[C320-list] A-B Cold Machine: power consumption

[Jeff Church]

Warren,

On page 27 the manual for my 1998 ColdMachine says to figure 5 amps running 
and 1.8 to 2.4 amps on average. That would equate to the unit running 36 to 
48 percent of the time. I measured a running draw of 5.7 amps with a Link 20 
battery monitor. At 48 percent that would put the average draw at >2.7 amps. 
The complete Energy Inventory is posted in the Scanned Documents sub-album 
on the C320 site.

JeffC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Warren Updike" <wupdike at hotmail.com>
To: "Catalina 320 Mail List" <C320-List at catalina320.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 3:34 PM
Subject: [C320-list] A-B Cold Machine: power consumption


The newer Cold Machines draw about 5A.  The factory rep. at the Annapolis 
Boat Show said my 13 year old machine might draw more like 6-7 A.  My 
question has to do with duty cycle: the amount of time under a particular 
situation that the machine might actually be running usually expressed as a 
percentage.  That is to say, my machine is on 24/7 when we're on the boat, 
but it only actually runs and draws current for intermittent periods.  Does 
anyone have any information on the duty cycle of the Cold Machine on the 320 
under different ambient temperature conditions?

The spreadsheet of Estimated Cruising Electrical Loads from the (old?) 320 
website shows a usage of 10 hrs/day.  That is a 40% duty cycle.  I have no 
idea how realistic that figure is for estimating electrical load.

Warren & Pattie Updike
C320, #62, 1994, "Warr De Mar"
Frog Mortar Creek, Middle River
Chesapeake Bay