my 1970 53MY has an auxiliary 12 volt system, like most I guess, for electronics. of course in 30 years, there has been some creative wiring along the way and each boat is now very different but ...

- I didn't see any reference to the 32v system in the hatteras manual and plans, am I right to assume that it is an add on ?
- what else besides modern electronic woudl be 12volts? I haven't checked yet, but I hope / pray that the bilge pumps were not replaced at some point with some 12v units... I will discon the 12v tonight to see what doesn't work...
- cigarette lighter plug at lower helm looks failry original, if it is how was that originally powered ?

the 12 volt battery is in the stbd engine room (2 6 volt batteries actually), needless to say, it gets real hot in there underway. is it worth relocating it to the generator room for longer life?

I'm also considering running the 12volt circuits off the generator battery (12volts, new Norpro genset). if only the electronics are connected, I'm not adding any significant loads since i run the boat at least once a week and I could connect the charger on a timer to come on jsut a couple of hours a day. I don't like connecting anything to the genset battery but if just the electronics, why not... of course having an extra 12v battery on board is nice in case the genset batery fails....

any suggestions and how it's done on your boat welcome!

pascal
Miami, FL
1970 53 MY