I have a bunch of hours on exactly that same equipment (though more of each
category), and my experience is that you should be able to get 40 to 50
hours of self-steering out of the one battery assuming:
- there are no other drains on a fully charged battery
- battery is discharged to about 50% of capacity
- the boat is well-balanced
- the sea state is reasonably regular, not chaotic
- desired course is constant
The last is the most important. If the autopilot has to keep adjusting to a
new sea state, power consumption will go up by as much as a factor of four.
Even in the worst case, though, you should be OK for a full day out
daysailing.
Regards,
Bill Combs
-- WWP 19 #439 (Aug 1987) "Ursa Minor" Fort Walton Beach FL ttursine@earthlink.net http://home.earthlink.net/~ttursine -- It may be that your sole purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others> on 5/17/00 1:32 AM, longyard@ix.netcom.com wrote:
> Lionel just posted about using a battery to power his autopilot. > Does he, or anyone, know how long a battery will power an > autopilot? I have a group 24 battery, and an Autohelm 800. > Assume that the boat is fairly well balanced. > > Bill Longyard > Winston-Salem, NC > Siren 17 > Lucky Town V
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