The calculation of the electrical consumption on board.

Introduction.

Having a well-designed, balanced and robust electrical system on board a sailboat is essential. A great majority of the problems on board are electrical, and who has not heard for example: the batteries are discharged, or the winch does not work; and the cause is usually a bad design or ignorance of the electrical system on board.

To sail safely we have no choice but to have knowledge of electricity, in particular the electrical system of our boat and its components. The electrical systems on board are becoming more and more complex, with various sources of power generation (alternator, solar panel, wind generator, etc.), modern batteries, and with increasing consumption requirements on board (more electronic equipment, autopilot, refrigerator, etc.).

In this first chapter of the on-line book “ELECTRICITY ON BOARD” we will address the first step necessary to design our electrical system, which is the calculation of the daily electrical consumption of our boat.