First time narrowboat owner and clueless about electrics

[liambarrett-17]

Hello,

 

By any chance would someone know anybody who is available to hire to kit out my small narrowboat with enough power to do what i want. Which is run a 55inch oled tv and playstation 5 as cost effectively as possible. Read a good article about lead and lipo baterry hybrid which can be done cheap. Also willing to invest in solar.

[blackrose]

Each to their own and all that, but to me a boat seems like an odd place to want to put a big TV monitor and play computer games, especially a boat that's not connected to shore power where you'll have to spend thousands to upgrade the electrical system to pursue that pastime. But then I've never really seen the appeal of computer games.

[Alan de Enfield]

21 minutes ago, liambarrett-17 said:

Hello,

 

By any chance would someone know anybody who is available to hire to kit out my small narrowboat with enough power to do what i want. Which is run a 55inch oled tv and playstation 5 as cost effectively as possible. Read a good article about lead and lipo baterry hybrid which can be done cheap. Also willing to invest in solar.

 

 

Anyone can fit out an electrical system to support any usage you may require.

 

The HARD part is dermining how you are going to recharge your batteries - are you permanently on a mains 'hook-up (land line), do you have a generator, or, do you plan to run the engine ?

 

Solar on a 'small' boat** may keep your batteries charged for 5 or 6 months of the year but you MUST have other means of charging batteries from (about) October to March. when Solar does less than nothing. 

 

** A small boat does not have sufficient surface area to mount Solar panels that will surfice for more than 5 or 6 month (at best). If the boat is really small (say under 30 feet) then buy a generator.

Edited February 1 by Alan de Enfield

[Tracy D'arth]

Its easy to do what you want, but for how long depends on the battery capacity, where you are going to get the power to charge batteries from and whether you have access to shore power, a generator, masses of solar panels, or you are prepared to run the engine all the time, 8am to 8pm only.

[mrsmelly]

This has got to be a wind up!!

[Yellowback]

1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

This has got to be a wind up!!

 

You can get wind up 55" tv's ?

[Moke]

At 55” the telly would have to mount on one side of the cabin or you wouldn’t be able to get past it which means you’ll be sat, at the most, 4 feet away from the screen!  I don’t think I’d be able to focus on it that close up, it’d be like being on the front row of the picture house. 

[liambarrett-17]

Thanks for quick replies. This is all new to me. Ok well it would be in a marina during winter and out in the canals during summer. Was hoping I could find someone that I’d be willing to pay who could come and tell me what is needed as I am very clueless about these things. 

[liambarrett-17]

Based in London. 

[IanD]

2 minutes ago, liambarrett-17 said:

Thanks for quick replies. This is all new to me. Ok well it would be in a marina during winter and out in the canals during summer. Was hoping I could find someone that I’d be willing to pay who could come and tell me what is needed as I am very clueless about these things. 

If you're in a marina in the winter and plugged in, no problem.

 

If you're out on the canals during summer the power has to come from somewhere else, either running the engine, solar, or a generator. You need to work out how much power your appliances need (averaged over a day, in kWh), then look at how much you can get from solar (about 3.5kWh/day per 1kW of panels), how much needs to come from elsewhere (e.g. running the engine), and how much battery storage you need because when most power is generated (e.g. solar or engine) is probably not when you'll use most of it.

 

It's called a power audit, and you need to do one before anyone can help you further 🙂

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, liambarrett-17 said:

Based in London. 

 

Bad decision but never mind, someone has to !

 

You will find it 'not easy' to get workmen to come as they generally cannot get near to the boat and have to carry heavy tools for 'miles' along a tow path, add in ULEZ and parking charges and difficulties and its not of interest.

 

Try the London Boaters facebook pages - they may be able to help.

[liambarrett-17]

15 minutes ago, Moke said:

At 55” the telly would have to mount on one side of the cabin or you wouldn’t be able to get past it which means you’ll be sat, at the most, 4 feet away from the screen!  I don’t think I’d be able to focus on it that close up, it’d be like being on the front row of the picture house. 

lol well I intend to get a wide beam down the road so I’m trying to get things that would be transferable and that I’d use when I get bigger space. IM aware it will look a bit silly on 6ft 10 narrow boat. 

[IanD]

1 minute ago, liambarrett-17 said:

lol well I intend to get a wide beam down the road so I’m trying to get things that would be transferable and that I’d use when I get bigger space. IM aware it will look a bit silly on 6ft 10 narrow boat. 

Tellies are dirt cheap nowadays. Get a smaller one for the narrowboat now, and flog it and get a bigger one for the wideboat later...

[Jak]

I did look into running a PS5. Incredibly power hungry console. On my set-up it would flatten my batteries in a few hours!  And 55” telly in a narrow boat?  You couldn’t get far enough away from it.  Sounds a bit mad 😀

32 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

This has got to be a wind up!!

🤪

[booke23]

I have a 55inch oled tv in the house, it draws around 120 Watts. A PS5 draws up to 230 Watts. Using worst case figures if you play 4 hours a day, that's 117AH....say 150AH when you take into consideration inverter efficiency. Add in all your other power use (fridge,lights,water pump etc) and you're probably looking at over 200AH. 

 

That's a lot of power to generate every day. 

[Tracy D'arth]

1 minute ago, booke23 said:

I have a 55inch oled tv in the house, it draws around 120 Watts. A PS5 draws up to 230 Watts. Using worst case figures if you play 4 hours a day, that's 117AH....say 150AH when you take into consideration inverter efficiency. Add in all your other power use (fridge,lights,water pump etc) and you're probably looking at over 200AH. 

 

That's a lot of power to generate every day. 

True, its like four 12v fridges.  Crazy idea just to play games on the big screen.

[Jak]

Yes. I only have 300AH of batteries, which is why is not going to happen. You could buy a Jackery for about a grand that can run your PS5 for over 6 hours, according to an article I found….

[Graham Davis]

7 minutes ago, Jak said:

Yes. I only have 300AH of batteries, which is why is not going to happen. You could buy a Jackery for about a grand that can run your PS5 for over 6 hours, according to an article I found….

But then you have to recharge it!

[matty40s]

11 minutes ago, booke23 said:

I have a 55inch oled tv in the house, it draws around 120 Watts. A PS5 draws up to 230 Watts. Using worst case figures if you play 4 hours a day, that's 117AH....say 150AH when you take into consideration inverter efficiency. Add in all your other power use (fridge,lights,water pump etc) and you're probably looking at over 200AH. 

 

That's a lot of power to generate every day. 

So 2 110AH batteries should give him enough and a bit left over for his hair dryer too.

[booke23]

16 minutes ago, matty40s said:

So 2 110AH batteries should give him enough and a bit left over for his hair dryer too.

 

For the sake of the first time narrowboater OP......You'll need a battery bank at least double your daily usage, assuming it's a lead acid battery bank. So 440AH should do it. 

 

But with the kind of power usage you're talking about, you should consider LiFePO4 batteries as you can get away with a smaller battery bank....say 300AH. But that doesn't come that cheap. You'll probably want to install the maximum solar you can too..if you can get 1KW of solar on your boat it should keep up with those power requirements from May-September. 

[Alan de Enfield]

18 minutes ago, booke23 said:

if you can get 1KW of solar on your boat it should keep up with those power requirements from May-September. 

 

He has said it is a 'small NB' (how small we dont know) but to get 4 x 250w panels on a 'small NB' (excluding hatches, stern and bow) is very unlikely.

[truckcab79]

No connection to me and no idea what area they cover but try these guys for some sensible advice for your requirements.   They’ve given me loads of useful and down to earth info for my project. 
 

https://theboatgp.co.uk/home

Good luck with it.  
 

 

 

[Ewan123]

4 hours ago, liambarrett-17 said:

Hello,

 

By any chance would someone know anybody who is available to hire to kit out my small narrowboat with enough power to do what i want. Which is run a 55inch oled tv and playstation 5 as cost effectively as possible. Read a good article about lead and lipo baterry hybrid which can be done cheap. Also willing to invest in solar.

Are you sure a 55 inch screen is what you want? If you're sat too close it'll be worse than a smaller screen.

 

It's all doable though if you've got enough money to spend on batteries and charging systems (and the habits/will/money to run and maintain those systems).

 

I think The Floating Workshop can probably sort you out, and if you're in the right area you might even get them coming to you with their beautiful pair of boats. Contact details here or you can find them on Facebook too:

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/directory/51207-the-floating-workshop

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

6 hours ago, liambarrett-17 said:

Hello,

 

By any chance would someone know anybody who is available to hire to kit out my small narrowboat with enough power to do what i want. Which is run a 55inch oled tv and playstation 5 as cost effectively as possible. Read a good article about lead and lipo baterry hybrid which can be done cheap. Also willing to invest in solar.

Best kid ever, both the post and the OP, new boaters, love them. What’s the next boat related question?
  “Just playing Warhammer 97, stuck at level 365 any tips to get past the massive Axe Hammer, do I climb or take the boat down the rapids?”

  The new boater generation😂😂

Edited February 1 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[liambarrett-17]

Thanks people. The new generation is here!

4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

He has said it is a 'small NB' (how small we dont know) but to get 4 x 250w panels on a 'small NB' (excluding hatches, stern and bow) is very unlikely.

It’s 40ft.