Ampower Services

Specialist stockists, suppliers andinstallers of 12 and 24 volt supply equipment especially for inland waterways.

Ampower Services operates in association with Rose Narrowboats and offers a comprehensive range of electrical equipment from stock, together with a specialist installation service based on years of experience.

If you have a problem with your boat's electrics or simply wish to upgrade or install then your first call should be to Ampower. We have all the answers and full back up from all the top names in the business. Our specialist areas include:

• Help with inadequate 12 or 24 volt charging systems we can advise on the optimum combination of alternator output and battery types.
• Providing you with the right choice of inverter for 240 volts power from the batteries and the best charging system to go with it.
• Helping you to ensure that your existing installation will pass the next Boat Safety Inspection.
• Supply and installation of the equipment to suit your needs from smallest inverter to full generator backed systems - many of these already proven in the boats built by Warwickshire Narrowboats.
• Supply of equipment from the top names including: Honda, Mastervolt,Victron,Adverc, Merlin, Blue Seas,Technisol, ETA, Heart Interface, Elecsol and gel batteries.
• Inverters, chargers, combi's, alternators and controllers, switchgear fuses, circuit breakers, ancillary equipment - all available from stock.

Batteries

The standard 679 Leisure Battery may be cheap, but technology has left it behind. We would recommend two main types of battery for the services:

• ELECSOL CARBON FIBRE BATTERIES have a four year warranty on boats and have certainly performed well over the last six years on the Rose Narrowboats hire fleet, with minimal problems. They can be used for engine starting or for leisure use. Dimensions are in millimetres all are 12 volt.
• GEL BATTERIES. Unlike wet cell batteries, these do not need maintenance and can be installed virtually anywhere. Potentially they will outlast other types of battery and are perhaps the ultimate choice at present. They are the most expensive, the larger ones being the better value.

Also available

Alternator Controllers: The most basic electrical system is an engine, an alternator and one or more batteries. Provided you cruise a reasonable amount each day and do not make too many demands on the batteries you may need no more than this. If, however, you decide to stay at a rally for a few days or decide to install an electric fridge then you will almost certainly need some form of Battery Management System (BMS).

Most alternators are designed for use in road vehicles where the only battery charging they do is to replace the relatively small amount of power used to start the engine (or feed the lights). Their circuitry is not designed to cope with deeply discharged batteries and, when confronted with one they are easily fooled into thinking that their work is done long before the battery is fully charged. Buying more batteries doesn't really help; you just end up with more flat batteries.

A BMS works with the alternator by preventing it from cutting out when it may have only brought the battery to 75% charged. Since battery manufacturers recommend that that batteries are not discharged to less than 50%, this means that you are probably only using about a quarter of the battery capacity. With a good BMS, the alternator can take a battery to 95 or 100% charged so the effective capacity is practically doubled.

Chargers: Battery Chargers fall into three main categories. You would be right to think that these are cheap and expensive (and Combis, see below)! There is the straight trickle charger available from automotive shops, or there is the automatic 3 stage charger that does the job properly, more quickly and without the high mains surge associated with the cheaper chargers.

Services offered:

Services for your boat

• Boat service & repairs

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