The house battery bank provides the electrical power for all the on board systems including the refrigeration. The state of charge of the batteries needs to be monitored to ensure these systems remain operational.

At the electrical breaker panel above the chart table there is a Link 2000 battery monitor. There are 3 selector buttons on this unit that allow you to read voltage, amperage and amp. hours.

The Link 2000 unit also houses the selector switches to turn on the 110 volt electrical inverter and the battery charger. If plugged into shore power select the charge button on the Link unit to keep the house batteries charged. The voltage and amperage meters on the 110 volt panel will register supply and an indicator light will show shore power is on.

Whilst away from the dock AC current is supplied by the inverter. Again the on/off button is located on the Link panel directly above the the charge button. AC powered electrical appliances draw high currents so to conserve battery power use them in moderation and turn off the inverter when not in use.

The battery voltage should not fall below 11.9 volts and the amp. hours should not show less than - 200. When the batteries are fully charged the voltage will read 12.7 volts and the amp. hours will read 000.

Unless using shore power it will be necessary to run the engines for at least 2 1/2 hours per day to recharge the batteries. The charging periods are best divided into hourly intervals through out the day, in the morning and later afternoon or evening. Obviously, higher electrical usage will require more charging. By turning off lights, cabin fans etc when not needed, the amount of engine running can be reduced.

Never leave the boat unattended whilst the engines are running, a simple fan belt failure if left unnoticed can cause serious damage to the engines.