Wind gen & Solar

[teabreak]

I can,t seem to find the answer here. I did look so sorry if it has been covered already. I have a large battery bank 800amps 6 x 200 amp batteries. was looking at the Seago X200 wind turbine this is a 200W, but what really does this give back to the battery bank over 24hrs lets say at a low speed to medium ? and then I was looking at Solar panels of 125W again what does this give back in 24hrs. I run a few item that do really eat up power like a fridge and auto helm. any help
Thanks

[armido]

teabreak,

Lots of renewable technology sites available on line - probably with suitable calculators - to help you determine the answers. Going to the manufacturers with your questions a good option too.

armido

[Dave]

Originally Posted by teabreak

I can,t seem to find the answer here. I did look so sorry if it has been covered already. I have a large battery bank 800amps 6 x 200 amp batteries. was looking at the Seago X200 wind turbine this is a 200W, but what really does this give back to the battery bank over 24hrs lets say at a low speed to medium ? and then I was looking at Solar panels of 125W again what does this give back in 24hrs. I run a few item that do really eat up power like a fridge and auto helm. any help
Thanks

This is one of those questions that will likely get a vague answer. There are curves and graphs, opinions and testimonials, but the bottom line depends upon the weather.

Dave L38 #38

[djmarchand]

First the easy one: Solar panels on a bright sunny day produce 1/3 of the panel wattage in amphours. More in the tropics or if you tilt them to follow the sun. So a 125 watt panel will put out about 40 amphours in a bright sunny day.

The wind generator manufacturer should have a curve of amps vs wind speed. A 200 watt wind generator specification is a meaningless number without the wind speed that it is based on, but it is probably 20 kts or so. Most anchorages are a lot less unless in the Carribean in the trades. I would guess at best 15 kts day, 10 kts night. That 200 watt generator is probably going to average maybe 5 amps in 24 hours at best or a total of 120 amphours.

And finally the average cruiser probably uses 60-120 amphours for refrigeration, lights, stereo, lap top recharging, etc in an average day.

Put that all together and most cruisers opt for 200 watts or more of solar panels for their DC needs.

David

[s/vPainkiller]

First, there have been a lot of threads on wind and solar. There is probably more information than you can use already in the archives.

Now to your question. To some extent your output will depend on your cruising grounds. The amount of sun and wind you experience where you cruise. But I don't believe your 200 watt wind gen and 125 watt solar will handle your daily requirements considering the size of your house bank. The rule of thunb is that you divide your solar watts by 3 and that is your daily output in AH's for a full-sun day. So your 125 watts will likely only get you 40AH's per day.

We also have an 800 AH bank. We just installed an air breeze. We have a separate fridge and freezer, and running both I assume daily consumption to be around 100 amps given a 50% duty cycle. That doesn't consider the other daily requirements like electronics, etc. We had a weekend trial run while sitting at the dock in Beaufort, SC a couple weeks ago. It was pretty breezy for here maybe 15ish, and we would get 3-4 amps in a gust. The air breeze would not by itself keep up with the fridge and freezer when they were both running. One or the other yes, but not both.

FYI we also have a solar rig that we are about to install. We have 2X 135watt Kyocera panels and a 25 amp Blue Sky controller. I'm anxious to see what we get out of them. Ideally I think I would have more solar, but we are hopeful that between the wind and solar it will in total handle our daily nut, which we calculate to be about 200 AH per day.

Scott

[teabreak]

That make it clear so if I use more then 120 amp hours then I should look at 200W or higher and yes the wind gen did have a curve chart but this is a little bit of a mystery to me
So how do you work out the amp? if the solar give 40 amp/hrs the 40x 5hrs of good sun?

[teabreak]

Thanks for all the replies. i have lots more study to do.

[s/vPainkiller]

Tea,
Here's the math. A 125 watt panel puts out about 10 amps at full output (125 watts / 12.5 volts = 10 amps). Actual output is depended on the controller, battery state, shading, etc. The total DAILY output of a 125 watt panel is estimated to be 40 amp hours in full sun. You may get more or less than that. We plan on an avg 90 AH's daily for our 270 watts.

We hope to get about 100 AH per day from the Air Breeze. That assumes a steady 4 amps X 24 hours. Our cruising grounds are primarily going to be the Bahamas in winter. We know won't get that kind of output in our home area. At this point from what I know so far I think that might be slightly high for actual output. What I can't account for yet is the output in gusts. The wind is never steady, so over time the higher amp output in the gusts may make up for the time the wind spends in the lulls.

For our boat, if we get close to 200 AH daily between the wind and solar, that should about cover our daily consumption. We can always supplement with our generator or main engine, but the point is to try to be as self sufficient as we can.

Hope this helps.
Scott

[teabreak]

Thanks Scott you have made it very east to understand. I look up the solar panel you are using seem nice. do flexible unit work as well? i guess not. I did spot a hydro gren that you tow behind you. to many option

[hanami2]

Hi, a friend of mine in the carribeans did ask a very similar question, mainly about solar panels. You will find the answer by clicking here.
I hope it helps,
As far as wind turbines are considered the ATMB D400 is definitely the best in my view.
All the best,
Marc