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WATT the hell is an amp hour? Patrons Bonus Vid (Patreon)

Published:
2018-07-25 18:24:46
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

A special shout out to Steve for asking this question, you know who you are buddy :) 

If you've ever wondered what the hell an amp hour is, how to calculate your power usage onboard, and what it means with respect to battery capacity then this video is for you!  

I'd like to do more of these types of videos, so if you guys have any suggestions let them fly below!  Fair Winds and as always sending lot's of love from Delos to you.  Capt. Brian

PS- Patrons Bonus Videos are just a little way for us to say thank you for all the support, so thanks again :)

Files

Previews only

WATT THE HELL is an amp hour? Sailing Vessel Delos

If you've ever wondered what the hell an amp hour is, how to calculate your power usage onboard, and what it means with respect to battery capacity then this video is for you! If you like this type of content and would like to see more please support us at http://svdelos.com/beer . Fair winds! Capt. Brian Subscribe: youtube.com/svdelos Support: svdelos.com/beer

Comments

Salty Señorita

Ohm my goodness, thanks for doing this! Im currently upgrading my fridge/insulation/battery banks, and wasnt sure how to calculate all this. Taking notes on this one! Thx 😁

Brian in Boston

This is outstanding Brian. Helps the rest of us trying to size things up!

Tim Kennedy

I love this type of video!!! 1. bonus/surprise video 2. provides a better understanding life behind the camera 3. more Delos is ALWAYS better

AlanR

Thanks for the bonus video! Very informative!

Tim Kennedy
>>14111150

Also, Congrats that all of your higher tier patron rewards are full! That speaks volumes about your videos, your adventures, and the bad-ass Delos Tribe!

Jim Lyon

So Brian, it seems like you get more from 24v vs 12v (and the wires can be smaller size I think I read somewhere). So do you know why US boats use 12v?

Greg Guthman

Good stuff sir and spot on... I be one of those Electrical Engineer geeks... One thing I can't believe you haven't picked up on yet though!... It is horribly inefficient to charge any DC device (e.g. Laptop) from an inverter. You are taking your DC, Inverting it to AC and putting it through the power supply which takes the AC and turns it back in to... you guessed it, DC!. There are many after-market DC MacBook-Pro chargers out there for 12 & 24v. There are so many different PC power connections, so it might require a little more hunting. This will cut your computer draw by almost 50%.

Benjamin Franklin Hamilton

Very helpful review! I used to sell myself as a marine electrician. Nearly 40 years ago! Basics do not change a great deal but your next two videos on Solar and Wind with Combining of multiple source charge controller will be very helpful to my planning and understanding my next vessel. Brian, nice to visit your house battery bank and see it so clean and tidy! Please show your engine starting batteries and cables. Also a section on your windlass power supply and control. Many people will benefit from knowing about powering windlass, and remote large draw sail and anchor controllers! I have seen boats burned from errors built into vessels by manufacturers! The power stored in batteries is HUGE when discharged in the wrong way or too quickly by an unplanned fuse link! Cheers and thanks for your instruction! ben aka: crusty joker

Matthew Jaroslawski
>>14111418

i think because of the size and power demands of the equipment of Delos or any Super Maramu the voltage needs to be stepped up. for comparison using water systems since im an engineer in the water industry, Voltage is like Pressure, it is the force behind the current (flow) of energy. so for example, the Amel Santorin the boat which im currently dreaming about runs on a 12V system even though it is a European boat, i think this is because its Equipment and systems are not as power intensive as the systems and equipement on a Super Maramu. hope that helps

Matthew Jaroslawski

YES!!! loved this video, im an engineer so learning about the different systems and how they are incorporated into boats is very interesting to me. i work in Water systems engineering but most of the basics translate pretty well. i really enjoyed this video and would love to see more like them. i love learning about how and what you do to design and operate Delos. Thanks again crew for the very informative video.

Tony Willett

You mentioned Lead Acid for depth of discharge and capacity. How does that differ from Delos' new Lithium batteries (hopefully I am not incorrectly remembering a swap to Lithium )? It looks like optimal Depth of discharge is 75% for Lithium, so I am assuming when swapping you added some capacity to have similar operational duration. <edit> I went back to Instagram and verified what you installed (LiFePO4) and the optimal DoD looks to be 80% on those.</edit>

Panagiotis Verras
>>14111418

Hi Jim, most sailboats have a 12V system. It has been like this for a long time, there is more stuff available on 12V, although these days most stuff will be able work at a range of 12V-24V. Yes you are quite right that wiring could be smaller gauge as your current would be half and especially for things like furlers, winches and windlasses that can be very high power it makes a huge difference, and i guess that's why boats with such systems are 24V. it's like the automotive, cars ate 12V but many trucks are 24V. One thing that is simpler with 12V is that you don't need to get batteries in series, don't want to get in too much detail but in the older days it was a lot harder to monitor batteries in series.

Tony Willett
>>14111896

I realize I may have been thinking about that backwards and with the Lithium you can discharge deeper. So you can replace the Lead Acid with smaller capacity Lithium and discharge them deeper and get the same operational time.

Roenyc123

Super helpful, and yes make more! Always good to hear it from people who are doing it, day in day out. Cheers

William Gross

Excellent video on power comsumption!! Now I'm anxiously waiting for the switching to Lithium Ion video.

Panagiotis Verras

Hey Brian, nice video, very informative. One thing to point out to people is that the consumption you mentioned is for a 24V, so for 12V systems you need to double it and add another 10% (losses due to higher currents). Unfortunately the AmpHour thing has caused quite the confusion for people... for example power banks or mobile phone batteries the manufacturers always mention the capacity in Ah but you have to look at the small print about what voltage does this refer to. For example when you buy a powerbank that is 10000mAh , that is on the Li-Ion voltage and not at 5V that is usually the output. for this powerbank would be 36Wh and not 50Wh. Wh (watt-hours) is a much more useful way to express capacity. also different chemistry of Lithium batteries have different voltages.. for example LiFePO4 batteries have a standing voltage of 3.2V , LiCoO2 (most laptop batteries) 3.6V, LiMn2O4 3.7V. All batteries express their capacity on mAh or Ah but might actually be different capacity. Another thing about usable capacity. Yes the smaller the discharge cycles the more you're going to get, same applies for Lithium but with more DoD (depth of discharge) available, however what matters even more is the maximum current as you go down on the discharge. If you try to take 200A out of a 200Ah battery for like 5mins when it sits around 50% you going to hurt it a lot more than trying to take 20A for an hour. Your brand new Lithium ones though are a lot more forgiving, good LiFePO4 batteries can go down to 5% at 3C (3x rated capacity) without hurting them.

Panagiotis Verras
>>14111465

Greg, I couldn't agree more... Was having a chat with a friend who is a boat owner and was telling me that he needs an inverter just to run his laptop and when I explained that exact same thing he was stunned. Most people don't know that unfortunately. A simple 20$ dc-dc converter can save you hundreds on inverters etc... but the truth is that the manufacturers don't make it easy... regarding the 50% might be stretching it a bit. Inverters usually run around 85-90% and power adapters about the same.. you'd save probably around 20-30% not more than that.

Frederick Savoye

Really cool, thanks the inspiration - One of those things I always eyeball it (to my peril), it's a great project to do with my kid.

Kyle Bailey

Loved it! Thanks Delos! As you mentioned in the video, a solar/wind/generator video on how you put the power into the batteries would be awesome!

Christos Makris

Forgot the bread making machine! :) Would be cool to know if you have circuitry to prevent discharge below 50% capacity etc. Great video, thanks!

Sailing SV Delos
>>14111418

Hey Jim, yes you are correct since Power = Current x Voltage if you have a 1000W windlass, on 12V you would need approx. 83 amps, and at 24V approx. 42 amps. So by stepping up the voltage you can have the same size electric motor in the windlass (same power) and use a smaller gauge wire, since high current is what dictates the wire size required. You will find that most larger boats with large loads will have a dual system (24V and 12V) to run the smaller systems like VHF, Nav Electronics, etc. that may require 12V. I have also seen many boats built outside of the US with 12V, so I think it is more of something to do with size. Bigger electric motors = more power consumed!

Sailing SV Delos
>>14111622

Right on Bejamin, glad you enjoyed the post. Was quite a bit of fun to do. We'll tackle some of the other stuff like winches, windlass, and even bow thruster when we return to Delos. That's a great suggestion so thank you!

Sailing SV Delos
>>14111896

Hey Tony, I actually just finished editing that video! Ha Ha! So it will cover our Lithium installation in great detail. Stay tuned for next Wednesday :)

Sailing SV Delos
>>14112496

Hey Pantagiotis, this is a really great comment! It is indeed very confusing given the different ratings and voltages. I just finished the next video on our Lithium installation, so stay tuned for next Weds where I'll cover a bit more about this. Fair Winds! Brian

Sailing SV Delos
>>14112828

Yep, gotta watch that AH Consumption :) Also a very cool and practical way to demonstrate math to a kid for sure. And to help them understand why not to leave stuff on, even at home.

Sailing SV Delos
>>14113063

Right on Kyle, seems that this will be a popular video. We'll do it when we return to Delos in just a few weeks so stay tuned. Brian

Sailing SV Delos
>>14113495

Hey Christos! Oh man, you know I am going to cover that in our next video which is about the Lithium battery installation. I think we will be able to run the bread machine and EVEN THE STILL off the new inverter battery combo :) . He he. Brian

Jason Hall

love the tech stuff, you haven't been doing much recently , you used to do many more repair videos . love them, thx guys 8)

Sailing SV Delos
>>14113787

Thanks for the comment Jason, perhaps I should do a series "Boat Bits with Brian" just about repair work and stuff. That would actually be pretty cool :) . Brian

Greg Guthman

Although I think you’ve done a great job within the episodes over the years, I’d love to see the same focus done here on weather routing / prediction. Your use of Predict Wind (paid version I assume), how you get data (iridium etc.) and how you put it all together to make choices and any times you were really proud of a choice and maybe a time you got it wrong and the impact there.

Chris Embury and Amy Mason

Hey Guys and Gals, Thanks so much for the power lesson. Would love to hear more on solar and wind generated power sources aboard a cruising vessel. We are learning and researching currently our escape plan. Really love the Pacific Seacraft Blue water vessels. Any thoughts on them Brian? Thank you for all the great videos!

Arndt Funke

this video is great, these topics are not discussed in driving licenses, believe only in the British Yachtmaster. For cruising sailors really worth knowing, Thanks Brian. You explain it very well. What I think would be great video over, if you plan larger crossings, arrangements, crew shifts, weather, route planning.........

Richard Whiting

I know you were attempting to keep it simple and using only at anchor sources, but what about the microwave and bread maker? Those suckers draw big! Are your batteries lead acid or AGM, and what size?

Sailing SV Delos
>>14114576

Hey Richard, I have just finished the next video covering our Lithium installation! Should release next week and we will cover some of these topics. We anticipate running both the Bread Maker and even our Still off the new Lithium system and inverter! Brian

Greg Guthman
>>14114576

The huge difference in Linthicum being that you can bury them all the way down with no ill effects....

Sailing SV Delos
>>14114201

Hey Chris, will hit the solar and wind topic up when we return to Delos in just a few weeks so stay tuned. I don't have any personal experience with Pacific Seacraft, but what I have heard from others is that they are quite sea friendly boats. Looks like there is a forum at <a href="https://www.sailnet.com/forums/pacific-seacraft/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.sailnet.com/forums/pacific-seacraft/</a> that may be helpful. I know I perused the Amel owners forums when researching Amel and got lot's of good info there. Brian

Dave & Stephen (SV Stella Mari)

Great video and these comments are super informative too! I'm adding solar my sailboat and replacing my batteries with a bank of LiFePo4. I think I overestimated the size of my battery bank if the Delos crew only uses 130AH. Time to go recalculate before I spend all that money on the batteries!

Sailing SV Delos
>>14115800

Hey Dave, keep in mind that's 130AH @ 24V, which would be 260AH @ 12V, not sure if you are going 12V or 24V... Anyway stay tuned for next week as I just finished one on installing our Lithium batteries, hope to release it next Wednesday. Fair Winds! Brian

Robert Place
>>14113787

That would be great. As we gear up to head out the amount I have learned from the various tech vids you and some of the other channels have put out have been a huge help in getting me to better understand the vast array of systems on a cruising boat and have on more than one occasion helped me trouble shoot problems on my own boat. Keep up the great work.

Robert Place

Another idea would be an update on how you are using the various instruments, I've noticed you no longer appear to have a dedicated plotter and are managing everything on tablets. The original vid you did when you installed the Maretron kit was great, maybe time for an update on how you have integrated everything, what charting software you find reliable enough to cross oceans with, what integrates with your weather routing, etc. It may be a tad too geeky for the larger channel but it would be great to get your take.

Rob Milligan

I was told that there wouldn't be any math.

Kerrald

Great vid! Stay strong, Brian, never give in to the macs! No one needs a $2k aluminum shell on an old intel cpu :D

Gerran Tangye

Here is a nerdy one ;) How about a video about how you keep on top of maintenance? Rig, especially at the mast top, steering etc. If you can make THAT interesting then I'm impressed...

Peter Loehr

Really enjoyed this - thanks for sharing. How do you deal with the difference in currents 120/240 between countries - especially for shore power?

Martin Foden

This maybe crosses over into next video, but what effect does solar and wind have on battery. If current they generate is not needed by Kazza's laptop (or whatever) does it trickle charge the batteries all the time? Same batteries or do they have their own? Does system automatically choose clean energy before going to battery... like when you run generator presumably some of that is drawn off immediately to run the still or bread maker and only then to charge batteries? Keep up videos- love way you are not just a talking head and you involve the whole crew. The girls make it all so real.

Mark Ornstedt

Loved the breakdown on power usage. Maybe talk about your solar capacity and wind turbine and how it is integrated into Delos' power system.

Bart Wesp

Good video. Thank you for time on this! It would be great if a reference list was available to any material you used in your research.

Johnny Harrison

Great video! Keep them coming. Looking forward to the new Lithium battery install video, the charging levels and storage prep on the hard. I was wondering why you kept your navigation equipment on while taking readings from you other devices? One of the biggest questions I have is air conditioning. Living in Texas, it's essential. I'd like to get an ocean boat in a few years, but I think the only way I can get my wife to buy into it is to have comfortable temps on the boat at night. I rarely see you folks run it. How do you cope, or is it even an issue?

Larry Sumner

I don't know which is spinning faster- My head or your wind generator......

Matthew Matlack

Thanks Brian and crew. Very educational. I enjoyed learning about the amp hours. -Mat

Ken Randall

That was great - definitely interesting in part two - "the solar farm"

Ken Randall

Love how y'all can essentially live off the grid!

Ronnie Mackey

I really enjoy the techy video also.

michael

FANTASTIC; YES! MORE,SOLAR AND WIND--HOW IT ALL WORKS--GREAT!!

Tay Moss

I think a lot of us with boats, especially sail boats, enjoy the technical aspects of sailing. Whether it's sailtrim, fibreglass repair, weather prediction, or marine electronics. So please keep this stuff coming! Thanks!

Eric Carney

I've been a patreon for about a year and I've watched your videos for much longer. I've always wanted to sail and have some ASA certs under my belt. I inherited a powerboat recently and had to take it on as a project and remove it from someones property. Was in rough shape, getting better. I have a new respect for captain Brian, Dr FixIt. I'll keep supporting you, keep bringing the nuts and bolts videos. Much Love. You all are doing amazing things. Keep inspiring the masses!

Tod Christianson

Yes! That's what I'm talkin about, nice informative technical video. You should make some sailing videos too. For example, if you look on Youtube to find instructions on how to tack you will see someone at the tiller or wheel yell tack and then see the boom go zooming over. What would be really interesting would be to have a split view with drone coverage so that you can actually see how the boat and sails are moving from an exterior perspective. Actually, it would also be interesting to have Maggie in front of Delos, heading straight into the wind so that there is a frame of reference for how Delos is moving during the tack. It would be challenging, but the Delos crew does have a certain set of skills.

Sailing SV Delos
>>14116279

Hey Robert, Actually I thin people would really enjoy an update on this. I will put it on the list, thanks for that! Brian

Sailing SV Delos
>>14117381

Hmmm, yes maybe something about the periodic maintenance we do could be fun. We have a haulout in Grenada so will keep this in mind as we are filming that. Fair winds! Brian

Sailing SV Delos
>>14117594

Delos actually has a step up transformer, so we have two different cords. One takes 120V and the other 240V. The problem is most 120V countries are also 60HZ, while 240 is 50HZ so we can't run things like the washing machine, AC, anything with an AC motor because they will freak out trying to spin 20% faster. Hope that makes sense! Brian

Sailing SV Delos
>>14118208

Hey Martin, this is a great question. Actually this has a lot to do with the charge controller you use. For example our Silent Wind charge controller has a dedicated "load" output that you can set the priority for whether to charge the batteries or not given the DC load. All our other solar and wind chargers simply connect straight to the battery bank, so they are always charging the batteries. The load is then connected to the same terminals, which in effect means the power can either supply the load OR charge the batteries depending on if you have an excess or power or not. When we run the generator it's a bit different because it produces AC power, which directly supplies our outlets for AC appliances like the bread maker, still, etc. Because the generator produces 8KW of power we also have battery charges to top up the batteries while it's running. Hope that makes sense! Brian

Sailing SV Delos
>>14118824

Hey Johnny, we kept the navigation on because it has the best display for reading current actually! We do have another that doesn't require the system but it's a bit old and hard to see. We update it in the next video. We haven't run our AC since Asia, where it was hot, humid, and no wind. I think you'll find that to run AC you need to run your generator or be plugged into the dock. Since we like to minimize generator time and hardly ever go to a dock we haven't run it in a while. At anchor there is typically a decent amount of breeze. We cope by using wind scoops on the hatches to direct as much fresh air into the boat as possible, and also have ALOT of fans! Fans are your friend :)

Sailing SV Delos
>>14123258

Right on Eric, that is too cool! Just think how much sweeter it will be when you take her out knowing how much it took to bring her to life :)

Ash Heilbronn

Super informative video thanks for posting! :)

Boyd GOLDIE

You have 12 batteries. Are they all 12v and each 100Ahr? If they are, doesn't this mean that you have 2 banks of 6 batteries. The six batteries are in parallel (so 6 x 100Ahr) and the two banks are in series to make 2x12v = 24v? Do you have separate batteries for engine and generator start like I have? If not, how do you prevent draining the house batteries flat and then being unable to start the engine? Boyd

Mike Murphy
>>14125429

This. So many people love sailing, but really have no idea how it all works. They think sailing is still like the square sails and have no idea how the keel and the sail work together. I would also add racing would be a good fun subject. How to jockey for a start and how the three legs are laid out with different points of sail. A dinghy race is great fun for people starting out, but I don't think they realize how easy it is.

Mike Murphy

I would love to hear an update on some of the old fixes and upgrades. The update on the genie impeller for one was eye opening. I didn't realize the missing vane would be such a big deal. The navigation package would be awesome to see too. I have a 'lil Marshall 22. TABITHA is a 22' catboat but I wanted to add some electronics. I almost went with the wind sensor you have, but decided to go for a Garmin unit when I saw you were having issues. I know it's hard to put out negative reviews of gear, but honestly, they're the only ones worth watching. - Another cool piece would be to insert "Brian Facts" as opposed to "Brady facts" about vocabulary or history of boats. You could talk about the bowline knot, or why starboard is called starboard, or why we call ships by female. Maybe even a proper renaming ceremony. I'm on my way to Martha's Vineyard tomorrow for a Regatta - wish me luck! Fair Winds . . .

Dan Nytes
>>14125429

I must admit I would like the idea, seems like I saw more of how fun it would be to sail on Delos from the Captain Rick Moore videos than all of the Delos Ep ...Just Saying. However all this would be cool but how much can we expect from a video; why not just get on a boat and try it out for yourself. With all due respect to your great idea. Dan

Ray Lehman

Good for you to share some of the tech side of sailing. Yes, as opportunities arise please share more of the tech stuff. Video of your sailing techniques and if possible what was done to Delos haul out at Grenada would be interesting.

Eric Carney
>>14123258

Not quite sure I understand your meaning? Because I have a power boat? I love sailing. Would have preferred a sailboat but this boat all but landed on me.

Arnold, Clara, Luna and Noa

Great great great video Brian. Very good explanation and passing it on. Yes would love to see more technical videos ! Good one guys ! Thanks for all the effort

Craig Kirkpatrick

I was happy to watch you get the Ah to Wh correct. Many folks goof that up. I do admire the Brian MacGyver videos.

Gordon Potter
>>14114201

I also would like to hear more on this topic. Stuff like how you calculate the recharge rate, size of solar panels, how often and under what conditions you need to run generator, etc. Great video, interesting topic.

Tod Christianson
>>14125429

Yes Dan, I have been trying to do this myself. Just bought a small sailboat (Siren 17), not sure if it even floats because I have had a lot of little things to do to it before even getting on the water. I will try and post some video on Youtube one day. However, there is so much to learn from the Delos crew. They have an interesting boat, they are expert sailors and also expert videographers. I was thinking about Capt. Rick also, his drone footage is probably the best out there, but that is what he does, he is a pro. Nothing wrong with giving the Delos crew a challenge...

Steve Whitacre

Great job guys. Loved it, best I have seen and I should know I went to Electronic Institute for 3 year course.

biotex

Yes, great video! Look forward to the next one and how much you generate power from wind, solar and generator. Also wondering if you utilize any LED for general lighting, navigation and deck lighting? The RGB deck lights would look super cool at night. Really enjoyed the tech talk!

Sailing SV Delos
>>14131554

Hey Boyd, good question! So we have 8 batteries in total, all of them are rated 100AH at 12V. We link 2 batteries in series to make 24V, which is basically the same as now having 4 x 24V batteries. So effectively we have 4 24V batteries in series. We do have a separate starter battery which is just a standard 12V lead acid marine starting battery. Nothing special there. Fair Winds! Brian

Sailing SV Delos
>>14133980

Yo Mike, thanks for the comment bro and have fun in Marth's Vineyard! I do think and update on the wind sensor is in order. It turned out to be a problem with the unit itself and Maretron replaced under warranty. Once that was fixed been working like a champ. They did provide very good customer service for the issue, it just took a while because it's hard to coordinate a return when we are always out on the ocean or in remote places. Fair winds- Brian

Sailing SV Delos
>>14155961

He Larry, yes we will definitely hit the wind and solar topic next. Regarding LED- we have switched everything out in the boat. Even the deck lights. They draw about 1/10th of the power as the old halogen bulbs! Amazing, it's like having 10 lights for 1 :)

Märta Syren

Waaaooow! This is so cool! I need to watch it few more times though ... Allan will love it! :) Like this kind of hands on videos so much. Really gives a great view of all the sides of sailing that we "landkrabbor" don't know. Bring em on! <3

Boyd GOLDIE
>>14131554

Ah ha! On my yacht I have 8 x 6v batteries, so two banks of 4 x 6v to make 24v and 378AHr! In addition I have two 12v batteries in series to start the engine and finally another 12v for the generator. I have looked at changing to Lithium. Have you converted?

Stephen Lincoln

Hey Brian great Video my name is Stephen as well , i think what you said was very understandable for non electrical people . As you suggest 50% usable capacity or (depth of discharge) gives you 500 charge dischage cycles, Question i have out of curiosity is how many years do you believe your averaging out of a set .

Stephen Lincoln

Will you look at lithium Iron next time, as whilst they are expensive 500 cycles goes to 3500 or more DOD can go to 90% without damage or more and is less weight, i am currently researching this at the moment , the only limitation i see is the maths and funds

Sailing SV Delos
>>14159323

Hey Stephen! Nice, glad you enjoyed! So that lifespan really varies with the panufacturer as well. We got 6 years out of our first set of LiFeLine batteries, but then in Malaysia we couldn't get those and went with a brand manufactured in China. We treated the same and they lasted less than two years :(

Sailing SV Delos
>>14159376

Yes in fact we have since replaced our bank with Lithium. That will be the next video actually so stay tuned :)

Adam Licht

Love these types of videos, Brian. The video on navigation and NMEA you did a while back has me thinking about all sorts of tools that I could write that might be useful to cruisers. Fair Winds Brother!

Garry Gill

I would say it is good to have an electrical engineer on board because Brian you do an awesome job at keeping everything running smooth. fair winds guys and girls

Walter Jinright

On the subject of electrical systems, do you use or plan to use any type of cell repeaters, such as the Yagi antenna that you 'aim' at the inland GSM, CDMA, UMTS, LTE, et cetera, that connect (usually via a 10 meter cable), to a booster/repeater then to an booster-mounted or central located 'indoor' antenna connected to the booster/repeater via a given length of coaxial cable? Both cables usually are 5D-FB Coaxial Cable OD7.5 ( High transmission speed, High quality). I have seen/used these on land many miles from my carriers nearest tower, and it works wonders at a cabin cut off from everything where it is either fly-in to a lake or a long days hike in.

Colin Strain

Very cool lesson, many thanks. Keep 'em coming!!

Arnold, Clara, Luna and Noa

Brian, when u say u only use about 50% of the battery capacity so u get more charging cycles, does the same applies to mobile phones ?

Sailing SV Delos
>>14196744

I'm not really sure about that. I'm pretty sure mobile phones use a different battery chemistry, I think Lithium Polymer which can be build smaller and thinner. Not sure how they hold up to high usage discharge cycles though!

SV NaniOla

Definitely...we love any tech stuff explained. Great job B.

Brook Reimer
>>14196744

research shows that with lithium polimer batterys 80% discharge will increase the life by about 30%. the big killer for lipo batterys is high rate of discharge.

Peter Loehr
>>14117594

Hi Brian, I am not picking up my boat until mid-August - but appears to have the opposite set up - it “steps down” - meaning everything will still works - bit is 17% less efficient at 50hz...

Janne Peltonen
>>14179211

Telecommunications authorities might dislike those, at least in the Nordic countries you basically have to be a licensed mobile operator to use an active cell repeater :/

Janne Peltonen
>>14196744

Lithium Polymer batteries are a whole different story. I mean, you can actually kill them in *one* discharge if you discharge them deeply enough; that's why most LiPo batteries come with a safety circuit that disconnects the actual cells from the battery poles before you run them that low. I did actually manage to kill a laptop battery once by leaving the computer turned off but connected to cable ethernet for a summer - the small blinking ethernet led drained the battery but the current was too small so the safety circuit didn't work. (Or at least I think that was what did it.)

Janne Peltonen

Whee, great video! I tried to make a similar calculation when figuring out the battery capacity required for my boat a couple years back. I did end up using deep cycle AGM lead acid batteries, since they are much more resistant to deep discharge than traditional ones; they provide a decent amount of recharge cycles even with 80% depth of discharge.

Janne Peltonen

BTW, we don't have a power inverter onboard, we decided that we're not going to need things like a microwave, and you can get universal laptop power supplies that happily run off 12V DC for something like 20 €. Especially with computers, it hardly makes sense to first convert the DC to AC and then back to DC - you end up generating a lot of heat for nothing :)

SV Trippin'

So does Delos have Lead Acid, AMG, or Lithium Batteries??

James Bond

look how nicely he cleans up!!!!

William Butler

This is a great argument for using LiOn batteries which can discharge to 20% regularly and sustain 2000-4000 cycles. Great vid, thanks!

Dean Moore

I work for the local power company. Great explanation of Amp-hours. The solar production would also be great, and explain why you have to use the batteries to start the frig and other motor driven systems. Solar and wind are chargers, they do not have enough current density to start motors.

Gary Starkey SV Ausdauer

Thanks Brian, you have a knack for teaching! All that Math stuff mystifies me !!!!

Matt Phillips

Question for you Captain Amp Hour!

Matt Phillips

What type of voltage regulation do you use with respect to the output voltage from your engine's alternator?