Leisure battery to power laptop?

Re: Sounds about right...

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Question, is the little 12v 5Amp charging thing coming from the Honda contributing much? 5 Amps doesn’t sound like a lot. Is it enough to keep my 110 Ah domestic battery topped up.


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It may not sound much, but assuming it is working properly, the output from an outboard, small as it is , is really useful for a small boat. Small outboard powered boats usually don't have a large battery capacity or many power hungry devices (until owners put laptops on /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif).

However, they are only any good when they are working. The electrics and connectors are more vulnerable on an outboard, being exposed. Therefore you really need to get a multimeter to make sure everything is OK. Maplin sell a suitable one not much more than a fiver...

Cheapo multimeter

Small outboards will often not put anything into the battery at tickover, so the engine needs to be running at least at a slow cruising speed. You can then use the multimeter to see how many amps are going in to you battery.
 
Re: Sounds about right...

You need to test the actual current going in to the battery to see how much benefit you are getting at various speeds.
A 5 amp charger may in fact be designed to provide 5 amps in to electrics ie lights at 12 volts or even a little less while to charge at 5 amps needs about 14 volts. The 2 specifications are not the same. So my guess is that while you may be able to run electrics up to 5 amps you won't get 5 amps into your battery. sorry olewill
 
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