A Beginners Reflection on Narrow Boating 2 - what I forgot in the last post!

[atgordon]

I realized that I had not covered the one thing that caused us some difficulties for the first few days, that might also catch out other inexperienced boaters. Namely, managing electrical power on the boat.

 

The folks at Anglo Welsh did run through the “how to manage power” on the boat, but it was not very detailed (or I didn’t listen closely, which is more likely), hence we did run out of electrical power overnight on Day 2!

 

Like most cruising boats, our boat had two batteries, one for the engine, one for the house (or boat).  Both are charged when the engine is running. But only the boat battery is available when the engine isn’t running.  The boat had an inverter system, that converted the 12v battery power to 240v AC power.  This was used for the microwave, hair dryer and electrical outlets. They did tell us explicitly not to use the microwave or hairdryer when the engine was stopped! 

 

What tripped us up was the 240v outlets … 3 adults each with a laptop and a cell phone!  All plugged in to charge in the evening/night (when the engine was stopped).  The next morning, the boat battery voltmeter (I think it was labelled battery condition meter) was in the red!  We had exhausted the boat battery.  The boat engine started fine since the engine battery is protected from discharge by inept boaters like us, and by the end of the next day, plenty of charge in the boat battery.

 

The 12v to 240V inverters on boats are pretty advanced items, but they are not efficient … it takes a lot of out of the battery to run the outlets (that why so many items on a boat are 12v: central heating, fridge, TV, radio, lights, etc.). If you have to use the inverter, try to do so when the engine is running.

 

Also, we hadn’t noticed that there was a 12v accessory outlet (as found in cars) near the TV.  From that time onwards, all cell phone charging was done from the 12v outlet.

 

We also charged laptops from the 240v outlets during the day when the engine was running and shut down the inverter when we had finished using the engine for the day.

 

We never ran out of power from that time onwards!

[matty40s]

3 laptops, microwave and hair dryer from one domestic battery...😄💦

 

We have just helped out a lass who bought a boat from a marina near lock13 on the GU, moored there for 2 months on landline, the boatyard lads helped her out twice when her lights didn't work,.but didnt tell her what the problem was.

So January off cruising in the new 1 mile style. and all of a sudden she has no power, zilch. 

Comes in to us.....there is NO battery charger, so when on landline the 240v works, but the batteries get flatter and flatter. Running the engine for an hour a day as instructed does naff all as batteries goosed(2 new, one existing). The usual conversation over solar, engine charging,  getting a monitor of some sort, what lights are 240v and which are 12v, and why it made a difference in the marina....oh, and  change those bloody halogen for LED!! Also gave her the smart gauge website for future reference.

Overnight charge and we rescued the batteries, 2 weeks later she is coping, and putting things in place to make it more than coping. 

It would have been a simple job to have explained this to her when she bought the boat, or when she kept having all her lights and water pump fail(on several occasions), but no, our favourite brokerage keeps on giving ......from presale pictures, the charger was removed at some point during the sale process.

 

[TheBiscuits]

6 minutes ago, matty40s said:

off cruising in the new 1 mile style

 

Sounds a long way to me ...

 

I recently went from one place to another place. 

 

https://canalplan.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi?quickroute=yes&where=Burscough Bridge, Lathom Junction

 

Summary of trip

This is a trip of 0.80 miles from Burscough Bridge to Lathom Junction travelling southeast on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal (Main Line - Liverpool to Wigan).

This will take 13 minutes.

 

 

 

11 minutes ago, matty40s said:

our favourite brokerage keeps on giving

 

Wilton earned a very good reputation for carpets.  The similar sounding brokerage ... er ... didn't.

[matty40s]

14 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Sounds a long way to me ...

 

I recently went from one place to another place. 

 

https://canalplan.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi?quickroute=yes&where=Burscough Bridge, Lathom Junction

 

Summary of trip

This is a trip of 0.80 miles from Burscough Bridge to Lathom Junction travelling southeast on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal (Main Line - Liverpool to Wigan).

This will take 13 minutes.

 

 

 

 

Wilton earned a very good reputation for carpets.  The similar sounding brokerage ... er ... didn't.

Because they didnt have any carpets.

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, atgordon said:

I realized that I had not covered the one thing that caused us some difficulties for the first few days, that might also catch out other inexperienced boaters. Namely, managing electrical power on the boat.

You realised this on day 2 on a hire boat. Sadly many newbie liveaboards make the same discovery early in their boat ownership. But since they aren't usually planning on running the engine for a few hours every day, it is more of a problem for them. Hence the oft-repeated urgings to understand your power use, know how to manage your battery charging, fit as much solar as you reasonably can etc. etc.

[TheBiscuits]

7 minutes ago, David Mack said:

You realised this on day 2 on a hire boat. Sadly many newbie liveaboards make the same discovery early in their boat ownership.

 

Day 3 usually, when turning on a tap makes the lights go out  

 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by TheBiscuits

[Victor Vectis]

Well done Oper.

 

This is the sort of post newbies need to read rather than asking which way to turn when (if?) they leave the marina.

[atgordon]

5 hours ago, matty40s said:

3 laptops, microwave and hair dryer from one domestic battery...😄💦

 

 

 

Yup, we learned quickly that this wasn't going to work!

[Tony Brooks]

A very useful input, it needs big flashing lights saying new boaters read this!

 

Two things here stand out to me.

 

1. Some idiot told the person Matty helped that they needed to run the engine for an hour a day, as he says, that does naff all and put simply ruins batteries PDQ for most boaters.  Four hours is probably more realistic.

 

2. For accuracy I doubt it is just one actual battery for domestic use. More like four or more connected together

[MtB]

3 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

A very useful input, it needs big flashing lights saying new boaters read this!

 

Two things here stand out to me.

 

1. Some idiot told the person Matty helped that they needed to run the engine for an hour a day, as he says, that does naff all and put simply ruins batteries PDQ for most boaters.  Four hours is probably more realistic.

 

2. For accuracy I doubt it is just one actual battery for domestic use. More like four or more connected together

 

 

And I'd add another thing which comes as a surprise to most new boaters:

 

3) Batteries are consumable items which fail early if not kept fully charged, all the time.  

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

A very useful input, it needs big flashing lights saying new boaters read this!

 

Two things here stand out to me.

 

1. Some idiot told the person Matty helped that they needed to run the engine for an hour a day, as he says, that does naff all and put simply ruins batteries PDQ for most boaters.  Four hours is probably more realistic.

 

2. For accuracy I doubt it is just one actual battery for domestic use. More like four or more connected together

 

We went through two sets of domestic LA's five in five years.

 

And when we sold they were replaced again as once again the bank was goosed. Biggest mistake I made was not going down the solar route so that they got at least something when moored or the boat was moored at our home mooring (where in latter days we didn't have 240V to hook up to)