Hey folks,
I'm a
newbie to boats, but I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron. I've recently moved aboard a 37' Brown
Searunner trimaran, and I'm loving every second,
learning to fix
wood problems,
engine troubles,
fiberglass, etc, etc. Now it's time to tackle the
electrical system, which are working somewhat decently but there's just not enough
battery capacity and the Link10
monitor is apparently dead. I've been working away at the system, but I'm thinking it might just be time to start from the bottom and
work my way up, instead of trying to patch and
repair what's here.
Seriously, so far most of what I've done is tear out old, unused
wiring... and there's a *lot* of it! Runs of 20-year-old
wiring from one end of the
boat to the other, with the ends lopped off years ago and decaying
electrical tape sealing off the cut ends, that sort of thing. I haven't removed anything that's actually working, just the stuff that's obviously not in use. The main
electrical "area" is 200% cleaner now - it still looks like a rats nest, but now it looks like the rats at least went to
trade school.
I'm thinking it's time to rip (most of) it out and build a firm foundation, then add the working
current stuff back in bit by bit.
My goals with this system:
- I will very rarely be attached to
shore power. I do not have moorage, and intend to spend most of my time at
anchor, cruising around the Gulf Islands. Currently I have a small gas
generator, but eventually I would like to add photovoltaic
panels, a
wind turbine, and possibly a
water turbine.
- I'd like to have a decent amount of reserve
power, ideally enough to run a small computer (mac mini with a draw of about 35w) for a couple of days.
- I'd like to use modern, reliable components that will allow me to expand the system (ie, add solar) slowly, as I can afford to.
So, what I've come up with so far is a pair (or more) of large
AGM batteries for the house bank, a separate starter
battery for the
engine, an intelligent charge controller and a monitoring system.
My questions:
- What brands of
AGM batteries have you had great experiences with? Any bad experiences?
- I've been looking at the Xantrex 'Freedom Marine' charge controllers/inverters. Any opinions on these? Any other recommendations?
Any other tips? I've been reading sites where I can find them, but it seems like most designs center around being attached to
shore power most of the time. Hell, I just pulled out all the wiring for the shore telephone and television connections - I don't own a TV and I've been 100% cellular for years.
I'm wide open to recommendations of sources of reading, etc, also - though ten words of
advice from someone with hard-won experience trumps a thousand words from generic technical
manuals any day of the week.