Calculating Your Electrical Needs - resources for cruising sailors

Alternative Power

[Article]

Thorough Overview By Don Casey

High-output alternators are a waste of money on a small-to-medium-sized battery bank. If you don′t want to run the engine a lot, look to slower-charging solar or wind chargers.

[SailNet, 28 July 2003]
- The right size alternator for your batteries

Power to the People 3: Supply-Side Economics

[Offline]

Overview By Nigel Calder

How to choose an alternator that fits your battery bank and a three-stage regulator to fit your alternator. The attractions and limits of solar and wind power. 2 pages.

[Sail Magazine, September 2001]
- Order the Sail Magazine back issue

An Onboard Energy Audit, Part I

[Offline]

Detailed How-To By Nigel Calder

Balancing energy demands and sources is critical. How to make an energy budget, with tips for keeping the loads down. 3 pages.

[Sail Magazine, July 2001]
- Order the Sail Magazine back issue

Unplug the Boat

[Site]

Personal Website By Barbara Theisen

A long-time liveaboard offers encouragement and advice for the transition from electrical appliance addiction.

[The Cruising Life, Vero Beach, FL, USA]
- Read the article on line

Energy-Efficient Lighting

[Site]

Publisher

Although it covers only 110-volt appliances, this article is a good introduction to the array of energy-saving compact fluorescent and LED lights available.

[Eartheasy, Parksville, BC, Canada]
- Read the article on line

Calculating Your Electrical Load

[Article]

Brief How-To By Kevin Jeffrey
Calculating Your Electrical Load

How to draw up a table of projected electric appliance loads for use in planning battery capacity, alternator size, solar power effects and other parameters of your electrical system. Sample tables for 12-volt and 115-volt loads..

[SailNet, 4 March 2003]
- Electricity needs

Calculating Electrical Load

[Article]

List By John Caruso

Here′s a list of electrical needs you may have or want, together with their amperage draw. The table can be printed out or written into your spreadsheet program and used to figure your total electrical needs

[Ocean Navigator, May 2003]
- Read the article (fee $5 a year)
- Order the back issue

Calculating Onboard Electrical Demands

[Article]

On-line publisher By Scott Herrick

One of the best explanations of how to make your comprehensive list of electrical devices, determine the draw of each, estimate daily use, and calculate the daily consumption. Then how to use that total to choose batteries, alternator, solar power, wind generation, and other components.

[Sail Jazz, Mount Pleasant, SC, USA]
- Part 1
- Part 2