Daytrips - Do You Turn the House Switch Off ?

[akio.kanemoto]

Greetings Folks,

I have just installed my Frigoboat fridge and have wired it temporarily and am happy to report that it works (yaay!)

However, what has me puzzled is that at the moment it is wired into the boat on a normal switched circuit - such that when the house switch is off, so is the fridge... but wait a minute - that means that when you leave the boat for the day and turn off the house switch - the fridge is also off? Not good. So do you put it on an unswitched "always on" circuit?

Likewise, I have a 675AH bank and have a tiny 65W solar panel, so have it feeding the batts unregulated, but this also gets disconnected with the house switch off... again, should this be unswitched?

We're planning on cruising fulltime starting a few months (anchoring 99% of the time), and were thinking that we'd turn off the house switch as we leave the boat to explore for the day etc (or a few days max), but didn't think of the fridge or the solar panel..

What do people do in the Real World(tm) - do you leave your house switch on when you leave for the day?

Your experience and advice is greatly appreciated!

[zeehag]

my ericson always has house bank on but all the switches on panel except solar panels are turned off. i leave my formosa always on as i live on board.

[daddle]

I've never turned the house switch off except for repairs. People do that?

Wire the fridge up like anything else. The manufacturer's common recommendation to wire it straight to the batteries is for those who cannot build proper electrical systems.

The solar panel, especially if unregulated, should probably go the the battery side of the switch because without a battery in the circuit, when the switch is off, the circuit voltage could get too high for some equipment. Maybe up to 18v?

[sarafina]

is this a 110 / 12 volt model?

[akio.kanemoto]

Hi,

Thank you for the quick replies - greatly appreciated!

It's a standard 12V model.

Looks like I'll be leaving it as is then and ignoring the off switch!

Great pointer on the solar - I didn't think of that, will rewire to before the switch then.

[akio.kanemoto]

Hello again,

One last question - assuming that I wire the solar output directly to the batteries - do I need to also wire in a relay such that the output is disconnected when the alternators are charging the bank (so the alternator regulator doesn't sense the solar voltage and decides that the battery is full etc..)

I'm thinking of wiring the solar panel through a normally closed relay which is energized and disconnects when the alternator regulator is turned on.

Thanks again!

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by akio.kanemoto

I'm thinking of wiring the solar panel through a normally closed relay which is energized and disconnects when the alternator regulator is turned on.
Thanks again!

Not really relevant to your question, but a fridge does consume a lot of power, and if you are considering it being left on, you really need to either have enough constant power *wind/solar, to keep it running, or add in a power sensor that will cut out the fridge when the battery has fallen below a certain level.

[akio.kanemoto]

Originally Posted by Talbot

Not really relevant to your question, but a fridge does consume a lot of power, and if you are considering it being left on, you really need to either have enough constant power *wind/solar, to keep it running, or add in a power sensor that will cut out the fridge when the battery has fallen below a certain level.

I have a 675AH bank, so leaving the boat for a few days won't kill the bank, although I can't see myself leaving the boat at anchor for more than a single day anyhow. While we haven't started cruising yet, I imagine that for multi-day trips, it will have to be left at a marina, so I will have to invest in a charger, since there's really no way to add another panel beyond 65W to the boat without some major changes.