If you’ve been following this blog you know that I am close to over zealous when it comes to power consumption. I just ran a test. 18 interior lamps lit at dimmed comfort levels. Running lights on. Main computer and all navigation instruments running. Stereo on and playing music. VHF and AIS radio on standby. Total power consumption was 6.4 A at 12V equal to about 77 watts. Not bad!
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3 responses to “Power consumption looks promising”
I think “Not bad” is one of your typical understatements. Any chance of creating a similar set up in our home (and millions of others!).
Well done, Jesper!
What would be your normal running power under sail? E.g. drop the interior lights & radio, maybe the main computer (depending on whether you need it for navigation…), and then with some more variations:
– Add the autopilot
– Add refrigerator
– Add heater (for cold area sailing)
– Add radar
– Shutdown everything but running lights + minimal nav (wind, depth, AIS)
Also, be careful with measuring at 12V or 13.2V (using the battery charger.) Anything with a switching power supply, like the main computer etc. will be relatively constant in power when voltage changes with battery charge. That means their current consumption goes up when the voltage drops as the battery is discharged.
Don’t know those answers yet! Fridge&freezer will be installed in the coming weeks, autopilot too. Radar on standby is less < 1W, 28W when running (Navico broadband). Autopilot will consume quite a bit, but I won't use it much. Heaters on half speed are about 80W total for both. I will publish more numbers as I get them.