has gone away .

I guess in hindsight they turned over a bit before firing @ the end of last season .
Now they fire immediately as soon as the key moves to the right .

If it was left with the charger OFF I would have arrived at the new batts point sooner I guess .At the home dock .
 
MapisM said:
Is anyone aware of similar requirements in Y policy, by chance?
Actually I can't remember to have read anything along those lines, but I might have missed it...
Click to expand...

According to my Y policy

You are not covered for any claim arising:

1.10 from sinking or swamping whilst the Vessel is unattended afloat if the Vessel is less than 17 feet length overall and the Maximum Designed Speed is in excess of 17 knots, unless agreed by Us.
Click to expand...

So assuming you have a boat over 17ft you should be OK with a Y policy. They are pretty good at answering questions by email so worth contacting directly if you have any queries
 
I only have shore power connected when I am at the boat. When I come away all power is switched off and the shore power disconnected. In the winter it I left connected for the Tube Heaters in the engine bay

Dennis
 
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