Best place for battery

[Windy]

Hello!  My husband & I just purchased a 1980 CP-16 and we have spent a good deal of time here the last two days trying to learn as much as possible.  Thank you for all the informative posts.  Right now our sons are sanding down the cabin for painting.  We will most likely have a few questions as we proceed to clean her up and learn to sail. 

The boat we purchased was only used for short daysails and the owner did not have a battery or any electronics hooked up.  Where is the best place to install the battery? 

Windy (this is honestly the name my parents gave me)

[mgoller]

Hi Windy,
Hey that's the name of my Com-Pac 19.  I had a Com-pac 1987 16-2 for a couple of years and my battery lived in the forepeak behind the bulkhead.  It had a hookup from the fuse board. 
Now, two things.  A 1980 probably isn't set up that way.  2nd, it is probably best to consider what you want to do with electronics.
If you want to go all out with radios, depthfinders, lights, navigation lights etc... then that is probably going to dictate the path you go down.  I found it to be a real pain to climb to the forepeak to remove the battery for charging.  I also thought the switching on that bulkhead was a bit removed from where the sailing is going on.
If you were thinking about maybe daysailing mostly, you can bring a handheld battery powered VHF, a boom box, a battery lantern.  Tying in a smaller battery pack to power Nav lights could be a real option.
I went all out and tricked out my Com-Pac 19 but the batteries are in the cockpit locker and real easy to remove.  The switching is within reach of the cockpit.  I hardly ever use the interior lights.  I use the cd player a ton, and the depth finder sometimes.  I use the VHF rarely.  My GPS is handheld and battery operated.
On the 16 you could put the battery in the lazaret, under the companionway or I'm sure other spots.
My advice is keep it simple, reliable and easily serviceable.
Use the best color coded wire you can get.  Left over scraps of wire, and lots of connectors are going to cause you grief in the short-term.
Best of luck, have fun.  You will get lots of advice shortly on this topic.

[B.Hart]

Hi windy, on my 16 I put the battery under the companion way[under the cockpit floor] behind where the portapotty goes. I put in all new electrical with a breaker panel that has a volt meter to moniter the battery, and a power point outlet [avaliable at west marine] With this setup I can charge my cell phone, or use my cd/tv/fm boombox.

[Gil Weiss]

I am using a 5W solar panel mounted with velcroe on my foredeck just in front of the hatch to keep an 18 amp hour Gel Cell charged. The battery is easily placed in the chain locker behind the electrical panel. This battery weighs about 22 pounds and has performed flawlessly for three years operating a radio, CD player, nav lights and the interior light. I have a small charge controller conected between the solar panel and the battery. My boat is in the water all season and typically used each weekend and the battery always is charged and ready to do what I need it to.

[Windy]

Thank you for all the information and advice.  We will most likely put the battery in the bow storage area.  The boat came with a 3.5 Evinrude so we are concerned with putting too much weight in the back and there wasn't enough height under the cockpit floor for our battery.  Kevin will also install a switch panel and use a solar battery charger.  We don't plan to hook up much - just lights, volt-meter & a portable TV/cell phone jack. 

The wiring for the cabin light is just hanging.  We were going to tape it up and paint it with the cabin paint to make it less visible unless someone has a better idea.  We've got the cabin about half painted now & it is looking great.  So much cleaner and brighter.  There is so much great information on this forum.  Most of my questions and concerns have been answered by reading through the posts.  Thanks again.

Windy

[DanN]

While we're on the subject of batteries -- suppose you just wanted enough juice for nav lights and maybe a depth finder.   How much battery do you need?   What kind of drain do nav lights put on a battery?    Would the battery last one evening, or most of the summer on a single charge?

[Paul]

Dann:

I think you can calculate this by totaling the wattage of each light (or any other device) and compare that to the amp hours of the battery.  I forget the formula, but there is one.  Will find it soon, unless others here know it.  Generally, I'd count on a fully charge deep cycle battery to last a weekend of nav lights usage.  Maybe a bit longer.

Paul

[Paul]

It can be a bit confusing to me because several things have to be considered in the calculations.

1.  Bulbs and other transducers are rated in Watts, typically.

2.  Batteries are described by Volts and by amp-hours (current times the time it flows).

3.  So, you need to convert Watts into amps.

Now, you can add all the components' Wattages.  If you're using a 12 Volt system, then divide the total wattage by 12V.  The result will be Amps (current).  Now, you can figure how long your battery will last when using the total current (for the nav lights, for instance).

Conversely, you may add all the wattages for the devices you'd like to have on your boat and choose a battery accordingly.  If you overnight or go on weekend adventures you'll require a smaller battery bank (in amp-hours) than say a blue water cruiser.  And/or figure a way to charge the battery while away from home.

Hope this helps.  There are several resources available;  "The 12 Volt Bible" and Don Casey's "Electronics Simplified" come to mind.

Paul

[PaulE]

volts x amps = watts
so, while working on the back of an envelope use:
amps = watts/volts
multiply time for amp hours (battery rating).

So a 10 watt, 12 volt light will require about 0.84 amps.

Like Paul said, just add up the power requirements for what you have and divide your battery's amp hour rating by the current draw in amps to get the life.
BTW, try not to drain you batteries more than 50% very often. Even marine batteries will get a shortened life.
The solar panel mentioned above seems like a great way to maintain the batteries both while in use and when not.

[Craig Weis]

i]Comfort and Joy [/i] is fitted with.

1 bulb for bow red/green light.
1 bulb for stern light.
1 bulb for interior cabin light.
1 bulb for added red LED interior light. [AutoZone, automobile tale light].
1 bulb for mast head steaming light when motering at night with out sails.
1 Two way radio, VHS/weather.
1 bulb for added Davis mast head anchor light.
1 bilge pump 750 gph
1 AM/FM CD player with two speakers.
1 Bi-Data ST 40 Rayaton unit.
1 Rayathon 435 i chartplotter.
1 receptacle for cell phone charger.
1 A~1000 cold cranking amp hour battery. Typical wet cell.
1 solar cell 14 or so volts at 300 Milli-amps. Depends on sun. Still...very little amps.
But every amp or part of an amp helps.

For 'mood light' a small yacht oil lantern illuminates the interior.

A few times I failed to properly shut-off the chartplotter and that ran my battery flat in a few days while I was working.
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