Charging Batteries At The Dock

B

Bob&Jilly

R27-OB Portland OR Lynnsanity II
Joined
Mar 13, 2025
Messages
64
Location
Fargher Lake WA
Fluid Motion Model
R-27 (Outboard)
Hull Identification Number
FMLT2757*818
Vessel Name
Lynnsanity II
May be an obvious question but as I new owner of R 27 OB : if I am plugged into electric at the dock do I need to leave house current and Battery Charger switch on for the batteries to charge? I understand that the I need to be switched to shore power.
 
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Yes, there is a double break for the AC panel that only allows AC to be coming from the shore or the inverter. So make sure the shore power breaker is on, and then make sure that battery charger is turned on.
Remember if you are using your inverter to turn off your battery charger and your hot water heater.
 
venajeff said:
Yes, there is a double break for the AC panel that only allows AC to be coming from the shore or the inverter. So make sure the shore power breaker is on, and then make sure that battery charger is turned on.
Remember if you are using your inverter to turn off your battery charger and your hot water heater.
Click to expand...
Thanks, then I don't need to have the House Power on also- correct?
 
Bob&Jilly said:
Thanks, then I don't need to have the House Power on also- correct?
Click to expand...

The boat is designed with a switched and unswitched side to the 12volt electrical.

- On the switched side, is the cabin and everything in it. Chartplotter, refrigerator, lights, etc... When you turn off the DC house switch, you kill power to the cabin, including the refrigerators and most everything else inside.

The unswitched side is from the 12 volt Hosue battery switch to the batteries.

- On the unswitched side is the battery charger, solar charger, engine charging, and the 24x7 fuses (bilge pumps, CO detector, Propane leak detector).

It's fine to run the battery charger with the dc house switch off.
 
Submariner said:
The boat is designed with a switched and unswitched side to the 12volt electrical.

- On the switched side, is the cabin and everything in it. Chartplotter, refrigerator, lights, etc... When you turn off the DC house switch, you kill power to the cabin, including the refrigerators and most everything else inside.

The unswitched side is from the 12 volt Hosue battery switch to the batteries.

- On the unswitched side is the battery charger, solar charger, engine charging, and the 24x7 fuses (bilge pumps, CO detector, Propane leak detector).

It's fine to run the battery charger with the dc house switch off.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I was wondering do most folks stay plugged in at the dock if they are using the boat weekly?
 
Bob&Jilly said:
Thanks! I was wondering do most folks stay plugged in at the dock if they are using the boat weekly?
Click to expand...

We use our boat year round, and put about 200 hours a year on the engine. I'm doing the 100 hour service (from this season) this weekend.

I leave my DC house switch on year round. It powers the refrigerators (cabin and cockpit refer), as well as my remote monitoring (Internet, Victron, Sensar Marine, Blink Security cameras).

I have 420 watts of solar moored out in the open, with direct exposure to sun and I have 320 amp-hours of LiFePo4. During boating season I rarely plug into shorepower which includes my home port. When we're on the boat at a guest marina, plugging into shorepower is optional. My thruster and engine batteries only get charged via shorepower or engine charging. We get so much sun, I just let the boat sit out and leverage the LFP house battery and the solar panels. Once we get to September - April, I'll have to plug into shorepower. Today, it's been 6 weeks since I last plugged in.

When we leave the boat, we turn off everything we don't need on. Chartplotter, lights, radio, etc... all turned off. But we leave both the cabin and cockpit refrigerator on, thus, I leave the DC house switch on all the time. I also leave my engine switch on all the time as well, as I often use the trim up/down on the engine itself in preparation for launching, after the boat's been pulled from the water, and for flushing and maintenance.
 
Submariner said:
We use our boat year round, and put about 200 hours a year on the engine. I'm doing the 100 hour service (from this season) this weekend.

I leave my DC house switch on year round. It powers the refrigerators (cabin and cockpit refer), as well as my remote monitoring (Internet, Victron, Sensar Marine, Blink Security cameras).

I have 420 watts of solar moored out in the open, with direct exposure to sun and I have 320 amp-hours of LiFePo4. During boating season I rarely plug into shorepower which includes my home port. When we're on the boat at a guest marina, plugging into shorepower is optional. My thruster and engine batteries only get charged via shorepower or engine charging. We get so much sun, I just let the boat sit out and leverage the LFP house battery and the solar panels. Once we get to September - April, I'll have to plug into shorepower. Today, it's been 6 weeks since I last plugged in.

When we leave the boat, we turn off everything we don't need on. Chartplotter, lights, radio, etc... all turned off. But we leave both the cabin and cockpit refrigerator on, thus, I leave the DC house switch on all the time. I also leave my engine switch on all the time as well, as I often use the trim up/down on the engine itself in preparation for launching, after the boat's been pulled from the water, and for flushing and maintenance.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
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