Electricity in a cruise: Basics

When we decided to take a trip of several days by boat, one of the most important points is the energy on board. Without electronic navigation instruments, or night navigation lights or any electrical appliances that make life easier for us on the cruise not work.

 In the event of total failure, it is clear that the ship afloat and continue browsing. But it is very risky to travel at night without lights, or not being able to take advantage of the latest electronic navigation instruments. Without electricity, anchor windlass does not move, and can be very hard to raise it by hand. If we take a leak bilge pump could not work forcing us to use the cubes. Without electricity the boat engine can not be started, making it very risky entry into port using candles. All the problems that can cause an electrical failure on board can become very serious issues in case of bad weather and strong winds.

Even without electrical breakdown must have very clear what our consumption and generation capacity on board. The electrical system must be able to produce electricity by any means available, store and distribute it to different devices boat.

We must be aware of the installation of our ship and learn some basic notions of electricity and have some tools and instruments with which to work on board.

It's not about giving a course in electricity. Knowing Ohm'slaw and some of its variants can assess daily consumption on our boat, and therefore calculate a suitable battery capacity and design the delivery system and restoring more suitable electrical power. The more consumption on board, the faster the batteries discharge.

Normally we talk about power in watts (eg navigation lights may consume a total of 50 watts) and volt (normally batteries boats are usually 12 volts) and is also spoken of current (or intensity current) is measured in Amperes (eg can see that an electrical apparatus on board says consume 15 Amp).

It is very important to know that the product of the volts by the current, indicates the power in watts. For example, if our electric anchor windlass says consume 70 amps and must operate at 12 volts, then the power consumed is 70x12 = 840 watts; Power = voltage x current. In the same formula, we can obtain the current = power / voltage.

The best way to get the total consumption of a ship is to calculate the current of each of the devices, to multiply by the hours that we will use. For example: A light bulb has a power of 24 watts consumes a current of 2 amps (24watios / 12 volts = 2Amperios) Your current consumption is 2 amps and whether we will leave on for 15 hours, then we will have consumed battery 2 x15 amp hours = 30 amperes (really should say ampere-hour is an amount of energy consumed)

Imagine the other hand, the GPS consumes 3 amps and leave it on all day. Then consumption has become of 3x24 = 72 Ampere-hour. In this example, the total consumption of the ship during this day would have been 30 + 72 = 102 Ampere-hour.

We will add consumption on board for total daily consumption. Some devices have marked their consumption somewhere that is difficult to access when it is already installed. In other cases, a badly made installation can alter consumption marked factory. For these reasons, making it more comfortable is to use an ammeter tells us. If the switch panel of the boat has installed an ammeter, simply connect one after the other equipment on board and we will be pointing their consumption, then multiply by the time of intended use.

But very few boats are installed ammeter or are unreliable, so we must use one of ours. There are very affordable digital devices as allow us to know the voltage, resistance, and current.

With these multimeters, we can know the current battery voltage. For it will scale in Volts and 20 Volts calibration, which is the nearest 12-volt voltage to be measured. To make contact with the red and black wires on the battery, we will read the voltage value. The red wire on the positive and the black in the negative. If we put the cables in reverse the measured voltage will come with a minus sign. In this way, we can find the positive because if you leave a minus sign on the screen, where we will be in the black cable and if the reading is positive value is where we have the red wire.

To measure current must put the scale in amperes and put the circuit in series with the meter, ie as if the water meter of irrigation pipeline. We can remove the positive terminal of the battery and connect the ammeter to the battery and the terminal that have withdrawn from this.

Most DMMs are capable of measuring currents up only 10 amps, ie 120 watts (10Amp x 12 Volts), which does not allow measuring high currents, electric windlass, or starter motor ships. To measure this consumption we can use another instrument called a clamp meter. The clip will simply embracing the cable through the circulating current to be measured. No need to disconnect or connect anything, as this works by induction.

The meter scale measuring resistance measurement allows us to track a cable is not cut or short. For example, will scale in 20 KOhms, and we find that if the measurement cables are separated far indicates '1' meaning that indeed this value is infinite, ie the circuit is interrupted or open. Conversely, if the measurement leads together we will see on the screen goes to zero, indicating no resistance between them and therefore the measured value is zero Ohms. If a fuse is either the measured value is 0 Ohms. If you are reading cast will be infinite. A broken wire between the two extremes we want behave measure for measurement purposes as the fuse. If it is cut measure will infinite. If properly give zero or close to zero if the cable is long.

As an example discussed below actual consumption of various appliances on a sailing boat about 12 meters, which together reach about 200 ampere-hours each day. Therefore batteries must have the ability to store this energy and somehow we must be capable of recharging in an approximate value to this figure. In the example given, we found that about half of consumption is produced by the electric refrigerator which comes to consume 4 to 6 amps and usually works 70% of the time and the autopilot that having to make small corrections on helm also consumes about 5 amps.

For the time values ​​in the consumption table, we have assumed a voyage of about 11 hours per day, of which 4 hours night sailing, after which anchored leaving on the Anchor Alarm offered by GPS, and anchor light. We can see how the use of the VHF radio is very small, although much increase their consumption while we issued, and that other devices due to the short time of use barely contribute to the total sum, despite its high potency in functioning. For example, the water pressurization pump only works for short periods to recharge circuit pressure when necessary. Powerful engines as a bow thruster or anchor windlass will not count any value in the table as well as work for very short periods of time when they do the boat engine must be running, not consuming energy battery.

 More details learn you can visit this site.

what is the best method to choose a perfect marine battery

The best marine battery

There are lot of marine batteries in the market. All of are not the perfect for your trolling motor. But now the question is, which battery is right choose for electric trolling motor? Or, what is the best method tochoose a perfect marine battery? Okay, nice!

We're going to give you 3 basic rules to choose the best trolling motor battery for your marine boat.

First rule:

Do not use a car starter battery for your trolling motor. Starting batteries are designed to deliver the stored energy in short bursts of high current that are made so much spaced. If a starter battery we request delivery of egg 25 A continuously, the battery will not be able to deliver the energy that has accumulated (ampere-hour) as this delivery continued the "suffocation" after a while. Use deep cycle batteries, if possible AGM technology, designed for this type of work. These batteries themselves will be able to deliver the requested amperage during the scheduled time and will last many charge-discharge cycles.

Second rule:

Calculate amps consuming engine, with the following formula: Push in pounds / Motor Voltage x 12 = Amperes consuming.

For example:

55 pounds of thrust / 12 x 12 = 55 Volts Amperes

55 pounds of thrust / 24 x 12 = 27.5 Volts Amperes

55 pounds of thrust / 36 Volts Amperes x 12 = 18.3

Note: Although we have an engine of 55 pounds of thrust, probably we will not continually use 100% power, so we estimate the average power used%.

Third rule:

Depending on the number of consecutive hours that you want autonomy, select the required battery.

For example:

With an engine that consumes 55 Amperes, we will use an average of 75% of its power, we want an autonomy of 3 hours. Battery needed = consumption power amps x% x operating hours x 1.3 = 55 A x 0.75 x 1.3 x 3 h = 160,88 Ah.

Fantastic. To take a walk of 3 hours with an electric trolling motor we have to buy a 160-amp battery deep discharge, which is worth a small outboard motor.

Choose deep cycle marine batteries

Use a deep cycle battery configuration, where a separate starter battery is used to start the engine, and actual cycle battery is used for accessories. This configuration is ideal for boats with larger engines, which need a lot of energy to start early. A free starter battery power faster, and thus exhausts its stored energy quickly, to provide the output amperage for snacks high amounts of energy. Power is supplied then the deep cycle battery accessories, while the battery recharges to leave for the next time it is needed.

Use a single deep cycle battery for smaller boats with small motors or boats operated drive motors. Small motors do not require a lot of electricity to start, and traction motors do not require electricity boot. In this case, a deep cycle battery will provide power to start a small engine and still provide enough energy to power the drive motors and accessories.

Use a deep cycle battery hybrid that has the attributes of both a starter battery and a battery deep cycle really means for the engine with electric start and accessories on board, or if space is at a premium. These batteries have two types of plates inside. One type of power outputs for fast engine starting, and the other plates slowly release energy to power accessories.

Choose a gel battery or battery-SVR AGM for maximum efficiency, zero maintenance and long runs. This type will cost more than a lead-acid battery reference, but give better performance, faster loading, unloading, except when sitting idle, and completely sealed to eliminate acid spill. Learn complete guideline of all kinds of marine batteries you can visit this helpful site.

Choose and install a Solar Panel

If you go to navigate to the end of the world, a solar panel could become the only way to be self-sufficient with electricity on board. He goodbye to annoying noise diesel generator at the end of the day if we sail to sail is to forget about civilization and its noise!

A good solar panels can be the smartest solution to always keep the batteries fully loaded, though of course not the only, as it can be perfectly complemented by a wind generator, or even a hydro generator seize the ship's motion to move a propeller connected to a generator or alternator.

But back to the solar panels. Although they may seem an expensive investment, it is not carried deception. If you consider the fuel saved to start charging its battery, the savings in ports for plug a charger, the fact that they are practically eternal and do not have any wear, investment will have another look, and without account gained independence thanks to them.

We must consider several aspects when choosing solar panels, as the type of photovoltaic cells, where and how they will be installed, the amount of power needed, the choice of the charge controller, or even the choice of driver consumption.

Types of panels

There are 3 different types, with monocrystalline, polycrystalline or thin-film technology, also called amorphous silicon. The first were those who left the market initially and remain the most widely used because they offer the highest levels of performance and higher power per unit area. They are rigid and are protected by glass which makes them almost eternal but fragile against shock.

Polycrystalline have very similar characteristics to the first but offer a lower return for a price somewhat lower potency. Its duration and monocrystalline is very high.

The thin-film panels use a very durable technology because they are flexible and can be stepped on, or bent without any problem, but offer half the power than the first, so to get the same power need twice as much surface. In return they are much less sensitive to yield loss if any part of the panel is in the shade.

The amount of them you will need depends on the consumption of your boat. It is not the same a small boat with little more than the navigation lights to another with a fridge and complex navigation equipment. But when calculating the power delivered by these, keep in mind that you usually calculate about 4 hours of full sunlight daily on the panels. If for example your panel delivers 75 watts, you must have 4x75 = 300 watts / day. If further its panels are not fitted with a system that allows them to be oriented entering shady areas or misdirection, count with only 50% of this power.

Mounting a solar panel must be optimized so that they tend to receive the most sunlight perpendicular to sunlight. Therefore there are systems that allow rotation of these to get the best performance. A fixed assembly can greatly reduce the functionality of the installation, as in when an area of ​​the panel stops receiving light because of a shadow, it begins to stop working very quickly. Do not think that if the panel is half in shadow deliver half the power. Much less simply will not work.

You can use a support mounted above the transom, radar arch, bimini top, above the cab if your boat has one. Use a power cord appropriate section and prepared to withstand the corrosive marine environment. They are more expensive but more durable.

Except for very small solar panels you will require a charge controller to adjust the power anointing the state of charge of the battery. When this goes charging voltage increases and this is detected by the controller to protect it from excessive loads. The charge controller also prevent your batteries are discharged at night due to a reverse consumption produced by solar panels, although this unwanted effect can be solved by a simple soldier diode in series with the solar panel.

The most advanced controllers dotting the diode during periods of performance of the panel to avoid the slight voltage drop produced by the diodes. Use controllers that can withstand more power than delivered by the panel because they never know if you later end up installing another panel, and in any case work more comfortably and with less possibility of damage due to excessive power controlled.

A good battery monitor will let you know the performance of your system, the energy supplied by the panels in amperes which will help you to know the best angle adjustment panel facing the sun. Digital monitors battery provide figures indicating the current supplied to the system and consumed. That is we will indicate the battery voltage, charge status expressed in ampere-hours, if the battery is charging or discharging at this moment and that makes current flow. More information you read this details article for this topic.