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Onglets principaux

Onboard electricity and Energy



You think you have too little knowledge in marine electricity? Don’t worry! We are proposing a practical training course for skippers, not for engineers !

Previous Knowledge is not required.



What you will learn ?

  • To understand different charging systems and electrical distribution circuits on boats, including for diesel engine.
  • To know how to choose and integrate charging and storing energy equipments to insure self-sufficiency onboard.
  • To know how to read a boat electrical plan and to confront it with the reality of the installation on board.
  • To know how to do your electric balance sheet and to actively control your energy installation.
  • To master the fault detection logic and the adapted tools.


What you must bring:

  • The electrical diagram of your boat if you have it.
  • Pictures of your electric installation (electrical panel, different items)
  • An A4 notebook and a black and red pen.
  • A camera.



DAY 1 – 9 AM – 12.30 AM

  • Welcome and coffee time. Presentation of the sailors projects.
  • Understand the importance of energy storage, on which the proper functioning of energy producers and consumers depends.
  • Choice, batteries behaviors and monitoring methods. Short theoretical reminder of the basic units (Voltage, amperage, power consumption; their use on board).
  • Journey to the heart of electrical distribution. Wiring of the entire charging and distribution circuit of a boat, including the diesel engine.


DAY 1 – 2 PM -5.30 PM

  • Use the multimeter and handle the soldering iron and the crimping tool. Learn how to make waterproof and durable terminations, repair the VHF or GPS coaxial cable.
  • Different charging modes and their particularities: engine alternators, windcharger, solar panels, hydro-generators, power generators, fuel cells.
  • How to integrate them in an existing installation or anticipate a new boat equipment?
  • Comparison of the loading capacities of the different producers, wiring of a solar controller and observation of the panel's production.
  • Control my installation in an active way. Real integration of an energy manager in the charging circuit of a boat.


DAY 2 – 9 AM – 12.30 AM

  • Electricity of a diesel engine. Dissection of the following elements: Control panel, sensors, relays, starter, alternators, plan reading.
  • The control gestures and troubleshooting of these components. Change an alternator regulator, solve an engine panel failure, repair a starter.
  • Practical exercises on engine benches. At the end of the course, you will all have solved five different electrical breakdowns on a diesel engine and will be able to restart it with a 1 meter long cable.
  • Understand the electrical diagram of an engine.


DAY 2 – 2 PM – 5.30 PM

  • Calculation of cable sections. How to check the standards and size correctly the equipment protections. (circuit breakers, fuses)
  • Understand the data sheet of an equipment. To find your way through the technical terms: Bipolar coupling relay, voltage drop free distributor, non-isolated from the ground alternator, MPPT regulator...
  • Complete wiring of a windlass with its relay and its control.
  • Restarting a diesel engine after an electrical failure.
  • The energy balance of my boat.