Quad Cycle
The Quad-Cycle/Amp Hour Meter is a wonderful invention and makes understanding the boat power consumption and current state of the batteries incredibly easy. If the Battery Amps on the Quad-Cycle is reading -5.3, then you turn on a fan and it reads -6.0 then the fan takes 0.7 Amps to run. If we were to leave just the fan on for 10 hours it will use 7 Amps and the Amp Hr Meter will register a loss of 7Amps. Once the Amp hr meter reaches 50% of the battery capacity in our case -440 Amps then it is time to recharge. As simple as that!
Ok, we have a complicated set up so things get a little more complicated. The Quad-Cycle has a rotating dial with 5 selections:
Ok, we have a complicated set up so things get a little more complicated. The Quad-Cycle has a rotating dial with 5 selections:
- Battery #1 Volts - This is the voltage as measured directly at the batteries for battery bank number 2. Bank number 2 is the 4 batteries nearest the bow.
- Battery #2 Volts - This is the voltage as measured directly at the batteries for battery bank number 1. Bank number 1 is the 4 batteries nearest the stern. (No this is not a typo, they are wired backward. You could just say call bank1 bank2 and visa versa but then the battery selector switch would be wrong!, feel free to correct this if you get bored)
- Battery Amps 0-20 - This shows total ampage in or out of the battery bank taking into account all current draws and all charging devices.
- Battery Amps 0-200 - Same as 3 above but with a larger scale. Because of the scale this is the selection I always use unless trying to track down a minute current loss then I would use the 0-20 scale.
- Alternator 0-200 Amps - This selection shows the input only from one of the three charging devices. There is a second rotating dial just to the left of the Quad-Cycle which allows for selection of Alternator, solar or wind.
What are people saying about Sailing to Jessica?
"Part travelogue, part memoir, part craziness (they sailed around the world without actually knowing how to sail!) Sailing to Jessica holds nothing back..." - Katie on Goodreads.com
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Buy at Amazon (USA)
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