
Cleaning up the electrical system?
Why clean up your boat's electrical system?
It's easy to get a technician to look over your boat's electrical system, correct faults and deficiencies so that your boating holiday is flawless.
Some of the most annoying problems during the holidays are related to power or lack of power and equipment that stops working, in the middle of the holidays, just before or during a regatta.
Common faults in boats:
- Voltage drop in the power grid
- Heater does not start
- The refrigeration compressor cheats
- The autopilot fails
- The anchor winch is unstable
- The alternator charges poorly
New boats are usually well-organized, wired, properly dimensioned and a good basis for installing lithium batteries, upgraded alternator, combined charger and inverter and other equipment that ensures a great holiday experience.
Older boats may be in good electrical condition, but they are usually characterized by the ravages of time, moisture, loose connections, messy wiring and weak connections.
But we see that in many boats there is connected equipment that does not work, wires that no longer have a mission, corroded switches, corroded cable lugs, and many sources of error that can cause annoying and fatal errors, in the middle of the holidays.
The challenge: We see that many boats are right on the edge or far above when it comes to having a reliable power system that can stop working when you need it most and that's when you're on a family trip, sailing the World Cup, Færdern, to Skagen in the fall, to Shetland or on a long trip.
We get a lot of inquiries from boats that are going on a short or long trip and suddenly it's not charging, the battery monitor shows errors, the alternator is dead and the inverter doesn't work or it's completely black in the boat.
ARC, long distance and electrical system faults
In 2023, we received a call from four boats on their way out of Las Palmas. In all the boats there were problems with power, charging, battery monitor that showed that there was power in the battery bank but everything was black. We got all the boats "on their feet" with some telephone support and instructions on what to do. In 2024, we received inquiries from two boats on their way to Cape Verde. It almost doesn't charge. Dynamos were sent to Cape Verde and we got electricity production started.
The reasons are often the same: The wiring harness is poor, negative connections are weak, there is corrosion in switches, on terminals and there is a mess of wires we don't know what they are used for. Wires are not labeled and it is almost impossible to find the fault or faults.
Makspower collaborates with skilled installers with extensive experience of electricity in boats.