"Married w/ Children" and battery drain...

[Steve L.]

I recently discovered that I could maintain the illusion that I can keep my 3 and 4 year old children "under control" when sailing on my Cat 30' SR by putting a 12 volt combination TV/VHS player on the nav station and doing the Blockbuster thing. I have 2 deep-cycle gel batteries and would like to know if I can play a 1-1/2 to 2 hr. video on this thing without completely draining the battery. I don't want to find that I can't start my engine when it comes time to pull back in the marina. Any ideas or estimates from my electrically-inclined Catalina brethern?Thanks,Steve(married with children)

 

[Rob Rich]

Should be no problem

Hey Steve, You should be fine as long as the batteries are in good shape (adequately and frequently charged). If you rarely charge the batteries, or have no means of telling their state of charge, then you are throwing the dice, unless you motor frequently for long periods of time.If you want an extra layer of security (and who doesn't?), install a separate starting battery that you use only for cranking over the engine. This way, you can absolutely kill your "house" batteries, and still start the engine with a fresh cell (however, I would not recommend completely depleting your house cells if you can avoid it). This way, you can sail all day with no worries, and when that force 7 squall (that NOAA didn't pick up) out of nowhere, you can calmly switch to the starting battery, fire the engine, drop sail, and motor you family safely home.If you need further info on this, look up "batteries" and "deep cycle" in the archives - plenty of info there. Best Regards, Rob

 

[Ron]

3rd battery

Steve,If you want to install a 3rd battery to use for starting only, go to http://www.tcsn.net/bosun/c30/cat30info.htmfor an easy step by step.Good luck.Ron

 

[gary jensen]

should be adequate

The movies should be easily handled by one "good battery". Rob gave good advice. Make sure your batteries are in good shape. Even when you run the movies, designate "ONE" battery as the starter battery. Adding a third battery and an upgraded alternator will give you even better capacity...good luck

 

[Rick]

Amps=watts/volts

Check the back of your tv/vcr to see how many watts it draws. Its probably 50w or less. Divide by 12 volts and you see that it pulls 4 or 5 amps for each hour that your run it. Add those amps to anything else that is running at the same time (lights, etc.) and get the total drawn from the one battery that you are using for the house. (The battery's amp-hour capacity is listed on the battery). 10 amps for a two hour movie wont kill a single deep cycle battery, but it will make a dent in the amount of stored power remaining. If you run the anchor light and other stuff all nite long you could be low by morning.

 

[Mike]

6V Golf Carts

I just installed 2 6V golf cart batteries under the chart table and moved the 12v's beside the fuel tank. I use the 12V for starting and the 6V's for house. I tried this out on the weekend and after a day and a half of running refridgeration, radios, lights a TV and a laptop they had only droped to 11.7V. More than enough juice to fire up the motor. They are worth the money if you don't want to worry about the batteries.