How to run electronics while on the water, without shore power

[ronmeade]

Hello my previous Boats were cutting captains so I've never had so many toys aboard this one has a full head of an microwave and I'm putting in a television it has two batteries as well and I'm not sure if the batteries received power like an alternator would provide to a car and some of the switches on a switch box don't make sense either have trouble reading the manual as I have shrapnel in my eye but it's easy to read on the tablet because I can blow the text up to Great size anyway if anyone has any ideas even such as solar power devices or something I'd love to hear from you ultimately I've been told a generator is really the only way to go so I should have seen you can't run air conditioning on just the battery power what could I perhaps watch TV and run the stereo for example thank you in advance happy boating

[mmwjr]

Welcome aboard

It would help to know what boat you have and all the other details such as engine, generator and all electronics and electrical loads

[shrew]

Single Engine or twin engine. DC devices can run off of the battery. AC devices can run off of an inverter, within reason. A/C, Heat, Electric Stoves, or anything with a high amp draw (combined with the amp loss from inversion) will mean short runs times.

If you plan on a lot of amp usage away from shore power a decent sized dedicated house battery bank is a good idea. You can install an Automatic Charging Relay to allow the alternator to charge multiple battery banks. How much amps you intend to use and how long you stay out will dictate if a generator is a good fit.

We wouldn't go out for more than a single overnight without a generator.

[Stormbreaker]

I know this question is a couple months old but maybe my idea can help some one in the future. I recently purchased a Maxum 2400 SE and wanted to watch TV out on the water. I looked in to options of purchasing a generator (too much money for an installed one), and also thought about a transducer (don't feel like wiring things up). What i did do is bought a computer UPS. This is an Uninterruptible Power Supply (a battery back up) that is used in instances of power outages so you can shut your computer down safely and protects from power surges. I let this charge when on shore power and when I'm disconnected i turn it on to run the TV and Fire stick. My TV runs about 50 watts and i can get at least a whole baseball game off it without incident. I use my phone as a WiFi hotspot to connect to the internet and plug that in with a 4w charger that doesn't drain too much. Now if your looking to run the microwave or a blender and stuff, this wont work for you. I do use a 2000w portable generator when needed for that stuff. Cost me about 400 bucks but it's kind of annoying.