It's all about how you use your boat. I weekend on my boat and only plug into shore power when I'm there. When I arrive, I power up my charger, air conditioning, TV etc. My marina slip contract allows power when the skipper is aboard, but charges more for people who use power 24/7. Most other boats are always plugged in while at the dock. Most of them have a charger drawing very little. Several boats have their HVAC running all the time, as I see the pumps going.
Unplugging shorepower is part of my prep to leave the boat. I don't have a fridge. I use a cooler to transport things from home to the boat, and buy ice. Before leaving the boat, I transfer leftover beer, milk, coldcuts, to my portable cooler, pump the box dry, (PO setup a foot pump to pump ice box water into a sink and overboard) I dump any ice overboard, and sponge out the ice box and leave the lid open to air out. Sounds more complicated than it is, and really easy to do so I get: No mildew, no funny smells. I don't leave shorepower plugged in when sailing either. Many boaters when they go out, keep the cord plugged in at their slip and only disconnect from their own boat. This leaves a cord powered up and a potential problem should it fall into the water. I remove the cord and stow below. Chuck Resolute 1990 C&C 34R Broad Creek, Magothy River, Md ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charlie Nelson via CnC-List" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Cc: "cenelson" <cenel...@aol.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 2, 2015 2:27:19 PM Subject: Re: Stus-List Shore Power Question I used to leave the shore power/battery charger on all the time to keep the batteries topped off and to make up for occassional bilge pump cycling. Then one day I got to the boat and the bilge pump was not working and the batteries were dead. It likely had been on for some time since the pump switch failed IIRC. This caused the charger to be on continually which it did not like (True Charge 40?). If fact it smoked a resister in the charger, which was evident by the black burn mark on it that I could see. Thanks to that and the bad float switch, the batteries were dead. If the charger had not failed (perhaps it was designed that way), the charger may have caught on fire, along with the boat. I have NEVER left the charger on when I am away from the boat, except for a day or two, since that happened. Getting to the boat with drained batteries is a minor inconvenience--getting a call from the fire department could ruin your whole day! Charlie Nelson Water Phantom C&C 36 XL/kcb cenel...@aol.com -----Original Message----- From: Frederick G Street via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> To: cnc-list <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: Frederick G Street <f...@postaudio.net> Sent: Wed, Sep 2, 2015 1:50 pm Subject: Re: Stus-List Shore Power Question Edd — I have it on when I’m at the boat, but shut it off when I leave. There’s plenty of battery capacity for the occasional bilge pump cycle. I do NOT have DC refrigeration, but rather an AC-powered holding plate system. I do leave that on all the time when connected to shore power. If my fridge were DC-powered, then I’d leave the charger on full-time; it would be needed to keep the fridge from flattening the batteries. Fred Street -- Minneapolis S/V Oceanis (1979 C&C Landfall 38) -- Bayfield, WI On Sep 2, 2015, at 12:46 PM, Edd Schillay via CnC-List < cnc-list@cnc-list.com > wrote: When connected to shore power, do you keep your battery charger always on or do you use it temporarily as needed? _______________________________________________ Email address: CnC-List@cnc-list.com To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go to the bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com _______________________________________________ Email address: CnC-List@cnc-list.com To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go to the bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com
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