Battery power onboard hundreds of ocean-crossing skippers share their secrets

Energy on board is a key tools problem for all bluewater cruisers, whether or not getting ready a ship for a primary transatlantic passage or contemplating snug liveaboard cruising. We requested the 234 skippers who took half within the 2024 ARC and ARC+ rallies detailed questions on their electrical programs, how they generated energy and their energy consumption at sea.

Crucially, we additionally wished to search out out what went flawed for them and their suggestions for ease nervousness about energy administration.

Yacht Battery Varieties

As any electrical skilled will inform you, having good batteries is the important thing to a dependable marine electrical system. Most boat homeowners will wish to exchange or improve their batteries in some unspecified time in the future throughout a yacht’s life. When that point comes do you have to take the simple choice and simply swap like-for-like, or do you have to take alternative to improve? If that’s the case, what may be greatest on your boat?

We checked out which battery varieties had been fitted inside the ARC fleet, their ages and capacities, and the outcomes confirmed a transparent development in direction of lithium batteries.

At round thrice the price of lead-acid or AGM batteries, putting in lithium batteries is a giant funding. Wayne Prevett, technical assist supervisor at Advance Yacht Methods defined get greatest worth: “The advantage of a lithium battery system is that you need to use 80% of the capability, and the velocity with which they are often recharged, makes them superb for a service battery financial institution.

“An engine begin battery, however, must ship a big burst of vitality over a brief interval adopted by time to recuperate. Conventional battery applied sciences do that properly and are less expensive to buy.”

Simply over 38% of skippers had modified or upgraded their batteries since proudly owning their yachts, most opting to modify over to lithium. Typically, however not completely, these choosing lithium tended to make use of knowledgeable to do the work, whereas a like-for-like swap was normally performed by the skipper.

Prevett defined why that is essential to have a correctly designed system. “There are elements of the best way lithium batteries work that may trigger issues for a self-installer with inadequate information. Lithium batteries needs to be put in as a part of a correctly designed system – it’s not a easy swap in/out with conventional batteries. The system must be shielded from overcharging, which might trigger overheating in under-specified cables and the engine alternator.

“In reality, insurance coverage corporations could decline your cowl if the lithium system isn’t designed and put in by a licensed individual.”

We requested the skippers to charge their satisfaction with the efficiency of their batteries through the ARC, on a low-to-high scale of 1 to five. Of the 87 boats with lithium service batteries, all bar three skippers rated their satisfaction at 4 or 5. Those that marked down their satisfaction did so primarily due to related tools comparable to battery screens not working as supposed.

Straightforward prognosis of your batteries and charging on display is extremely rated. Picture: James Mitchell/WCC

The skippers scoring their lithium system a 4 on our scale typically commented on having underspecified the quantity of battery capability that they’d require for the crossing reasonably than the batteries not working as anticipated.

Swede Anders Fredholm, crusing his 16-year previous Hallberg-Rassy 54 Aglaia, (lithium, 500Ah, 24V), had swapped from lead-acid with knowledgeable set up and commented, “it’s like shopping for a brand new boat for usability”.

Canadian Lloyd Smith had performed a self-install improve from lead-acid to lithium in 2020 on his 34-year-old Tayana 47 Apres Ski (lithium, 800Ah, 12V) and defined that the improve had allowed him to modify from gasoline to electrical cooking, saving problem on the lookout for gasoline refills and enhancing security on board.

Wilhelm Klass from Germany, crusing Bluewater Mooney (lithium 24V) on his third ARC, has owned his Hallberg-Rassy 54 from new in 2008 and is now on a world circumnavigation, and thinks that including lithium batteries was “one of the best change ever made” to his boat.

Much less happy had been the 9 skippers who rated their programs as a 2 (all non-lithium). Of those, seven had not made modifications to their programs since proudly owning their boats.

Alan Soukup commented on the necessity for seven to 9 hours of charging per day aboard his four-year-old Privilege 510 Full Circle III (gel, 1,040Ah), whereas Chris Allen attributed his batteries’ poor efficiency to 2 of 5 models being broken aboard his 2002 Rustler 42 JolieF (AGM 650Ah). Fellow UK skipper Peter Williams mentioned that his batteries “simply didn’t maintain change at evening” aboard his Malø 37 Rosiere (lead-acid, 315Ah).

Picture: Tor Johnson

Yacht Battery Monitoring

The important thing to profitable energy administration is the power to observe cost ranges and consumption for the system. We requested skippers to charge their satisfaction with the efficiency of their battery administration tools.

The main manufacturers Victron and Mastervolt had been suppliers of a major majority of the monitoring tools inside the fleet – representing 49% and 28% respectively of the 158 boats that declared their model, and most skippers had been very happy with the efficiency of their tools.

Whereas the numbers fitted for different manufacturers had been too low for statistical remark, the one satisfaction scores of 1, the bottom mark, had been each for self-installed tools described by the homeowners as ‘Chinese language manufacturers’. It could appear that, at the least for monitoring tools, the previous adage that ‘you get what you pay for’ holds true.

Investing in a professionally put in, well-designed monitoring system might be worthwhile when it comes to usability and in acquiring one of the best efficiency from the batteries and charging programs.

And when you could not essentially want to be checking your telephones at sea, a number of skippers commented on how helpful they discovered the bespoke battery administration app from Victron.

Cruising to the setting solar because the final of the photo voltaic rays are captured by photovoltaic cells aboard Oceano, crusing underneath parasailor. Picture: Matt Kubik/WCC

Energy Administration

We checked out how energy was generated by ARC boats after which requested the skippers about their energy consumption at sea.

Of the yachts fitted with diesel mills, 23 additionally had some type of renewable electrical era by way of photo voltaic panels, hydrogenerators or wind generators. Inside this group we wished to know which system gave one of the best worth for energy generated. There was a transparent break up inside the sector, however extra skippers commented favourably on renewables. Of the 17 skippers on this group who responded, 5 most popular their diesel gensets. These had been normally for causes of renewable tools failure, comparable to Swedish skipper Christer Sjö, whose “hydrogenerator blade fouled” on his Lagoon 380 S2 Helios.

Nevertheless, 12 skippers most popular their renewables and, on the whole, hydrogenerators had been praised by skippers for his or her steady 24/7 energy supply. “Our Remoran Wave 365 stored the batteries at 100% in a single day in sturdy winds and it allowed us to not run the engine,” mentioned Steve Bax, British skipper of the 2016 Roberts 532 Santosa.

An intuitive system for monitoring your batteries and the way energy is generated and delivered to them is price investing in. Picture: James Mitchell/WCC

Of the 191 skippers who responded on era, 74 had arrange their boats to cost by way of the primary engine; eight of them had no different, whereas the opposite 66 had renewables, principally photo voltaic panels or photo voltaic with a hydrogenerator (25 boats). These with ample photo voltaic capability had been proud of their selection.

The Bavaria Ocean 38 Avanti (from 1998) as an illustration, had 1,000W of put in photo voltaic, 600Ah lithium service batteries and a Victron Lynx BMS plus Cerbo GX administration system. Skipper Jonathan Grün from Germany commented: “We didn’t use our engine to cost in any respect. That is on a ship utilizing an electrical autopilot, a fridge, electrical hob, radar, and navigation shows.”

Diesel gensets had been properly favored, though there have been usually caveats from skippers that they wanted to be put in and maintained appropriately. These with dependable installations praised their gensets rather than main-engine charging for being quieter – an essential consideration when the off-watch crew are more likely to be asleep – and for his or her decrease gas consumption.

Off The Grid, a brand new Southerly 42, had a 460Ah lithium service battery with Mastervolt monitoring and a 1.4kW genset. American skipper Patrick Whatley commented on gas consumption: “Our generator when working used 0.75 lt/hr and we usually ran it for 2 hours per day”.

Bimini photo voltaic panels absorb the solar on Beneteau First 435 Algol. Picture: Tom-Oliver Hedvall/WCC

Energy Shoppers

Yachts within the ARC fleet are usually properly outfitted for bluewater voyaging, with many crews aiming for lengthy durations as liveaboard cruisers. That is mirrored within the typical tools match we discovered when taking a look at energy consumption at sea.

Among the many huge energy shoppers, most skippers wouldn’t be with out an electrical autopilot – with these in use on common 20 hours per day, together with 83 boats the place they had been used 24/7. There have been 10 yachts relying available or wind steering alone.

Radar was one other often-used energy client, with a median of seven.7 hours per day utilization, and 11 boats reported operating their radars 24/7.

A shock for some skippers was the ability consumption of their Starlink satellite tv for pc communications programs (as much as 75W) when left operating on a regular basis: 15 skippers commented particularly on this tools as being an influence drain and needing to alter their utilization patterns, solely powering up the tools when wanted.

Together with radar, a Starlink antenna was a surprisingly heavy person of energy. Picture: James Mitchell

Fridges and freezers had been one other supply of energy nervousness, as usually they’re run consistently.

“We needed to abandon the freezer,” mentioned US skipper Invoice Whidden of Kaimana, a six-year-old Jeanneau Yacht 51 with 650Ah of AGM batteries. They used the primary engine plus photo voltaic for charging.

Desalinators had been typically managed properly; yachts with gensets co-ordinated making contemporary water with the battery recharge throughout a three-hour run time. These with electrical cooking likewise cooked and organized meals round ‘generator on’ durations.

The mixture of photo voltaic panels with a hydrogenerator supplied ample energy for some boats to handle with out operating their important engines. “Our Remoran Hydrogen gave 7A 24/7 throughout crusing; tremendous throughout nights,” mentioned Arto Alnehall from Sweden aboard the Dufour 405GL Dagmar (360Ah lithium).

He defined additional: “The era and consumption had been in stability with out fossil vitality, which allowed our crew of 4 to make water and take showers each second day. We additionally had a Hydrovane for self-steering.”

Of the boats utilizing diesel engines, both the primary engine or a genset, the median every day run time for charging was three hours and throughout the fleet the vary was between two and 9 hours per day. Boats counting on hydro or photo voltaic had been charging consistently throughout daylight and when crusing above 6 knots.

Becoming a Hydrovane helps cut back autopilot energy consumption. Picture: Sharon Ee

Classes Realized

We requested skippers how their charging routine altered for ocean crusing in comparison with coastal crusing.

The skippers’ feedback mirrored the necessity for extra charging hours in comparison with coastal, the place usually they could motorsail extra usually and put the engine on for manoeuvring and docking, which doesn’t occur offshore.Norwegian Christian Thjømøe, crusing his five-year-old Beneteau Oceanis Yacht 62 Oda Julie, mentioned: “We discovered that the big ocean swells precipitated our autopilot to work a lot more durable than for coastal crusing, which meant longer charging to maintain our batteries up.”

Morgan Hayes aboard the formidable new MC75 catamaran Jack, added: “You could properly sail with a bigger crew on your Atlantic crossing, so be ready for the knock-on of extra energy consumption than ordinary and longer charging.”

Environment friendly or gradual cooking strategies (even when on AC) are a favoured technique of lowering energy wants at sea. Picture: World Cruising Membership

Rob Peters, a Dutch skipper additionally crusing a brand new catamaran, the Outremer 55 Balavu, realized one other priceless lesson: “We had been caught out by the extent of shading from our sails onto the photo voltaic panels. When coastal cruising you aren’t on the identical heading and sail plan for days on finish.”

And American Peter Goldich, aboard the 2018 Jeanneau Solar Odyssey 440 Gone With The Wind had this to say: “We helped minimize our consumption by turning off the freezer at evening; we didn’t open it in any respect in a single day, which stored it cool sufficient.”

Closing ideas

In conclusion, we will see that almost all ARC skippers have been happy with the efficiency of their batteries and energy era. The place issues have occurred, they’ve solely affected crew consolation and never the protection or seaworthiness of the boat.

Spending preparation time and refit funds on a well-designed energy administration system is an effective funding, even when skippers resolve towards an costly improve to lithium service batteries. Changing batteries earlier than going bluewater voyaging will save problem and stress later; having a number of methods to cost, and a superb battery monitoring system will address the variation in energy consumption brought on by several types of crusing.

If you happen to loved this….

Yachting World is the world’s main journal for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Each month we’ve inspirational adventures and sensible options that can assist you realise your crusing desires.

Construct your information with a subscription delivered to your door. See our newest provides and save at the least 30% off the duvet worth.

Be aware: We could earn a fee once you purchase by means of hyperlinks on our website, at no further price to you. This doesn’t have an effect on our editorial independence.