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Recharging your bow thruster batteries via the inverter sounds counterintuitive. Watch this video why it might make sense. Whether you need a remote consultation design or perhaps inviting [music] us aboard your boat, Pacific Yacht Systems is here to help. Check out the links in the description below. Hi everyone, Jeff Cote here from Pacific Yacht Systems with another installment of Tech Talk. We've got a question from a fellow boater, Robert, who's got a Fleming in California asked, "Jeff, why do people discourage others from using a battery charger that is connected to an inverter to recharge bow thruster's batteries while underway?" So, let's recap. It's often the case, and we've seen this, that bow thruster batteries are installed post factory. And when those batteries are installed, they're generally, and they should, but they're not, they're generally connected just too simply a battery charger because AC is everywhere on the boat, and it's pretty easy to have an AC outlet somewhere near the bow thrusters, and the easiest way to have those batteries recharge is to simply have a battery charger installed there, and they're going to be maintained when the boat is connected to shore power or when the generator's running. And so, that's great. The challenge with that is while you're operating your boat, you might not have your generator running. You might be using your batteries your bow thruster a lot, and your bow thruster batteries are getting depleted, and you would like to find a way for those bow thruster batteries to get recharge while underway or while you're cruising the boat, but now the pickle is that people have told you to not use your battery charger off the inverter. I think the advice is sound, but also in some ways I don't. So, what that means by running an you can definitely run a battery charger off an inverter. Now, it's sounds crazy, and you certainly not want to run a battery charger that would recharge your house battery bank from the same inverter that's running your inverter because you're basically going to create power to lose power. And you're basically going to drain your battery by trying to recharge your battery. But if you're trying to be creative in a solution where on your boat you don't have either a DC to DC charging converter, which you should. Basically that means a DC link from one battery bank to another. Which certainly would be something I would recommend Robert to do is to find a way over time in the off-season to run DC to DC cabling from his house bank to his bow thruster bank. But that is expensive for sure cuz the run is going to be long. But in the absence of that, if I had a boat like Robert, I would probably end up running my inverter to power a battery charger to recharge my bow thruster batteries while underway. To make sure that my bow thruster batteries would have as high a charge as possible and would not be depleted over time. Remember, windlasses, all motors, windlasses, bow thrusters, stern thrusters, all motors die prematurely because they're have under voltage. And if your battery bank for your bow thruster battery doesn't have a voltmeter and you're using that bow thruster and it's not getting a charge and you're using a lot for whatever reason, it's not lack of skill, it's the windage, it's the situation that you're in, a tight, maybe a marina, there's whatever it is, right? This is not a skill problem, this is just a reality that you need your bow thruster. If you're using that bow thruster and you're starting to have low battery voltage and you don't know and you're running that thruster, your thruster will work at or try to work at all voltages. But what you're doing is you're going to actually potentially over time damage your thruster battery because not battery, but motor. So I yeah, I Robert, contrary to the advice you're receiving, in my opinion, I would, if I didn't have a DC to DC charging converter between my battery banks, I would certainly when I'm underway, I would decide to run my battery charger to charge back my thruster battery bank from an inverter, even though it sounds crazy, and I would do so knowing that I'm drawing more from my house battery bank, but then my house battery bank must be getting charged from my alternators while I'm underway, and if it isn't, well then there's a big problem. And so I just pay a higher cost on conversion. You're basically going from DC to AC to go back to DC. And so that conversion cost is why people might discourage you from doing that, but in the absence of a choice, I think you just have to pay for it. And so yeah, my advice would be to do it. That's a great question and thanks for asking. For all of you that have watched the video, if you're not a member of the channel, please subscribe, like the video, it helps us with the algorithm. If you've got further questions for Tech Talk, use the link in the descriptions below. We also, if you'd like to bring us aboard your boat and you're here in the Pacific Northwest, reach out. It's always a pleasure for us to be invited and to be of service to fellow boaters. And lastly, potentially you're away far and you're we can't help you locally, then you might want to consider our consultation and design services and that's where we help boaters and make the right decisions for their boat. >> [music] >> Thanks again for all for watching. Have some safe boating and take care. Hey fellow boaters, we're going to be [music] doing a lot more Tech Talk videos. If you've got any suggestions for future videos, leave them in the comments below. Once again, thank you for watching.