electronic accessories with an outboard?

[bishopcherrycoke]

Hey there. I know with an inboard or I/O you have an alternator just like a car. But Im not so sure an outboard has one. Can you hook up a cd player, lights, amplifier or other electronic accessories without overloading the engine? How about a 12v solar panel to help keep the battery(s) charged?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: electronic accessories with an outboard?

Outboards with electric start are just like a car. They have alternators but they just don't look the same as the one on a car. So yes, you can add any 12 volt accessory you would in a car. What you do need to determine however is what the output is of the alternator on your engine. While a car may have a 100 amp alternator, your outboard may have as little as six amp up to 75 amps. When you mention AMPLIFIER, you are now talking lots of power so you can compensate for the excess power consumption by adding a second battery. With low output alternators you will not be able to keep the battery charged with a bunch of high current accessories sucking the life out of it so you need to consider that. Solar panels will not work to charge a battery as you would need a panel as large as your boat. Those little panels are about 5 watts output which is not enough power to light a tail light bulb. The can only be used to keep a battery that is already chadrged, from self discharging during long periods of non-use (for example when the boat only gets used every other weekend). A better solution is an on-board "smart" charger that you plug into house power at the dock. This keeps all batteries topped off and ready to go.

 

[Expidia]

Re: electronic accessories with an outboard?

Depends on which outboard you have (most larger ones do , especially if the outboard has electric start). Mine is a 40 hp with electric start. I run my boat lights, stereo, GPS etc off it and when I start it back up and cruise around the built in alternator charges the battery back up, but it's slow to charge it, unless I'm running the outboard for a few hours.

I installed a battery gauge just so I don't let the battery run down beyond a 1/4 full. I also use a deep cycle/starter type battery that I got at Walmart (about $65) tp start my outboard, because if you run a regular starter type battery down constantly from the stereo etc you can take years off the life of the battery.

Deep cycle batteries are designed to run up and down and if you keep it properly charged up as soon as you end your day and use a trickle or float charger over the winter if you are in a seasonal boating region, you can get 5 years out of a decent battery. Walmart's batteries are decent for the price. I've read that you should not run the battery flat each time like when you are using a trolling motor. Only bring it down as low as 20% of juice in it left and then re-charge it as soon as possible.

Don't leave it in a discharged state over night. My Daughter had two new batteries and did not know this. She would run them flat and leave them that way until she got around to re-charging them again. Sometimes like a few days to a week. Both new batteries died after 6 months. I get 5 years plus out of my batteries.

I see solar chargers for sale and I'm sure they would work, but it would take a long time to bring it up to a full charge. A 12 volt charger that you plug into an ac outlet will charge it back up a lot faster. My trolling motor battery takes overnight to bring it back to full on the charger which automatically switches to a lower charge rate, lower slower charging rates extends the batteries life. Charging a battery at a high amp rate shortens it's life.

Google some articles about batteries to learn how to best take care of them.

Welcome to iboats

 

[bishopcherrycoke]

Re: electronic accessories with an outboard?

sounds great. Thank you. It's a 85hp with electric start and trim. I will get 2 batteries. one regular and one deep cycle and maybe I can get an upgraded alternator. Thanks again