I just finished installing a 8 disk cd player and an autohelm 4000 on my boat. I expect to use both while sailing to various bay destinations. My question: I'm a little worried about battery capacity or I should say longevity. On my boat there appears to be only room for two batteries. One house and one starting. If I use the autohelm and stero all day, and the stereo all night as well as lights pump etc. I'm worried that I will not have enough juice to run the anchor light all night. Another battery is an option, but where, seems like a pain as well. I could run the engine before bed but recently I read that it wasn't good to run my 2gm20f with no load for an extended period of time. If I do decied to add another battery don't I have to replace the existing house battery so the new 2 battery bank matches. Option 3 would be replacing the existing battery with the best quality battery I can find to go in it's place. Does anyone have suggestions? Option four would be to hum and steer myself, if that's the case I should have saved the $1500.00 I just spent not to mention all the time getting the equipment installed. Thanks in advance.
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extra battery location
I have 28.5 and have one battery located on the floor under the sink. I installed a second on the floor in the sail locker and have em feed thru a Guest combination switch & separator. J. McCue "Safeharbor"
I have 28.5 and have one battery located on the floor under the sink. I installed a second on the floor in the sail locker and have em feed thru a Guest combination switch & separator. J. McCue "Safeharbor"
If it's any consolation ........................
........ you'll find that the CD player will consume about 0.9 to 1.1 amps. As far as the rest of the equipment goes, it sounds like you have a heavy electrical load. One electrical reduction may be to use the autopilot only under power. It's a big consumer. Regards, s/v Island Hunter
........ you'll find that the CD player will consume about 0.9 to 1.1 amps. As far as the rest of the equipment goes, it sounds like you have a heavy electrical load. One electrical reduction may be to use the autopilot only under power. It's a big consumer. Regards, s/v Island Hunter
Battery
You do not have to "match" the batteries in your battery banks. I use a large capacity house battery and a "dual-purpose" starting battery,(both of good quality) and I have my electronics and autopilot on that one. Starting has never been a problem. The house bank handles everything else. I do not, however, use the autopilot under sail as suggested in the previous reply.
You do not have to "match" the batteries in your battery banks. I use a large capacity house battery and a "dual-purpose" starting battery,(both of good quality) and I have my electronics and autopilot on that one. Starting has never been a problem. The house bank handles everything else. I do not, however, use the autopilot under sail as suggested in the previous reply.
Let's count the amps
Let's assume you leave at 10 am and anchor at 6 pm. Further assume you run the CD player and autopilor all day. After 8 hours you may consume roughly the following: Autopilot 8 * 1 = 8 amps Instruments 8 * 1 = 8 amps CD player 8 * 4 = 32 amps Total consumed 48 amps From 6 pm, assume you will continue to use the CD player for another 5 hours and by 8am the following morning you will have used your anchor light for a total of 12 hours. Then your additional consumption will be CD player 5 * 4 = 20 amps Ancorh light 12 * 1.5 = 18 amps Miscellaneous 10 amps Total 48 amps Grand total for about 24 hours is 96 amps. Assuming these calculations fairly account for your total use, you will need to recharge batteries before anchoring or certainly before you retire for the evening unless you have about 300 amp hours of battery capacity. Further assuming that you have room for two group 27 batteries on one bank but nothing more, you will have only about 2/3 of the capacity you need. If you could run the motor in the evening enough to replace 25 amps or so, you should be fine the next morning for starting the motor. You cn run the motor at anchor by simply putting the motor in reverse and tugging against your anchor as you recharge the batteries. This will also assure you of a good anchor set. This approach has worked well for me for years.
Let's assume you leave at 10 am and anchor at 6 pm. Further assume you run the CD player and autopilor all day. After 8 hours you may consume roughly the following: Autopilot 8 * 1 = 8 amps Instruments 8 * 1 = 8 amps CD player 8 * 4 = 32 amps Total consumed 48 amps From 6 pm, assume you will continue to use the CD player for another 5 hours and by 8am the following morning you will have used your anchor light for a total of 12 hours. Then your additional consumption will be CD player 5 * 4 = 20 amps Ancorh light 12 * 1.5 = 18 amps Miscellaneous 10 amps Total 48 amps Grand total for about 24 hours is 96 amps. Assuming these calculations fairly account for your total use, you will need to recharge batteries before anchoring or certainly before you retire for the evening unless you have about 300 amp hours of battery capacity. Further assuming that you have room for two group 27 batteries on one bank but nothing more, you will have only about 2/3 of the capacity you need. If you could run the motor in the evening enough to replace 25 amps or so, you should be fine the next morning for starting the motor. You cn run the motor at anchor by simply putting the motor in reverse and tugging against your anchor as you recharge the batteries. This will also assure you of a good anchor set. This approach has worked well for me for years.
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