Volts, Amps, solar, wind

[Thedreamoneday]

As a newb with no clue of electrics can someone give me a simplified explanation of Volts, Amps and electrics in general.

I understand certain electrical items would drain my batteries in no time whats so ever, but i dont understand how it works and whats potentially optimum for recharging. eg I see certain solar panels provide xxxxxx but lighting drains xxxxx

hope this makes sense.

Nice & basic please.

Thanks

 

[VicS]

As a newb with no clue of electrics can someone give me a simplified explanation of Volts, Amps and electrics in general.

I understand certain electrical items would drain my batteries in no time whats so ever, but i dont understand how it works and whats potentially optimum for recharging. eg I see certain solar panels provide xxxxxx but lighting drains xxxxx

hope this makes sense.

Nice & basic please.

Thanks

Your best bet is to start by studing the "Boat Electrical Notes" on Tony Brooks' TB-Training website. http://www.tb-training.co.uk/

Written for the complete novice from the bottom up

Then come back with more specific questions.


Dig out the old school scienece note books too. You learnt the basics in your science lessons

 

[Thedreamoneday]

Your best bet is to start by studing the "Boat Electrical Notes" on Tony Brooks' TB-Training website. http://www.tb-training.co.uk/

Written for the complete novice from the bottom up

Then come back with more specific questions.


Dig out the old school scienece note books too. You learnt the basics in your science lessons

School was many moons ago now so no books there but I just had a quick scan on the web site you provided an that's a good start for me.

Thanks

 

[jac]

At a really really really basic level, the voltage determines what equipment you have. The vast majority of boats have a 12v system so you need 12v batteries and 12v appliances.

Amps determines how much power it uses when on. So a halogen bulb might draw 1.5 amps. A fridge 4 amps etc.
The power used depends on how many hours it is on for. So a 1.5 amp bulb for 10 hours will be 15 amp hours (ah)

Batteries will state the ah on them but you can't use all of it. You can only discharge to about 50% and it gets really hard to charge above 80%. You need a smart charger and time to get to 100% so in reality you have 30-40% of nominal battery available. So if you have 200ah of domestic battery you will get 60-80 ah out of it

Chargers, solar, wind gens, alternators will state how much charge they will put in to a battery but they quote peak output - you will get less.

Finally many things (e.g light bulbs or solar panels ) will express watts. Watts is votes times amps so a 20 watt bulb on a 12 v system is about 1.6 amps.

It does get much more complicated than that but that is the absolute basics.

 

[Thedreamoneday]

At a really really really basic level, the voltage determines what equipment you have. The vast majority of boats have a 12v system so you need 12v batteries and 12v appliances.

Amps determines how much power it uses when on. So a halogen bulb might draw 1.5 amps. A fridge 4 amps etc.
The power used depends on how many hours it is on for. So a 1.5 amp bulb for 10 hours will be 15 amp hours (ah)

Batteries will state the ah on them but you can't use all of it. You can only discharge to about 50% and it gets really hard to charge above 80%. You need a smart charger and time to get to 100% so in reality you have 30-40% of nominal battery available. So if you have 200ah of domestic battery you will get 60-80 ah out of it

Chargers, solar, wind gens, alternators will state how much charge they will put in to a battery but they quote peak output - you will get less.

Finally many things (e.g light bulbs or solar panels ) will express watts. Watts is votes times amps so a 20 watt bulb on a 12 v system is about 1.6 amps.

It does get much more complicated than that but that is the absolute basics.

Perfect- that makes sense!

 

[temptress]

Perfect- that makes sense!

Actually Watts is how much power the appliance uses. For your purposes watts is volts X amps.

I recommend you check out some websites and come back here to refine specific point. It's too big a subject to get a concise answer here.

Good luck.

 

[cryan]

I was taught to think of electricity in terms you understand, such as if electricity was a train the wire would be the track the amps would be the length of the train and the volts the size of the engine. Or if water then the pipe is the wire the amps is the volume of water and the volts the pressure. Switches become like valves, resistors are smaller pipe sections to restrict flow, capacitors are a bucket with a hole in the bottom which once filled up will drain at a constant rate even if the flow in is variable. Etc etc.

 

[nedmin]

Before you get too involved the best analogy for electricity is water.Voltage is pressure ie the higher the water tank the higher the pressure at your tap or shower.The current or amperes is the flow so if you have a 1inch pipe connected to the tank the current is less than a 2 inch pipe.Power is expressed in Watts and is voltage( or pressure)multiplied by current(or flow) in amps.So that the 1 inch pipe will not give you as much power as the 2 inch pipe at the outlet.That will do for today!! Its tea time.