February 2nd, 2022
The sparks are flying at Berthon Spain as we expand our electrical team with the addition of Leo Laterza, who joins us from another electrical company in Palma. Leo has an extensive background in PLC’s, navigation equipment installations, Lithium Ion batteries and AC and DC systems. Leo will be reporting to Richard Green who heads up this department.
At the moment we have more batteries awaiting installation than a toy factory and most of them are Lithium Ion’s. For some there was a little concern when Lithium batteries first started coming into play on yachts but having now had some years to understand the technology and to see the advantages that they bring, at Berthon Spain we are fully behind them.
In the last 6 months we have carried out three complete power storage changes to Lithium battery banks and this has greatly added to endurance times, with yachts operating for prolonged periods without having to run noisy generators. The charging speed is also substantially reduced to a few hours, so when sailing long distance the range is also increased by a substantial margin. Our next project is to install Lithiums on a CNB 76’ prior to a planned circumnavigation.
We are now approved as official B&G installers and have a whole host of new installations planned as part of our refits programme. We are big fans of B&G equipment as the processing speed is incredibly quick, they are very user friendly and their reliability appears bullet-proof. The new H5000 auto pilot controller has dedicated sailing algorithms and steering modes which means that it learns as it goes and therefore offers far better control.
B&G Zeus plotters are equally impressive. They not only work at lightning speed but look incredible. Our electricians have connected these to many of our yachts’ C-Zone systems, allowing the whole yacht to be controlled from each plotter; a godsend if you are on watch at night and want to turn things on and off!
The Mastervolt C-Zone system is a perfect PLC for smaller to medium sized yachts and is incredibly programmable to clients’ individual requirements. It allows systems to be operated individually or as a large group, such a ‘day sailing’, ‘night sailing’ or ‘marina mode’. This means you don’t need to go through an entire switch panel turning everything on and off and also means that you can control the systems from various areas of the yacht.
You can expect to hear a lot more from our yacht electricians this year as this department continues to develop and thrive.
Please do get in touch with us if we can help you with your all-important electrical systems.
Managing Director – andrew.fairbrass@berthonspain.com
Tel: +34 971 415 441
https://www.berthonspain.com/
