what do you run off your battery overnite when on the hook?

[craw_daddy]

I am a new 28te owner (2006) & am curious as to what electronics you feel comfortable running overnight. I am planning some family overnight stays on the boat at some islands & wonder about running a small fan in the salon to move the air, courtesy/salon interior lighting, etc...

I am also curious as to what the biggest load you ran overnight by mistake (on the hook) & still were able to crank the engine?

BTW, I know the importance of the battery switch & how to use it!

--Dave

[Pitou]

When I first bought my boat it came equiped with a 4D combination starting /deep cycle for the ENGINE BANK starting battery and a Group 27 combination HOUSE BANK. I was advised by the dealer not to run the 12 volt fridge overnight on that house battery. Since, I have swapped out the House battery with another combo 4D and am able to run the House system overnight without any problems and keeping the ENGINE starting battery off and reserved for starting the engine or genset only.

Overnights on the hook from the DC panel I usually run the fridge, 2 fans, Raytheon depth gauge, GPS w/anchor alarm on and my mast head light. I also keep the DC Panel powered to the cabin lights and freshwater pump. Always remember to keep that ENGINE BANK isolated and off when on the hook.
_________________
PITOU
'02 Albin 28TE

[Mariner]

You should never have your battery and house banks combined while on the hook. ALWAYS isolate them. Then there should be no concerns about cranking the engine over in the morning.

We have considerably larger battery banks than on the 28', but I leave the refrigerator, water pump, head pump, and anchor light on overnight when on the hook. Generally, the only thing actually consuming power all night is the refrigerator and anchor light. What you need to do is look at the wattage draw for your reefer and anchor light and determine how many amps they draw (w=av, so amps=watts/12). Then, multiply that by the number of hours you will be leaving them on (figure 10 for a good night's rest) and see how many Amp-hours you will be using. Use that to determine whether or not your battery, given it's state of charge, will last the night.

In my opinion, assuming that your house bank is isolated, it's best to go ahead and leave the reefer turned on. At least that way, if the battery goes dead in the middle of the night, your eggs and milk will have been kept chilled for half the night as opposed to not at all. I'd rather wake up to a dead house battery than rotten milk. You can't make a latte without milk.

[Denis]

Mariner and PITOU have great responses.
One thing I did to check things out was, at the dock turn off the breaker feeding shore power. Then I tested things I wanted to run as I would while on the hook. I was able to check several different arrangments overnight, not only the anchor light and fridg. but also my GPS anchor alarm, a small fan as well as the TV among others. I know I could have checked out the draw of each item but this gave me a much more GO/No GO indication. I found that I could run my frigd. plus water pumps, lights etc. and I could run my Honda generator twice a day for about 30 minutes each and that would charge my battery and warm up my hot water for showers. All this kind of talk is getting me excited, I wish the weather was going to be better this weekend so I could anchor out somewhere, kick back with a beer and watch the sun set.

[jcollins]

I run the fridge, a couple of cabin lights, anchor light, water pump, radio. I usually turn the fridge temp up a little so it doesn't run all night. I too tested at the pier one weekend to be sure.

Denis - Your right! This talk makes me want to get out there.
We finally had a full moon and clear skies last night for a moonlight cruise.