Electrical Systems 101 - Basics of charging setups, split charging, batteries and monitoring

In this video, we take a look at the basic setup of batteries, charging systems and battery monitoring that you might find aboard your boat. It's designed as a starting point for someone new to boating or someone trying to understand how their boat is set up. Next time we will look at some practical examples and also look at an issue we have with our charging system.
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[@Coyotehello]

"death by power point" Hahaha good one. Excellent beginner video on boat's electrical. I often find that these types of videos end-up going in all sorts of directions, this one stayed focused and clear. Excellent job. Once I finish our little Pi5-Open Marine project, the DC electrical is the next project. s/v "Laysan" is a DC only boat, there is not even an AC shore power connection! As a side I am a Blue Installer and I appreciate this video, looking forward to Electrical Systems 102! Cheers, a.

[@BoatingwiththeBaileys]

"death by power point" - I've sat in a lot of meetings..... :)

[@paulfox1756]

Very interesting video and useful for me as all my batteries have died of old age and is a good opportunity to sort out the wiring on a 40 year old boat! My boat has the 1-both-2 switch. This appears to charge the battery as you described. However, it also acts the main on/off switch for all the electronics! Is this a normal setup?

[@BoatingwiththeBaileys]

Thanks for your comments. Yes that sounds like the normal setup and will also isolate your batteries. Yours is likely to be on the positive side rather than how mine is setup to just switch off the negatives. It’s not a bad setup really and if you are used to switching it then no real need to change. I’ll include that in the 102 video 👍

[@paulfox1756]

​@@BoatingwiththeBaileys Excellant, thanks for your advice. For my power, I've been able to get away with just a lead acid starter and one 110ah house batteries. I have been thinking about these portable Lithium power stations to replace the house battery! Keep the lead starter setup but add a 1000w inverter to charge the power station which will then run all the house stuff! These also have all the solar controls so I could plug my panels directly into it! The advantages I thought about was that I could use it for other things like camping and also take it home to fully charge and be ready for the next weekend sail!

[@BoatingwiththeBaileys]

Yeah i think thats a good idea, especially if you can use it for something else like camping. I dont know if you follow sailing Fair Isle, but Steve hes done some really good reviews on the portable power stations and has run a lot of boat gear from them, everything laptops to an electric stove. You can charge (some of) them direct from DC, so maybe you could just run that with your current setup and save buying an inverter to charge it.