Wrap up electrical systems

I had a nice plan to also tell you about the differences between hooking up your batteries in parallel versus in series, but I lost it. So let’s reduce it to: as you learn more about batteries and battery sizes, you will find that one way to reduce the weight of the individual batteries that you are trying to carry onboard is to learn that if you hook the batteries up one way (in series) you can turn two 6 volt batteries into one 12 volt battery bank. When you connect batteries in parallel, you create a bigger bank, capable of providing more amp hours (longer running time for the same instruments). On Sea Story, we have two sets of two golf cart batteries – each set is connected in series to make one 12 volt, and the two sets are connected together in parallel to provide ~250 amp hours. This is known as the house bank, because it runs the house-like features, such as the lights, refrigerator, screens… We have a separate large 12 volt battery that is only used for the windlass and starting the engine, as these both requires enormous amounts of energy in an instant, rather than over time.

Keep safe, keep learning
Tanya Weimer

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