How many Amps Hours do you use a day?

[Hermann]

If compairing Amp hours ( Ah ) it is KEY to have equal voltage!! Though: when asking Ah's you must refer to a common voltage as 12 V is NOT common on boats any more as 24 V is gaining more and more customers. Even 48 V bord voltage makes sense.
If you are a luckky owner of a electro mobile you may face board voltages of up to 460 V at present ... further increasing over time ... a lethal risk for the guy who trys to extinguisg that fire ... on the roof of your "electo" home as well.

Lock for the so called "POWERPACKs" for your cell phone: manufacturers and sellers are advertising "10.000 mAh" etc. BUT: this is NOT for their 5 V output but is for the iternal 3,6 V battery cell. A converter produces the 5 V and there the capacity is only ~ 7.000 mA on the output connector given a fair and efficient convertion rate. Even worst with a 12 V output: there the given cell with 10 Ah only will provide 2,500 mAh.
Lock at your starter batt in your car: at 12 V there are 36 Ah or 98 Ah for each of the 6 cells and NOBODY claims to sell you a 6 x 36 Ah = 216 Ah battery ( resp. 588 Ah ) to you.
You may ask for your money back as this offers are cheating on you.

Better: you ask for the Watt hours ( Wh ) per day at the given enviromental conditions at ankor or afloat. This you CAN compair now.

[kmacdonald]

I seem to manage to suck down 2 to 4 AH a day. Covers cell phone and tablet charging, VHF, depth finder, lights, fresh water pump. 30W solar panel and a 20 AH LiFePO4 cover it nicely.

[Cpt Pat]

Originally Posted by Ip485

So what do you reckon your daily use is;

1. At anchor
2. On a day night passage

In respect of 1, what equipment are you using and for what periods of time.

The same question for 2, and does this include use of an autohelm the whole time?

What part of the world are you basing your answer on?

.. .. and Amps used being total Amps used, excluding any replaced by any means.

I'm attaching my own energy budget and power plan.

[GTom]

Originally Posted by ColdEh Marine

We use around 50 to 60 amp hr a day on the hook with fridge and a separate deep freeze running, lights. electric heads , tv radio... ect.

Very impressive figure! However, I don't think the freezer has to work too much this side of the pond and the fridge is probably around the point where it should start heating .

[Brewgyver]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Oh, I see... COLREGS are for other people...

Jim

Absolutely right!

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by jlcnuke

I think everyone here is trying to be helpful. Years ago the countries of the world came together to address how boats should do things to avoid problems and they put together a set of rules now used worldwide commonly called the "Colregs" (COLREG). Your post earlier mentioned that you were doing things in violation of those worldwide rules for boating and that concerned some members, both for the overall safety as well as your own personal liability if your actions in violation of those rules resulted in a problem. Everyone on the water should be aware of those rules and I think the members that discussed it here with you just want you to be aware of those regulations and follow them to benefit yourself as well as the others on the water.

If you're knowledge of electrical systems is very basic, this is a great resource for getting to know boat electrical systems in my opinion 12-Volt Basics for Boaters - boats.com

There's also some good, more specific information in this thread: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...all-10632.html

Thanks for that,
Thats what I was after, Lightning had fried the wiring in the mast and inside the boat where it could not be seen,
This has all been replaced by me,
I never had to learn about electricity, There was always a Sparky on the job to do any electrical work I needed, I only had to ask,
I did all their mechanical work, It worked out fine, Both ways,

With the colregs, At the time, I had no idea, I do know them now,

Cheers, Brian,

[Erik de Jong]

I just looked at my monitor. In 3324 days of livaboard and expedition use, I used 41.400 Ah on a 24V system. So that would be an equivalent of 82.800 Ah on a 12 volt system.

Divide those and my average has been 24.9 Ah per day based on 12V system.

That includes use of Autopilot, navigational instruments, radar etc. during 65.000 miles
and 1 load of laundry a week when port side/anchored.
A lot of computer time (I'm an engineer and work from the boat).

Bagheera does not have fridges or refrigerator.

[sailinglegend]

#4

Originally Posted by john61ct

A $30 AH counter will tell you.

This one may be good enough for most, just don't run cranking a big diesel through it.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/G-T-POWER-Wat...W/222720679665

#34

Originally Posted by LooseGoose

get yourself one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/MICTUNING-6-5...70_&dpSrc=srch

Originally Posted by john61ct

Why do you think that would be better than the 180A one in my post #4?

I would respectfully suggest that neither is any good for a boat because it seems neither will measure charging current. Why have an Ah meter that only does half a job?

You need something that measures +/- 0-100 amps minimum, more if you have a higher alternator or shore power charger.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Erik de Jong

I just looked at my monitor. In 3324 days of livaboard and expedition use, I used 41.400 Ah on a 24V system. So that would be an equivalent of 82.800 Ah on a 12 volt system.

Divide those and my average has been 24.9 Ah per day based on 12V system.

That includes use of Autopilot, navigational instruments, radar etc. during 65.000 miles
and 1 load of laundry a week when port side/anchored.
A lot of computer time (I'm an engineer and work from the boat).

Bagheera does not have fridges or refrigerator.

The use of the same dot (.) symbol for both a thousands separator and a decimal place indicator can cause confusion on first reading, especially when the use of any thousands separator is inconsistent.

[Erik de Jong]

Sorry, I'm a European who lived too long in the US of A

[OceanSeaSpray]

Originally Posted by Erik de Jong

I just looked at my monitor. In 3324 days of livaboard and expedition use, I used 41.400 Ah on a 24V system. So that would be an equivalent of 82.800 Ah on a 12 volt system.

Divide those and my average has been 24.9 Ah per day based on 12V system.

That includes use of Autopilot, navigational instruments, radar etc. during 65.000 miles
and 1 load of laundry a week when port side/anchored.
A lot of computer time (I'm an engineer and work from the boat).

Bagheera does not have fridges or refrigerator.

I suspect you are not metering the power used not going in and out of the battery here.

[OceanSeaSpray]

I have had a far bit to do with helping out people building lithium battery banks and the question of their daily consumption always comes at the forefront when deciding how much capacity is needed.

What matters is the overnight drain, because in daytime the power comes from solar and there is (normally) enough to run the boat and recharge in the same time. The most common situation seems to be 40-60Ah use overnight when running a modest fridge, small freezer and using power normally in the evening for a couple. The daily energy use would therefore be about twice that much.
Those who can stand wind generators can get some energy at night, but it is not consistent, so we don't count on it.

I don't refrigerate, so I use a lot less and almost all my power goes into the laptop. I might get to 40Ah/day total energy consumed (not battery discharged) on a long day with the design office really busy...

[Erik de Jong]

Originally Posted by OceanSeaSpray

I suspect you are not metering the power used not going in and out of the battery here.

Yes, all is measured. Except for two portable heaters that I used in winter in Nova Scotia in addition to the normal diesel heather.

[Typhoon]

Originally Posted by GTom

Very impressive figure! However, I don't think the freezer has to work too much this side of the pond and the fridge is probably around the point where it should start heating .

Actually , this is during the hottest summer months up here. I don’t see nearly that high of a usage during the cooler months .

We typically see 9 to 12 amp hrs in the fridge and 17 to 20 amp hrs in the deep freeze at 12v

Yes our refrigeration systems are that efficient, and we use all led lighting .

Regards John

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by sailinglegend

Why have an Ah meter that only does half a job?

You need something that measures +/- 0-100 amps minimum, more if you have a higher alternator or shore power charger.

Obviously a nice $200 BM is great if you want the full picture. Whenever I recommend those I get a chorus of "unnecessary, overkill, KISS" replies, even when SoC is the thread topic, which is not the case here. Can't win! 8-)

For those who have nothing but an ammeter, a low cost (10% of a full BM) AH counter **may** do the job (as stated) for the topic of this thread.

And mine is rated for 180A, which (again) I pointed out will not cover some occasional extra-heavy loads.

Of course I'm hoping someone will suggest something specific that would be better, or buy a new type and report.