Here is my situation. I have 2 AGM 8D batteries rated at 200 AH per battery. They are wired together. I have a Freedom 2000 inverter/charger and a 8KW generator only for my charging needs and the engine has a 80 amp alt. on it.I estimate we use approx. 170 AH per 24hr. I am running the generator 1 hr in the AM and 1 hr in the PM to keep the batteries charged. Does this seem normal to all you veteran cruisers?
Electrical needs question
- Thread starter kingsailor
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Well 170 sounds a bit high but taking your word for it. If your discharging to almost 50% of your battery AH capacity every day then 2 hours on charge every day does not sound out of order.
There is a spreadsheet in the downloads section that can help you evaluate your electrical loads-production-storage.
For the record you are running a little less than twice what is "normal" with 170 AH/day. You might want to consider reducing your loads as a first/cheapest solution.
There is a spreadsheet in the downloads section that can help you evaluate your electrical loads-production-storage.
For the record you are running a little less than twice what is "normal" with 170 AH/day. You might want to consider reducing your loads as a first/cheapest solution.
Doesn't sound bad, but there's always upgrade options if your power needs are not met:
http://shop.hunterowners.com/prod.php?52037
http://shop.hunterowners.com/prod.php?52037
With AGM batteries you will want to get them back to 100% as often as possible to get the longest life out of them. AGM, more so than any other chemistry, need to be charged to 100% frequently. For Lifeline batteries "full" is defined by an accepted charge current at 14.4V of .5% of capacity.
With those loads and just two hours per day of charging you are likely cycling between 50% and 80% state of charge or so. With two hours per day you will not get back to full unless you hit a dock, add solar or wind or run the gen set for about 10 hours.
Well dang it Phil moved all the stuff around.
Email me at williamroosa137 @ gmail . com for a copy of the spreadsheet
Email me at williamroosa137 @ gmail . com for a copy of the spreadsheet
The All-Important Energy Budget:
http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3976.0.html
Record of Daily Energy Use of 100 ah per day:
http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,6353.msg41471.html#msg41471
http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3976.0.html
Record of Daily Energy Use of 100 ah per day:
http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,6353.msg41471.html#msg41471
Stu,
Many of the larger boats, some Hunters included, have two complete fridge compressors one for the fridge and one for the freezer. It's pretty easy for boats like that to push 150+ Ah/day... Hell I just worked on a 70 footer where the owner wanted to run the AC from the batteries as she does not like to listen to the gen set with guests and while enjoying cocktails & dinner.. Well 30k later, just in Lithium batteries, she can now run the AC off her bank.....
Me, I average 20-30 Ah/day...
Good point about dual fridges, etc. That's where the budget will be very handy for this skipper, ours or Bill's.
Hi Kingsailor, there is an ebook at www.smashwords.com Marine Electrics Made Simple or How to Keep the Batteries Charged that has a lot of information on this subject.
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