I love geeking out. Thanks for posting these informative videos. These are very interesting and informative. The other format that I’ve found super beneficial was some of your early full-audit videos.
I have a Norcold 751 RV fridge on an Allied 32' ketch. It's 2.7 cu ft, so I guess 75 l. I get 30 Ah per day in usage, sometimes near 40 during summer. It pulls 5A, but only for 3 minutes or so every quarter hour. Two 50W panels have done fine keeping up.
Because of your videos, I had my battery wiring birdnest cleaned up professionally, and installed an ACR, 20 amp genius charger, voltage/amp gauge, New house battery and rear fuse box. It's only a 19 foot Larson, but when the boat won't start after fishing all day, it's a real bummer. Thankyou for the guidance. 😎👍
@@PacificYachtSystems I have been looking at sailboats for near by retirement. The steel sailboats have caught my attention. I wonder about lightning strikes, electronics, and increased likelihood of being hit. Basically any insights about this subject and possible preventive measures you could think of. I hope in the future you could dedicate some time to this. Always watching. Thankyou again for the information. 😎👍
Well this is neat! We just did a major fridge rebuild/reinsulation on our boat a few months back... and just got the video on UA-cam. We would love to hear your thoughts!
Pogo 36 sailboat comes with Webasto DL 85 INOX. draws 370W/24hrs. So 31 A-hr or 125W panel. Going to use a Merlin 170W folding panel for the days at anchorage. Hydrogenator while at sea
When you specify a 4x factor is the assumption that I am able configure so all panels are illuminated or does this take into account shading from mast, etc.? Basically, do I have to be a wizard with panel placement or can I live with the realities of deploying panels on a sailboat?
Hey Jeff, are you familiar with the Heart System used on older Hatteras Boats? I have one now on my 43 sport fish. Works fine but at 41 years old it has got to expire sometime. I have watch all your vids on inverters / chargers. So am ready when it does.
Having trouble finding a 300 amp DC breaker for my inverter. The most popular “Blue Sea” don’t look acceptable. My wire is 1\0 their terminal post are 5/16”.
Good point Don, winter certainly lowers to the output of a solar array. Here is the Pacific Northwest, the daylight is maybe 9 - 10 hours in short days of winter and 15 hrs plus in the summer months. Also, the sun is lower on the horizon in the winter versus the summer months and this also lowers the solar output.
Hi Jeff, thanks so much for all your UA-cam content, really helpfull. One thing confuses me; you talk about 75 Ah a day. I am hearing: 75 amps per hour per day. And that confuses me? Do you mean 75 amp per day or 75 Amps each hour of the day? It seems strange to have 2 time factors at once. Can you clarify?
Ah is a unit of capacity for batteries. 100Ah batterie would be empty if you would draw 100 amps for one hour or 50 amps for 2 hours etc. If your fridge needs 75 Ah per day it means it uses that capacity just for the fridge. Just like your generator would use 10 gallons of fuel per day if it were running. Your solar needs to be able to put that amount of energy back into the batteries during sun hours. To compensate the fridge it should be able to provide 25 amps for three hours a day to reach that 75 Ah (just a math example). Hope that clarifys that a little bit :)
Hi Martin, the concept of amps and amp-hours is confusing for many of us. Amps is the flow of current at any given time, sort like the speed of a car. Amp-hours, is the quantity of amps used over a period of time, of like distance travelled with the car. When we say a daily budget of 120 amp-hours, it means that through the day you'll use a total of 120 amp-hours. This could mean that you are drawing 5 amps of current continuously for 24 hrs.
OK, I'm on Lake Michigan presently so probably about the same solar efficiency as the PNW. The household type fridge on my new trawler is AC only 1 amp @ 120V so 10A @12V through the inverter plus whatever losses in the inverter itself. So figure 11 or 12A when it's running. The DC fridge on my sailboat was 5A when running and my 175W solar panel could keep up on a good day. Cloudy or rain I'd have to run the engine for a while, but I'd need to run it to make hot water anyway. I have 400W of solar on the trawler, do you think it would keep up with the 11-12A fridge over 24 hrs? The water heater on the trawler is AC only so I still need to run the genset for that too.
A 400 watt array should give you about an output 100 amp-hours (at 12 VDC) per day. Your fridge at about 50% duty cycle is about (12 amps X 50% X 24 hours) is 144 amp-hours per day.
What is the best way to get my alternator to safely charge my LiFePO house bank? I will be switching my starter over to LiFePO this off season also so I hope that makes it a little easier. (38’ sailboat)
Hi PJ Mullin, you'll want to have an external regulator for your alternator that communicates with your Lithium battery BMS. Otherwise, it's gets a little complicated and you have to find away of disabling the field voltage to the alternator via a relay driven by the BMS.
Hello jeff, I am a very big fun of your channel, I started sailing only 3 years ago and you tought me all I know about electricity on boat!!! I leave in Malta, the very little state island in the middle of Mediterranean.I have a question that came to my mind when you mention “fridge”: I have 2 small fridges on my catamaran, I realized they work fine when on shore power but not when on batteries! Basically on batteries they keep running or even worse they keep switching on after a second they switch off! Do you thing it has to do with voltage drop? At the beginning I thought it was a problem of the thermostat or the compressor (maybe gas leak or similar) but then I realized that both fridges do the same and furthermore they just work fine on shore power... any suggestion, please?
Hi Marcello, generally most boats have a fridge breaker on the AC panel and the DC panel, meaning the fridge can be operated from shorepower or generator or inverter via AC or from the batteries via DC power. Does your DC panel not have a fridge breaker?
@@PacificYachtSystems dear Jeff, thanks for considering my question; maybe I did not explain very well: they work both way (shore or batteries) the problem is that on shore they work fine, on batteries they are almost always on (draining batteries) they switch off every once in a while but they immediately switch themselves back on (being basically always on ). Regards and thanks
My fridge is a 60L, 15Ah - 20Ah per day (12v). Fridge is externally insulated, there's 2 x 120mm low rpm intake fans and 2 x 120mm exhaust vans. Atmospheric active cooled condenser with the fans triggered from the switch on the Danfoss compressor. 100W solar runs it in Ireland 365. 52°N
Yeah baby! Nice and simple! Thanks Jeff.
Glad you found it helpful! Cheers!
I love geeking out. Thanks for posting these informative videos. These are very interesting and informative. The other format that I’ve found super beneficial was some of your early full-audit videos.
Glad you like them Brian.
Thanks for the suggestions on the audit videos.
I have a Norcold 751 RV fridge on an Allied 32' ketch. It's 2.7 cu ft, so I guess 75 l. I get 30 Ah per day in usage, sometimes near 40 during summer. It pulls 5A, but only for 3 minutes or so every quarter hour. Two 50W panels have done fine keeping up.
Thanks for sharing.
Because of your videos, I had my battery wiring birdnest cleaned up professionally, and installed an ACR, 20 amp genius charger, voltage/amp gauge, New house battery and rear fuse box. It's only a 19 foot Larson, but when the boat won't start after fishing all day, it's a real bummer. Thankyou for the guidance. 😎👍
Thanks for sharing and being inspired. Feels good to have a boat you can trust!
@@PacificYachtSystems I have been looking at sailboats for near by retirement. The steel sailboats have caught my attention. I wonder about lightning strikes, electronics, and increased likelihood of being hit. Basically any insights about this subject and possible preventive measures you could think of. I hope in the future you could dedicate some time to this. Always watching. Thankyou again for the information. 😎👍
Well this is neat! We just did a major fridge rebuild/reinsulation on our boat a few months back... and just got the video on UA-cam. We would love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks!
Pogo 36 sailboat comes with Webasto DL 85 INOX. draws 370W/24hrs. So 31 A-hr or 125W panel. Going to use a Merlin 170W folding panel for the days at anchorage. Hydrogenator while at sea
Sounds good.
When you specify a 4x factor is the assumption that I am able configure so all panels are illuminated or does this take into account shading from mast, etc.? Basically, do I have to be a wizard with panel placement or can I live with the realities of deploying panels on a sailboat?
Hey Jeff, are you familiar with the Heart System used on older Hatteras Boats? I have one now on my 43 sport fish. Works fine but at 41 years old it has got to expire sometime. I have watch all your vids on inverters / chargers. So am ready when it does.
Heart inverter/chargers are bullet proof, they just keep working.
@@PacificYachtSystems Thanks
Having trouble finding a 300 amp DC breaker for my inverter. The most popular “Blue Sea” don’t look acceptable. My wire is 1\0 their terminal post are 5/16”.
For your inverter, you need a 300 amp Class T fuse and fuse block.
40 amp/ hr per day for keep cooled fridge
Jeff you didn’t mention the winter months of trying to use solar
Good point Don, winter certainly lowers to the output of a solar array. Here is the Pacific Northwest, the daylight is maybe 9 - 10 hours in short days of winter and 15 hrs plus in the summer months. Also, the sun is lower on the horizon in the winter versus the summer months and this also lowers the solar output.
@@PacificYachtSystems so would you recommend changing the angle of the solar cells for the change in seasons
Hi Jeff, thanks so much for all your UA-cam content, really helpfull. One thing confuses me; you talk about 75 Ah a day. I am hearing: 75 amps per hour per day. And that confuses me? Do you mean 75 amp per day or 75 Amps each hour of the day? It seems strange to have 2 time factors at once. Can you clarify?
Ah is a unit of capacity for batteries. 100Ah batterie would be empty if you would draw 100 amps for one hour or 50 amps for 2 hours etc. If your fridge needs 75 Ah per day it means it uses that capacity just for the fridge. Just like your generator would use 10 gallons of fuel per day if it were running. Your solar needs to be able to put that amount of energy back into the batteries during sun hours. To compensate the fridge it should be able to provide 25 amps for three hours a day to reach that 75 Ah (just a math example).
Hope that clarifys that a little bit :)
@@steegzor5161 it still makes no sense to me to say 75Ah/day instead of 75A/day. But the concept is clear!
Hi Martin, the concept of amps and amp-hours is confusing for many of us. Amps is the flow of current at any given time, sort like the speed of a car. Amp-hours, is the quantity of amps used over a period of time, of like distance travelled with the car.
When we say a daily budget of 120 amp-hours, it means that through the day you'll use a total of 120 amp-hours. This could mean that you are drawing 5 amps of current continuously for 24 hrs.
OK, I'm on Lake Michigan presently so probably about the same solar efficiency as the PNW. The household type fridge on my new trawler is AC only 1 amp @ 120V so 10A @12V through the inverter plus whatever losses in the inverter itself. So figure 11 or 12A when it's running. The DC fridge on my sailboat was 5A when running and my 175W solar panel could keep up on a good day. Cloudy or rain I'd have to run the engine for a while, but I'd need to run it to make hot water anyway. I have 400W of solar on the trawler, do you think it would keep up with the 11-12A fridge over 24 hrs? The water heater on the trawler is AC only so I still need to run the genset for that too.
A 400 watt array should give you about an output 100 amp-hours (at 12 VDC) per day. Your fridge at about 50% duty cycle is about (12 amps X 50% X 24 hours) is 144 amp-hours per day.
What is the best way to get my alternator to safely charge my LiFePO house bank? I will be switching my starter over to LiFePO this off season also so I hope that makes it a little easier. (38’ sailboat)
Hi PJ Mullin, you'll want to have an external regulator for your alternator that communicates with your Lithium battery BMS. Otherwise, it's gets a little complicated and you have to find away of disabling the field voltage to the alternator via a relay driven by the BMS.
Hello jeff, I am a very big fun of your channel, I started sailing only 3 years ago and you tought me all I know about electricity on boat!!! I leave in Malta, the very little state island in the middle of Mediterranean.I have a question that came to my mind when you mention “fridge”: I have 2 small fridges on my catamaran, I realized they work fine when on shore power but not when on batteries! Basically on batteries they keep running or even worse they keep switching on after a second they switch off! Do you thing it has to do with voltage drop? At the beginning I thought it was a problem of the thermostat or the compressor (maybe gas leak or similar) but then I realized that both fridges do the same and furthermore they just work fine on shore power... any suggestion, please?
Hi Marcello, generally most boats have a fridge breaker on the AC panel and the DC panel, meaning the fridge can be operated from shorepower or generator or inverter via AC or from the batteries via DC power. Does your DC panel not have a fridge breaker?
@@PacificYachtSystems dear Jeff, thanks for considering my question; maybe I did not explain very well: they work both way (shore or batteries) the problem is that on shore they work fine, on batteries they are almost always on (draining batteries) they switch off every once in a while but they immediately switch themselves back on (being basically always on ). Regards and thanks
Why
My fridge is a 60L, 15Ah - 20Ah per day (12v). Fridge is externally insulated, there's 2 x 120mm low rpm intake fans and 2 x 120mm exhaust vans. Atmospheric active cooled condenser with the fans triggered from the switch on the Danfoss compressor. 100W solar runs it in Ireland 365.
52°N
Hi Liam, your fridge is really efficient, 60 Liters of capacity for a daily draw of 15 - 20 Ah at 12 VDC is really good, congrats!
:-D. I can out-nerd quite a few. It drew 30Ah before I modded it. The fan control circuit is standard on all Danfoss compressors I've seen
@@scruff7559 how did you alter this? Thank you
Didn't explain a damn thing.