Yachts require considerable amounts of electrical power to make things happen because the more comforts you have on board the more electricity you need to power them. Most yachts have a combination of 220V AC and 12V DC to supply this essential power.

 

220AC SUPPLY

 

When you are tied up snugly in a marina you can avail of "shore power" - this is where you can connect a power lead to a 220AC power supply on shore and connect the other end to a distribution board on the yacht. This board then supplies a ring main, which is a 220 V circuit around the yacht with numerous outlets. "Forever" has a mains panel supplying power to a battery charger and to two sockets - one in the aft cabin and one in the fore cabin. The sockets were two pin continental types that we changed to the three pin UK/Irish standard type. We added one further supply line to the Waeco transformer for the refrigeration unit.

 

 

BATTERY CHARGER

 

The battery charger, a Tystor 20 was one piece of kit that actually worked and worked well. This charger charged two battery banks, both of them situated in the aft cabin. One bank was the engine starter battery which has its own isolation switch. The other, the domestic bank, on a seperate isolation switch, had two 110Ah batteries that worked and kept good charge, and two other batteries, 100Ah each, that would not hold charge. These were removed and replaced with two new Elecsol EL115F 115Ah AGM Deep Cycle batteries. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALTERNATOR 

 

There was a 90 amp alternator attached to the engine that charged both battery banks. Attached to it was a Sterling Marine Power Universal 4-step alternator regulator. We had such a unit on our last yacht and although it did charge the batteries faster, it made the alternator work harder which caused the alternator temperature to rise to very high levels. thus, we have decided to remove this unit for the time being and see how the alternator works on charging the batteries this up coming summer

 

SOLAR PANELS

 

There was a large stainless steel frame holding two large photovoltaic plates on "Forever" when we purchased her. Two of the legs were no longer screwed to the deck, but lashed with ropes to the stanchions! The power lead led down through a leaking cable gland to a photovoltaic regulator in the port aft locker. The terminals were corroded and poorly fitted. We removed this contraption in it's entirety, deciding that if we decide to use solar panels (aka photovoltaic plates) in the future, we would start from scratch. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISTRIBUTION PANEL

 

The distribution panel, had four analogue meters, measuring battery voltage, engine hours, water and fuel tank levels. It also had 20 circuit breakers with indicator lights. This panel was original and situated just aft of the chart table. The labels were small and hard to see. We decided to change the panel for a new one, with the same guages and almost the same number of circuit breakers but including a diagram of a yacht, revealing which lights were on and which were off. But as important, the circuit breakers would be labelled with backlights, making it easy to read, at all times of the day and the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since our last post above, we had some issues with the switches on the original distribution panel. Age had got to them and two of the circuit breakers had actually perished. Further investigation revealed that both the fuel and water senders had suffered from the ravages of time so much that they were broken and corroded respectively. These new developments did not surprise us so we started to look around at getting a new distribution panel.

 

Because the space for the pre-existing panel is restricted, an off the shelf product was not a runner. We looked into many different producers of bespoke panels and we finally threw our lot in with KDD Powercentre in Falmouth. He has has made us a template of our panel, complete with a diagram of a yacht with its many lights. He will also supply the two senders and  a split charge system to optimise on battery charging. It will also allow us to use the domestic battery bank to start the engine if the engine battery was flat. Very reasonable costs so it is ordered and we will see what it is like when it is delivered and commissioned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTERIOR LIGHTS

 

There were many lights on "Forever" - we counted 16 different lights in total, all using either halogen bulbs or flourescent tubes. Halogen light bulbs consume considerable amounts of power and are a major contributing factor for draining batteries. Thus, we looked at replacing all the lights on board with LED fittings. After extensive Internet searches, we finally sourced the lights from Boatlamps (very good tube lights and cabin reading lights) and from Furneux Riddall (Hella main cabin light with red and white light on touch pads that controlled on/off and light intensity - a real winner).