Hello,
I am considering a serious upgrade to our electrical system basically to allow us to stay on the hook for 2 days without worries. I wanted to find out suggestions and recommendations and understand if those are reasonable goals.
Most of our consumption is refrigeration/freezer and anchor lights plus a few hours of lights at night (LED). Our system consumes about 5A when the fridge/freezer are running with the anchor lights, and that is enough to use 50% of capacity in less than 24h. This is on factory Beneteau Oceanis that is about 7 years old, so the batteries are nearing useful life (but are holding so far). Batteries are wet cell, 4 for house, 1 engine, 2 for the bow thruster. Charger is a Cristec CPS3 charger which seems to support AGM batteries as well. Engine is a Yanmar 3JH5E with what I believe is a Hitachi 80A alternator. Boat is in Seattle.
1) Is it reasonable for 48h on the hook with a reasonable cost system? More?
2) I tend to motor a lot in the summer, would a bigger alternator be a good investment? I have no generator. How about a much bigger alternator (200A)? Right now I have to motor well above 1000 RPM for several hours to get just a fraction of our capacity recharged.
3) Would typical solar (a couple of large panels over my Bimini) be meaningful in the Pacific Northwest? In other words, should I expect it to generate enough energy for a night? Less?
4) Would changing to AGM increase our capacity (keeping the same volume of battery) by a lot? a little?
5) any recommendations for chargers and alternators (Balmar?) I should look into for a modern sailboat? Any other reading ?
Thanks much for any help!
I am considering a serious upgrade to our electrical system basically to allow us to stay on the hook for 2 days without worries. I wanted to find out suggestions and recommendations and understand if those are reasonable goals.
Most of our consumption is refrigeration/freezer and anchor lights plus a few hours of lights at night (LED). Our system consumes about 5A when the fridge/freezer are running with the anchor lights, and that is enough to use 50% of capacity in less than 24h. This is on factory Beneteau Oceanis that is about 7 years old, so the batteries are nearing useful life (but are holding so far). Batteries are wet cell, 4 for house, 1 engine, 2 for the bow thruster. Charger is a Cristec CPS3 charger which seems to support AGM batteries as well. Engine is a Yanmar 3JH5E with what I believe is a Hitachi 80A alternator. Boat is in Seattle.
1) Is it reasonable for 48h on the hook with a reasonable cost system? More?
2) I tend to motor a lot in the summer, would a bigger alternator be a good investment? I have no generator. How about a much bigger alternator (200A)? Right now I have to motor well above 1000 RPM for several hours to get just a fraction of our capacity recharged.
3) Would typical solar (a couple of large panels over my Bimini) be meaningful in the Pacific Northwest? In other words, should I expect it to generate enough energy for a night? Less?
4) Would changing to AGM increase our capacity (keeping the same volume of battery) by a lot? a little?
5) any recommendations for chargers and alternators (Balmar?) I should look into for a modern sailboat? Any other reading ?
Thanks much for any help!