So Im new to this electronics stuff on board... Im curious about power usage for 3 day trips on my new 326. I know there is a microwave and I ordered the autopilot. No refridge at this time. But Ill run a laptop w DVD, and install a stereo. Will I have to upgrade my batteries? When there is talk of house bank and starter bank that means the two batteries on the batt switch 1 and 2, or am I getting lost? Thanks for any answers. Ed
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WOW!
Your questions require a lot of answers here, but I can assure you there is no way you are going to run all the stuff you mentioned for three days on two batteries. You can forget running the micro wave. The smallest I have seen uses around 80 amp hours and that would probably deplete both batteries given the 50/85% rule. Best thing is to get a good book like The 12 Volt Bible and start at the beginning. Use Ohms Law to figure your power consumption using the information on the panels on your equipment, i.e. TV, stereo, etc. Take the Wattage and divide it by Volts to get Amps... 24 Watts/12 volts=2 amps per hour X the number of hours you plan to use that piece of equipment. Let's say your stereo is 20 watts. 20/12=1.77 amps X 8 hrs per day=14.16amps. Do this for all of the stuff you want to run and then add them all together. If you go over 50% of your battery capacity it's too much. Then multiply this total times 3 days and you'll see that it probably can't be done without a recharge of the batteries. Your stereo alone would take one 100 amp/hr battery. (You can only use 50% of your battery without causing permanent damage). 50 available amps-42.5 for you stereo(over a thre day period) leaves only 7.5 for other things. When you get into TV sets and DVD players... well you get the idea... Try a small light and a good book. You'll be amazed at how much better it is... Ron/KA5HZv
Your questions require a lot of answers here, but I can assure you there is no way you are going to run all the stuff you mentioned for three days on two batteries. You can forget running the micro wave. The smallest I have seen uses around 80 amp hours and that would probably deplete both batteries given the 50/85% rule. Best thing is to get a good book like The 12 Volt Bible and start at the beginning. Use Ohms Law to figure your power consumption using the information on the panels on your equipment, i.e. TV, stereo, etc. Take the Wattage and divide it by Volts to get Amps... 24 Watts/12 volts=2 amps per hour X the number of hours you plan to use that piece of equipment. Let's say your stereo is 20 watts. 20/12=1.77 amps X 8 hrs per day=14.16amps. Do this for all of the stuff you want to run and then add them all together. If you go over 50% of your battery capacity it's too much. Then multiply this total times 3 days and you'll see that it probably can't be done without a recharge of the batteries. Your stereo alone would take one 100 amp/hr battery. (You can only use 50% of your battery without causing permanent damage). 50 available amps-42.5 for you stereo(over a thre day period) leaves only 7.5 for other things. When you get into TV sets and DVD players... well you get the idea... Try a small light and a good book. You'll be amazed at how much better it is... Ron/KA5HZv
Battery
Ed, I believe the reason for 2 batteries is so you can use one (HOUSE) and still have another fresh battery to start your engine. You'll probably have to figure the rest on your own, because noone else knows exactly what you're doing while on your boat. For example, let's say you have a 200 amp-hr battery: Typically, you can use roughly half of that, or 100 amp-hrs before it is considered to be 'dead'. BASICALLY what that means is that you can use 10 amps for 10 hours (10 x 10=100), 1 amp for 100 hrs, etc. If you don't care to do all that figuring, you can get gauges that monitor the "state-of-charge" of 1, 2, or more batteries. Boater's World offers the Goldeneye monitor, Sailnet has the Heart Link 10 and Link 20 models. I'm sure there are others. I have no experience with these devices, so I cannot fairly recommend any one over another. Anyway, the point here is that you'll have to determine by your own experience what you need for what you want to do. Just don't cheat & use the "START" battery if the house battery gives out in the middle of the party! I hope this gives you some useful info. Happy Sailing! Jim Maroldo s/v: Lil' Wass Ett
Ed, I believe the reason for 2 batteries is so you can use one (HOUSE) and still have another fresh battery to start your engine. You'll probably have to figure the rest on your own, because noone else knows exactly what you're doing while on your boat. For example, let's say you have a 200 amp-hr battery: Typically, you can use roughly half of that, or 100 amp-hrs before it is considered to be 'dead'. BASICALLY what that means is that you can use 10 amps for 10 hours (10 x 10=100), 1 amp for 100 hrs, etc. If you don't care to do all that figuring, you can get gauges that monitor the "state-of-charge" of 1, 2, or more batteries. Boater's World offers the Goldeneye monitor, Sailnet has the Heart Link 10 and Link 20 models. I'm sure there are others. I have no experience with these devices, so I cannot fairly recommend any one over another. Anyway, the point here is that you'll have to determine by your own experience what you need for what you want to do. Just don't cheat & use the "START" battery if the house battery gives out in the middle of the party! I hope this gives you some useful info. Happy Sailing! Jim Maroldo s/v: Lil' Wass Ett
Battery System
I have installed a dual house bank with a starter bank on my 320 to get a 24-36 hour use before a charge on my boat, with a fridge. Both house banks can be isolated from each other as well as the starter bank. All charge from alternator as well as battery charger no matter what the switch positions. If you want the schematic and instructions, let me know and I can send them to you via snail mail. Steve sestyles@yahoo.com
I have installed a dual house bank with a starter bank on my 320 to get a 24-36 hour use before a charge on my boat, with a fridge. Both house banks can be isolated from each other as well as the starter bank. All charge from alternator as well as battery charger no matter what the switch positions. If you want the schematic and instructions, let me know and I can send them to you via snail mail. Steve sestyles@yahoo.com
re:Wow
Hi Ron, Thanks for your response. I do the small light and book thing often and love it. As for the TV/DVD. I simply use a laptop PC with DVD drive and a PCMIA TV Tuner card. Its all the same amount of power as using a PC for 3 hours, which im sure is some draw but much less than an actual TV/DVD setup. Im a science major so the basics of ohms law, amphours etc is with me already. Just wanted some practical advice which is what this site is all about. And thank you all again! Ed
Hi Ron, Thanks for your response. I do the small light and book thing often and love it. As for the TV/DVD. I simply use a laptop PC with DVD drive and a PCMIA TV Tuner card. Its all the same amount of power as using a PC for 3 hours, which im sure is some draw but much less than an actual TV/DVD setup. Im a science major so the basics of ohms law, amphours etc is with me already. Just wanted some practical advice which is what this site is all about. And thank you all again! Ed
Batteries
Hi, Ed. We have an H340, which is not much larger than your 326 and we work with the same equipment that you describe. We also do not have power refrigeration; that is a real power drain, and not having that helps a great deal. The autopilot drain will depend upon the conditions that you use it under; it can be significant. We have 3 group 27 batteries; two paralleled as a house bank, the third isolated as a starter/reserve. Our house bank with two group 27's is about 200 amp-hours. We have done very well with this setup. We have usually been able to go two full days, sometimes three, without turning on the engine to re-charge; depends on what we are doing. But we would not want to go with any less, especially with the autopilot. But all that said, one of our next planned upgrades is two more group 27's. Bottom line; a house bank of two group 27's (200 amp-hours) we would regard as a minimum for what you describe. You didn't say anything about an inverter; the microwave is an AC device, and you will need an inverter (or shore power) to use it. The microwave is LOTS of amps for a short period of time. If on shore power, no issue; if on inverter, just run the engine when using the microwave. Go buy Nigel Calder's 'Boat Owner's Mechanical and Electrical...'. It will tell you everything that you need to know; among other things, how to do a 'power audit' and figure out what you really need. Carl and Jule s/v 'Syzygy'
Hi, Ed. We have an H340, which is not much larger than your 326 and we work with the same equipment that you describe. We also do not have power refrigeration; that is a real power drain, and not having that helps a great deal. The autopilot drain will depend upon the conditions that you use it under; it can be significant. We have 3 group 27 batteries; two paralleled as a house bank, the third isolated as a starter/reserve. Our house bank with two group 27's is about 200 amp-hours. We have done very well with this setup. We have usually been able to go two full days, sometimes three, without turning on the engine to re-charge; depends on what we are doing. But we would not want to go with any less, especially with the autopilot. But all that said, one of our next planned upgrades is two more group 27's. Bottom line; a house bank of two group 27's (200 amp-hours) we would regard as a minimum for what you describe. You didn't say anything about an inverter; the microwave is an AC device, and you will need an inverter (or shore power) to use it. The microwave is LOTS of amps for a short period of time. If on shore power, no issue; if on inverter, just run the engine when using the microwave. Go buy Nigel Calder's 'Boat Owner's Mechanical and Electrical...'. It will tell you everything that you need to know; among other things, how to do a 'power audit' and figure out what you really need. Carl and Jule s/v 'Syzygy'
326 Electrical
The other responses have been really good, but I want to share some things about the 326, which I bought earlier this year. First, your microwave is AC only, and so is intended only for when you are on shore power. Second, Hunter skimps on house batteries and supplies only ONE group 24...believe it or not! My dealer was good enough to install a second group 27. The battery stowage area is not large enough for any larger more any more batteries, so you would have to find another place to put them. I run an autopilot all the time, but since I have to motor frequently, my batteries are adequate. I use a portable 300W inverter that I plug into the 12v cigarette-type receptacle to run my laptop. Do not try any push that receptacle into supplying any more current...it might fry.
The other responses have been really good, but I want to share some things about the 326, which I bought earlier this year. First, your microwave is AC only, and so is intended only for when you are on shore power. Second, Hunter skimps on house batteries and supplies only ONE group 24...believe it or not! My dealer was good enough to install a second group 27. The battery stowage area is not large enough for any larger more any more batteries, so you would have to find another place to put them. I run an autopilot all the time, but since I have to motor frequently, my batteries are adequate. I use a portable 300W inverter that I plug into the 12v cigarette-type receptacle to run my laptop. Do not try any push that receptacle into supplying any more current...it might fry.
1,2,Both
Our rule of thumb is switch to BOTH to start and run engine (charges both batts thru the alternator). When we kill the engine we switch to 2 to run our house systems. This way batt 1 should stay fully charged (only used in combo with 2 when cranking engine). We find our microwave makes a great old fashioned bread basket, like granma used to have. Oh, and when attached to shore power, it makes good popcorn!
Our rule of thumb is switch to BOTH to start and run engine (charges both batts thru the alternator). When we kill the engine we switch to 2 to run our house systems. This way batt 1 should stay fully charged (only used in combo with 2 when cranking engine). We find our microwave makes a great old fashioned bread basket, like granma used to have. Oh, and when attached to shore power, it makes good popcorn!
William
The problem with your "Both" to start the engine theory is that electricity seeks the lowest point. If you run your house batteries down, then switch to both you immediatly drain your starting battery which will level out with the other two. This is a hard drain on your starting battery. Best to just switch to the starting battery, fire up the engine and then switch to your house batteries. Rule of thumb is to charge each bank seperatly. That's why AC powered 12 volt chargers are built to charge more than one bank at a time. Ron/KA5HZV
The problem with your "Both" to start the engine theory is that electricity seeks the lowest point. If you run your house batteries down, then switch to both you immediatly drain your starting battery which will level out with the other two. This is a hard drain on your starting battery. Best to just switch to the starting battery, fire up the engine and then switch to your house batteries. Rule of thumb is to charge each bank seperatly. That's why AC powered 12 volt chargers are built to charge more than one bank at a time. Ron/KA5HZV
Thanks Ron
As you can guess, I'm no science major. Have to say we've never had a problem using this method, but I see your point. Apologies to Ed for bad info...
As you can guess, I'm no science major. Have to say we've never had a problem using this method, but I see your point. Apologies to Ed for bad info...
Same boat!
I am commosioning a new 326 and am not on site to see any of the actual prep. A question - it will have two gtroup 27 batteries - is there room for two house batteries or is there on ly room for one start and one house battery in the assigned area? I can't tell from the responces if we are talking about two or three (two house) batteries. I would want to add a thrid if there is room and it is possible. Thanks for any input ED
I am commosioning a new 326 and am not on site to see any of the actual prep. A question - it will have two gtroup 27 batteries - is there room for two house batteries or is there on ly room for one start and one house battery in the assigned area? I can't tell from the responces if we are talking about two or three (two house) batteries. I would want to add a thrid if there is room and it is possible. Thanks for any input ED
2 group 27 batteries
You can only fit 2 Group 27's in the aft starboard lazerette and even that is a tight fit. If you want more battery capacity you will have to locate the additional batteries somewhere else. My choice was to use the port aft cockpit lazerette for 2 more Group 27's to parallel 1 of the Group 27's in the starboard side. These 3 are wired to position 2 of the battery selector switch. This setup gives me about 3 days of useable power with refrigeration and 10 days without before recharging. This did dislocate the shorepower cord's storage to the cabin but as with all things it was the best compromise.
You can only fit 2 Group 27's in the aft starboard lazerette and even that is a tight fit. If you want more battery capacity you will have to locate the additional batteries somewhere else. My choice was to use the port aft cockpit lazerette for 2 more Group 27's to parallel 1 of the Group 27's in the starboard side. These 3 are wired to position 2 of the battery selector switch. This setup gives me about 3 days of useable power with refrigeration and 10 days without before recharging. This did dislocate the shorepower cord's storage to the cabin but as with all things it was the best compromise.
microwave? DVD?
So much for getting away from it all. I will admit, I use the sterio and autopilot, but I love the scenery and quiet of sailing and little anchorages. If you must use all the gadgets take lots of fuel, because you're going to be running the charger alot.
So much for getting away from it all. I will admit, I use the sterio and autopilot, but I love the scenery and quiet of sailing and little anchorages. If you must use all the gadgets take lots of fuel, because you're going to be running the charger alot.
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