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A glowing report

752 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Yorksailor 
#1 ·
Power management on an older boat has always been a pretty hit or miss sort of deal. Some systems added and installed without going through the main power distribution panel, while others are removed.
A couple of solar panels and a windgen and one really has no idea of what the actual net input to the batteries actually is.
Enter the Blue Seas M2 1834 DC Multimeter. With a 500 amp shunt on the negative side of the house batteries it will even read the high draw of my windlass and electric Lewmar 65's. Every single bit of power going into and out of my batteries shows up on this little beauty.
I mounted it at the chart table with the windgen and solar remotes, where I spend most of my time, and constantly glance at it to see what's going on. Plus 4.2 amps, plus 1.3 amps, minus 3.7 amps, etc. and an absolutely direct voltage from the battery terminals via a dedicated line.
For the first couple of weeks it was, "Hon, since you are aft, turn on the fan, please." It draws about .3 amp. "How about operating the electric head?" 21 amps. And so on and so forth until I've a pretty good idea of what every item on the boat draws, including those I run off the 3.5k inverter! This computer draws about 3.9 amps of 12 volts as I write this!
Right now, with the solar running at 14.27 amps and the windgen hovering at 1.42 amps, the batteries are actually receiving 10.5 amps. I'm sure you can do the math and can see that around 5 amps are being used to power this computer, the wifi antenna, charge the phone and a couple of tablets. Cool, huh?
This unit was my Christmas present to myself and I think I gave myself a pretty good one this year.
I just thought that you all might want to put this little beauty on your wish list if power management is of any concern to you.
I have no affiliation with Blue Seas.
 
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#3 ·
Battery Monitors/Ah or Coulomb counters are excellent devices that give lots of excellent information. Tracking charging performance is one of the best features.

The more critical aspects of them are in keeping them accurate in relation to your battery bank. Regardless of brand all Ah counters can benefit from proper programming.

Programming A Battery Monitor
 
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