On Thu, 16 Jan 2014 23:51:15 -0800, Peter Bennett
wrote:

On Thu, 16 Jan 2014 16:40:03 -0500, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

We have a setup similar to yours. However, we also have a combiner for the
start and windlass batteries (both on the same unit), allowing us to charge
either just the house, or both, as situations warrant.

We're very careful about running the house battery alone for loads. In
addition, both of the start and windlass batteries have circuit breakers on
them, so we can separate them if needed..

The cables to the windlass battery are still somewhat considerable, but the
cables to the windlass are impressive. If we were to rely on some battery
to heft it remotely, the cables would have been huge. I'd also hate to have
a house battery drawn down by the level of amps used in the windlass, but
that's probably because I've had to start the engine and get the anchor up
in cases of lower-than-I'd-like house battery state, and that's the way the
boat was configured when we bought it.

HTH

L8R

Skip

Although the bow thruster and anchor windlass need significant
currents when they are used, they are normally used for such short
times that the actual energy (amp-hours) used from the batteries is
almost insignificant.

My anchor windlass (31 ft power boat) is fused at 80 amps - say it
draws 60 amps when raising the anchor. It will typically run 2 - 3
minutes to raise the anchor - at 60 amps, this is 120 - 180
amp-minutes, or only 2 - 3 amp-hours. The bow thruster may draw 200
amps, but is only run for a few seconds at a time - normally well
under a minute when docking or un-docking, so that again is only a
couple of amp-hours - hardly worth worrying about when considering
your daily power useage.

True. In fact on most cruising boats you can haul the anchor in by
hand too :-) If you really, really have to :-))
--
Cheers,

Bruce in Bangkok