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Richard Casady Richard Casady is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: May 2007
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Default Lucaya, Grand Bahama Island to Saint Simons Island GA April 18-19

On Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:42:44 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

Radar does use a fair amout of power. That's a fact but not
necessarily an issue on a larger boat with decent battery banks.
Modern radars do have power saving modes where they wake up every
minute or so, make a few sweeps, activate an alarm if targets are
detected, and then go back to sleep. I've sailed thousands of miles
at night without radar but I count myself lucky and will never do it
again if I have a choice.


You can get radar under a grand, and with a power consumption of less
than 2 amps. A hundred amp alternator can put out a days worth of
juice in fifteen minutes. You would need a hefty battery to absorb it
that quick, however.

Casady