Adding to narrowboat battery bank
Over the course of the last few weeks, I’ve been planning to upgrade the electrics of Bonnie Lady narrowboat.
One of the first jobs has been to add to the battery bank
Battery Bank
Is a collection of batteries which feed the boat and all the appliances on it.
Currently, we have 2 AGM 120ah leisure batteries in the bank. (There’s a starter battery, since none of the appliances run off this, I’ve not included it. It starts the engine. End of).
Due to the ‘live-on’ nature of the boat, this really isn’t enough:-
- If you want to watch telly
- If you want to be able to charge your computer, run printers, charge hoovers etc.
- If you’re planning on having solar panels fitted
Solar panels will charge 4 leisure batteries during the course of a sunny day and less on more covered, cloudy conditions. The more batteries in the bank, the more cushion you have to soak up and store excess energy when it’s available. This may be through running the engine, or through the solar panels. When it’s raining, and you end up sitting around the boat all day with the lights on using the internet, you’ll really appreciate the difference!
Adding batteries to the battery bank
Major considerations are:- …