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tpbrown@gmail.com commented about Batteries on the Sailboat, On Monday February 6th, 2006 12:29:00 PM
Andy,
Thought I would pipe in on your questions...
- 220V vs 110 -- You likely have 12v and 110v, but not 220. Dropping down the voltage is trivial. Most people have an adaptor that plugs into the 220,and you plug into the adapter. Basically you just use one side of the 220 plug.
- You can tell if it's a 12v or 24v system by looking how the batteries are connected. If you see a cable running from the positive on one battery, to the negative on the other battery then it's not 12v. (add up the voltage of the batteries connected this way and you know what volt it is. Likely 12,24, or 48)
They're probably gel-cell batteries (sealed) because salt getting into a flooded battery can be extremely dangerous.
- Light bulbs -- Anytime you put a lower voltage bulb into a higher voltage circuit it WILL burn out. It's just a matter of time. For example many RV's/motorhomes have halogen headlights. These work best at 12V, but batteries usually put out about 14V. People put voltage regulators inline so that the halogens only get 12v, and can double the life of the bulb!
If you're wanting to verify how "safe" you are with the power, you'll need to see how many "amp hours" the battery bank contains, and how much your average daily power draw is. (It's not difficult, just time consuming).
BTW: To learn more about marine electrical systems I suggest Ample Power's book at http://www.amplepower.com/products/cd/index.html
Enjoy!
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