Batteries on a mooring usage

taza

Guys

My marina is out of action due to the March storms, it was moored up on a floating pontoon with water & electrics, but my only option is now is to go on a buoy mooring with no water or electric. My question is if we decide to stay on the boat for a few days does the battery last long enough over night with the fridge running and the odd light & TV running ? I have two battery's on board were you can select one or both. I know I can charge the batteries back up in the daytime via running the Engine

any help appreciated

Taza

Liberty44140

You should be ok if your batteries are in good shape and not too old. I have two group 29 batteries as house and I can go 8-9 hours with both my galley and cockpit fridges running on battery and I am ok in the morning. If you are really concerned then you could move the fridge contents to a cooler with ice and not use the fridge, but again 8 -9 hours should be ok. 

luvinlife

I agree. The lights and radio and cell phone charging should be problem. The fridge will kill you. Use a cooler. 

Willhound

I have to confess that either I don't understand how the "1 or both" battery switches work, in that how they separate the house and starting battery. Presumably "1" is starting and "Both" is obviously both for combining to emergency start. But how do you set them to run just the house battery, saving your primary start battery?

My switch is simple. 1 is starting battery, 2 is the house bank and both, well both. So I know that on 2 I'm not drawing my starter battery down at all.
Anyway, as to your question @taza as other's have stated, the biggest hog of power will be the fridge. Turn it down as much as you can and supplement with a cooler. Use the cooler for frequently accessed items like drinks, keep just the food in the fridge and open the door as little as possible. The TV would be a concern maybe. A bit of watching you are likely OK, maybe not for hours though. If you haven't yet converted your cabin and courtesy lights to LED, it can be done for only a few Euros by just changing out the bulbs and saves power bit time.
Lastly, assuming someone can chime in on the battery switch question, you might consider a second house battery wired in parallel. Still 12 volt but double the storage capacity assuming both batteries in similar, good condition. Not overly expensive for the peace of mind.

J3ff

Lets see a picture of your batteries. Or post what model they are. 

jhofmann

Get a portable jump-pak just in case, that way you can self jump the starting battery and use the output from the altenator to charge both batteries, and it's a good excuse to take the boat for a ride.