Alternatives for electrical systems

[GreenLake]

There are different setups for electrical systems that make sense for a boat like the DS.

Especially if you go beyond nav lights, but throw in electrical propulsion, or "expedition" needs like recharging phones. Or, from a recent thread, an automatic bilge pump.

Thought this would be a good thread to collect various infos.

A basic setup is to keep one or two 12V deep cycle lead-acid batteries forward and low near the mast, with a heavy gauge wire to run a trolling motor, and charged at the end of the day at home. Second best from a balance point of view, but more accessible would be mounting the batteries at the forward end of the seats (in a DS1). They are easy to lift out from that location.

Here's an interesting video on a cheap way to set up a solar powered bilge pump, with dual use of the battery also for nav lights.
https://youtu.be/mP_dQClOic4

The same channel reviewed a more sophisticated setup with a battery box that includes an inverter, charging ports (USB / lighter) and also high current output for a trolling motor. Plus a solar charger. Here's the link: https://youtu.be/nq_Lv4lIdwg

I've seen homemade versions of something like that built into a bucket. In that case, the main need was as a source to charge electronics, so the bucket sported several cigarette lighter connections and one or two USB ports (it's pretty easy to get USB outlets that can be plugged into a cigarette lighter, so it's a simple matter to connect them directly to the battery and mount them in the lid of the bucket for convenience. Or maybe inside the bucket, so the bucket can be closed when in transit and only brought out when needed, e,g, for boat camping.

Some electric motors need higher voltages. For example 24V. While it would be possible to cobble up a small DC to DC converter to get the 12V for running nav lights, with LED lights, it's just as simple to run the nav lights on their own batteries. A few AA's will last several nights, or a whole season of evenings. And no need to mess with wiring.