s well as keeping your own batteries charged, the boat batteries also need to have reliable charge. As the power drains, the autopilot can become unreliable, disconnecting at low voltage. , our 1998 Lagoon 410, has 1kW of solar panels and although we can, we’ve never needed to charge the house batteries from the engines or shore power. But overnight passages are the toughest test of the system. The sails can create shading on the panels for several hours of the day, and running the instruments 24/7 is a significant drain, especially the radar which can draw three or four amps when operating,
