[TG] autopilot power budget

[OceanGuy]

I'm refitting for an extended cruise and bought an EV100 tiller pilot and associated parts. I'm trying to figure out a reasonable average power draw to use in my battery bank sizing and charging calculations.

The manuals with the equipment give draws for the electronic pieces of the system (e.g., 30 mA for EV-1), and max draws for the tiller actuator, but I need an idea of average draw under normal conditions (or even better under very light conditions).

I would note that my actual demand will certainly be less than normal, since the tiller actuator doesn't connect to a tiller but instead to a control arm on my wind vane steering. Moving that control arm requires at most a pound of force then the vane steering applies all the power to the rudder. I used this for years with great success with an older model Autohelm tiller pilot (which had a virtually identical drive unit). I think Raymarine bought Autohelm at some point.

Anyway, guidance on power budgeting would be much appreciated.