Lucia 40: Lucia consumer current consumption

[mark.a]

To plan my energy concept I would like to setup a spreadsheet with the current consumption of the standard consumers. Do you (other owners) have data ? Fridge, Autopilot, Navlights, Cabin Lights,Windlass,Winch, waterpunps etc.
I'm happy to share final spreadsheet and results. We could also also do it in togeather with google docs if more people are interessted.

Good free book of one of the victron energy guys regarding that whole energy topic:
https://www.victronenergy.com/upload...limited-EN.pdf

[Seapatience]

Mark... I am a 2014 Lipari (precursor to the Lucia) owner and would like to participate in your energy analysis. I definitely need to learn more. BTW.. that was a great reference from Victron that I haven't seen. I have all victron energy equipment. Let me know where and when you would like to start.

[Falbala60]

This is not for a Lucia but I think a quite good overview of the power consumption of a 40ft caramaran. This is NOT FROM ME and I can't give the credit because I lost the origin... but I can share...

[rabbi]

That sheet looks a bit outdated and simplistic to me.
The windlass may be rated 150A but that is only for the moment when its breaking loose the anchor. Real world consumption is more like 15A when taking up the chain, and less when letting out more chain.
Lights are all halogen bulbs, not LEDs.
Autopilot eating 4A seems a bit high unless bad sail trim or heavy weather.
Etc, etc.

A night at anchor uses around 30Ah on our boat (fridge, many hours of LED lights, charging a ton of USB powered gadgets, small inverter for trickle charging the toothbrush, LED anchor light). No TV, no PC, but an army of tablets and phones.

That consumption figure is from dusk till dawn in the Med, as soon as sun gets up solar panels kick in and recharge the batteries. We have 560Wp with 2 MPPT controllers, and that is plenty for our needs. Our batteries are usually full before noon so I never cared about the details of our consumption.

[Thumbs Up]

The numbers that you are looking for really have nothing to do with the exact model boat. Any cruising boat will have the same parameters. Windlass draw isn't even part of the equation because you will have your motor running. The efficiency of your components is what matters. Refrigeration will be the biggest draw. It is nice to have ample reserve power when sailing at night because the autopilot will suck it down. If you keep all of your lighting LED and have well insulated refrigeration then you might get by with 100 A/H a day but more likely around 200 after you charge your devices and maybe use your inverter a little for something. It is always nice to have extra power reserve but not necessary. I am getting by now on a 400 A/H lead acid bank which gives me 200 usable amp hours (because you want to avoid discharging these over 50%. But most boats probably carry double that (the equivalence of 8 T105's). As for charging, you can't have to much, there is always a way to use extra power.

[Falbala60]

Originally Posted by rabbi

That sheet looks a bit outdated and simplistic to me.

Thanks for your input to skippers wating delivery of their cat.
As you have a good experience, why don't redo this spreadsheet with updated numbers... taking into account that it wouls be nice to have a solar system able to recharge for Fridge and Freezer even in a cloudy day.

[Shrew]

The make and model of the boat is irrelevant. The draw is dictated by the device. If you have a Norcold fridge, the manufacturer publishes statistics such as draw for that model. You would need to first make a list of all of the electrical devices, then determine the draw for each device.

Your approach is a little like asking 'how much electricity does a 50" LG TV consume when used in a house in Florida?'

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by Falbala60

Thanks for your input to skippers wating delivery of their cat.
As you have a good experience, why don't redo this spreadsheet with updated numbers... taking into account that it wouls be nice to have a solar system able to recharge for Fridge and Freezer even in a cloudy day.

I am a spreadsheet and checklist type of guy but to me this electrical consumption spreadsheet thing doesn't make much sense.


Every boat owner has different needs, habits, and equipment. Some still have halogen and have to watch their light consumptions. Others have LED and don't care at all, as the consumption is neglectible.
Some run a desktop PC @ 300w through an oversized cheapo 3kW inverter, consuming 400W or more from the batteries. Others just use tablets and charge when there is too much solar power.
The fridge is one of the biggest energy consumers but having buddies onboard (or even worse: nephews!) can easily double it's power needs just for cooling down tons of beer.

Its just too many variables to make a spreadsheet useful. One person's spreadsheet is useless for somone else, and might even significantly change if he moves to another boat.

All one can do is guesstimate the ballpark figure and then see how energy production and consumption work out in real life. And prepare for as much solar as feasible so you have a huge buffer. Solar is cheap (in boat terms), it's only the real estate that it takes.



I just had another look at the spreadsheet and I read it as follows:
The person who made it has a leaky boat (bilge pump runs daily) and likes dim 5-10w halogen lights. At anchor he sleeps very little, as he uses both inside and outside lights for 4hrs each. Or maybe he doesn't like to share one room with his wife, so one is inside and the other one outside.

He seems to sail a heavy traffic coastal area as he needs the chartplotter 24/7 and has the radar on standby throughout the night and uses it 3hrs each night. No fog area as it doesn't run during the day.
He seems to like dish washing, as the freshwater pump runs 2hrs (with a typical duty cycle of maybe 1:3 that equals 6hrs of fresh water use).
He only does short passages, otherwise he would become smelly as he showers only at anchor for 15 min.
He has a small Katadyn Powersurvivor watermaker consuming 6A, but it runs only 1/2hrs per day making 6-12 liters. No clue where the water for the dish washing comes from.

Oh.. and his alternator is broken as he includes the steaming light and the anchor windlass, which typically would only be switched on with the engine running.

The creator of this spreadsheet is a very special guy, or maybe I misinterpret it, or maybe this spreadsheet just doesn't make much sense.

[Falbala60]

Do your best estimate ... it will better than nothing for US ... dummy sailors

[rabbi]

As said it just doesn't make sense.

Our boat recharges as soon as the sun gets up, we have enough solar to fully recharge and make as much water as we want during the day.
Consequently I only care about night time consumption. The fridge draws about 2A on average and the inverter about 0.4A and the mooring light about 0.1A.
Everything else is just temporary loads that sum up to very few Ah per night.
So we use around 30Ah per night, up to 40Ah if charging some gadgets at night or the fridge had been filled with warm booze

I have no clue of consumption under sail as we only had few multi day passages and I did not care to check battery levels in the morning. Anyway batteries were full in the evening, so again we just need battery capacity for one night.

[Terbonium]

We consume between 2-3 kwH / day on our Lucia.

[Falbala60]

Originally Posted by Terbonium

We consume between 2-3 kwH / day on our Lucia.

Terbonium, sorry we did not met in Miami (maybe you where there but unknown).

So if I calculate well... 2510Wh / 12V = 209Ah so about the same as the table I found (not from me) at anchor.

Is this consumption is for a TOTAL live-aboard or it is only docked ?
Do you have fridge, freezer operating with frequent opening ?

Your solar delivery seems quite low... I thought that from your previous post, your solar panels will be enough for a "normal life aboard".

[Terbonium]

Yeah, sorry we did not meet. We were at the Friday party too.

Yes, that solar output is very low Just one panel of 3 currently running this week as I've started wiring up the engine room to replace the 3 factory AGM batteries with 720aH of lithium. Our February daily solar production has been about 1.8kWh per day with one 360W panel(and actually closer to 2.0 as we are not able to use it all up as fast as we produce it in the afternoon). So I'm expecting 5 to 6 kwH/day with all 3 panels once we have the larger battery bank and in July we should be closer to 9-10kwH/day


We are in a marina, but still w/o shore power since Irma.

Originally Posted by Falbala60

Terbonium, sorry we did not met in Miami (maybe you where there but unknown).

So if I calculate well... 2510Wh / 12V = 209Ah so about the same as the table I found (not from me) at anchor.

Is this consumption is for a TOTAL live-aboard or it is only docked ?
Do you have fridge, freezer operating with frequent opening ?

Your solar delivery seems quite low... I thought that from your previous post, your solar panels will be enough for a "normal life aboard".

[Falbala60]

At the Friday partu I have been close of the FP dealer for Canada, Cotemar his wife and their friends. Where you at the "FP Owner's lunch" on Saturday ?

Next time ... maybe in Fort Lauderdale if I succeed to have our Lucia shipped by cargo... I don't like her saling in October-November in the Atlantic :-(

Thank you for the precision for solar... I did remember your project of 3 Sunpower 360W, so 1.8kWh will be much better.

Waiting (I have time) for your final display...

[Falbala60]

MARK,
did you succeded in your table ?

Personnally I would be GLAD to have numbers that seems impossible to get from the manufacturer of the Lucia ... Who they are ?

I only need the BIG consumption for the LUCIA mostly like :

1 - for watermaker it is OK I found the exact model... Aquabase ESW601 = 25A
(I know that the watermaker will only run during the day,
so very little effect on batteries, but I count it )
2 - for fridge ... no manufacturer known ... no data, 12vdc, A = ?
3 - for freezer ... no manufacturer known ... no data, 12vdc, A = ?
4 - any other ?

Any information to find points 2 and 3 would be appreciated.
Thanks to all.