Tagged: battery
Batteries
Batteries are an enigma for many boaters. What power rating do you need? What size? How do you install one? How do you maintain one? How long will it last? How do you know it’s starting to die? These are all reasonable questions. Some are straightforward such as the size and power-rating, especially when replacing an existing battery. Installation is fairly straightforward, as is maintenance. However, things get tricky when forecasting end of life. Experience has proven that forecasting battery life is a bit like predicting the weather – it’s tough to get it right. A number of factors [...]
Details
Well, Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away and most of us have hauled and at least partially winterized our boats by now. In the middle of the process myself recently, two thoughts surfaced – 1) checklists are valuable 2) there are a lot of items that need attention and can be easily overlooked. For example, batteries will easily survive the winter in the boat, if they are fully charged before starting the lay-up period. Have you charged the batteries? Remembered to bring the charger? Set aside enough time to give each one a decent charge? Bilge pumps are perhaps [...]
Smart Boating 76 – Basic Electrical Systems – Part 1
This show, part one of a two part series, illuminates the basics of boat electrical systems.