Testing instruments home?

[Sebastien972]

Hi everyone,

I'm refitting the electronics of my boat on the hard and shrinkwrapped. I purchased a bunch of items consisting of an mfd, wind instrument, triducer, flux gate compass, autopilot computer, rudder sensor, linear drive and a windlass. I would like to test them out at home while waiting for the spring (Northeast). Now they are all 12v, and so they would need some type of AC to DC converter. Most of the ones I looked at had a cigar lighter for outlet and limited at 100w or so. I'm not sure that it would work. Would it? If not, would you know of a system that would allow me to test most of these electronics at the same time? Thank you for letting me know what you think.

[Jim Cate]

well, you could simply buy or borrow a 12 volt battery and use that as a power source. Instruments don't draw all that much, so a typical group 24 car battery would suffice for some hours on one charge, and a simple automotive cheapo battery charger will keep it alive for you. Seems simple to me...

Jim

[RaymondR]

I carry a small 12V sealed lead acid battery for just that purpose. I trickle charge it with a cable which has a resister in it plugged into a cigarette lighter socket. I have a second lead with crocodile clips and an inline fuse holder which I use to connect to the instruments. Size the fuse to the current draw of the device and you can sometimes get away with wrong connections.

[Reefmagnet]

If you know of anyone that works in IT, get them to grab some old UPS batteries. These are perfect for the job. If you want to buy one instead, they are the 7 to 9 Ah Gel Cell units with 1/4" spade connectors.



When done testing, they can also be repurposed as dinghy batteries for depth sounders and nav lights etc.

[Sailmonkey]

I’ve tested all of our new instruments in the garage with a piece of duplex wire run out to the battery of my truck. The wire used to be a 100’ extension cord, 16 gauge. Not ideal, but it’s a good stress test.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Sebastien.

[sailah]

An extremely handy tool to own is a DC lab power supply. I own several, some very high power.

But just a garden variety will work well. Pretty simple, adjust voltage to 12v or thereabouts, and run some +/- wires to your devices. Below are 2 examples that will go from 0-30v and up to 5A.

Something like this

https://www.amazon.com/Eventek-KPS30...s%2C256&sr=8-6

Or this

https://www.amazon.com/YaeCCC-Variab...s%2C256&sr=8-9