Choosing, designing and installing a new battery system

I must admit my attention starts to wane when I read marine electronics books or even long articles on battery systems – and yet short articles and instant advice on bulletin boards and forums leaves you suspicious that some vital piece of info has been left out…

But getting the charging system, and choice of battery and alternator is vital for a modern cruising yacht with so much reliance being placed on sophisticated electronics.

Apart from the numerous postings here on this blog I think you would find the following site at Smart Gauge very informative and well worth clicking on their reference section.

There are very handy FAQ length explanations of such things as…

• Peukert’s Equation.
• The 50% rule for deep cycle batteries.
• Split Charge Diodes and their many problems.
• How should battery Isolator Switches be connected?
• What is Galvanic Corrosion?
• How to correctly size relays for split charging.
• High current surge as a result of relay based split charging?..

…and many other very practical hints and explanations …

To download my free Excel spreadsheet showing how to assess your power usage while at marina, anchor, or sailing please click here