Question about battery power

[cottonsail]

Originally Posted by svfinlandia

I guess I am one of those in the minority on wind generators.
When it is cloudy during the day or dark at night my wind generator still continues to put amps in my battery.
Each to his own I suppose, but I love my Kiss wind generator.

Al, S/V Finlandia

My complaint about wind generators is none of them are as quiet as a solar panel.

[Drek4]

Originally Posted by realem

Looks like you got some good advice and some ok opinions, The best advice is how much power do you need, and what bad habits do you have. We have 2x100 watt solar and a wind gen. The battery storage is 3x100AH AGM batteries plus a starter battery. We do not have a freezer but do have a fridge which is powered by the solar and the wind generator. Additional power consumption is fans, a water pump. Hot water is off a heat exchanger. We almost never turn on the engine at anchor as our power needs are pretty small. The fridge is the size of a 85 can igloo cooler which we converted into a fridge
Good luck

Well I guess I am more on the upper end of consumption, as my wife, so refrigerator and freezer, tv with laptop (in night even to hook up on tv for films, might use usb on tv to save power for films) at start will need shower everyday (actually we shower twice daily) so on the upper end of consumption no doubt, in time can adapt, but must be a good transition, not painful.

[sailcrazy]

I must say...we lived and worked in Asia for 15 years. Bought the boat there(Singapore). Loved sailing Asia, and would go back in a heartbeat. But, at 77, there are other considerations, too. The Philippines is great sailing, Viet Nam would be fabulous, and Malaysia/Thailand are not to be missed. And, of course, Indonesia can be fabulous (but it's big!) Go for it!!!!!

[Drek4]

Originally Posted by cottonsail

My complaint about wind generators is none of them are as quiet as a solar panel.

Well yes that is expected, but it`s more a plan B in my case rather than a daily use.

[Drek4]

Originally Posted by sailcrazy

I must say...we lived and worked in Asia for 15 years. Bought the boat there(Singapore). Loved sailing Asia, and would go back in a heartbeat. But, at 77, there are other considerations, too. The Philippines is great sailing, Viet Nam would be fabulous, and Malaysia/Thailand are not to be missed. And, of course, Indonesia can be fabulous (but it's big!) Go for it!!!!!

Well thank you very much, this is very kind of you to say so, much appreciated!

[Drek4]

Originally Posted by sailcrazy

I must say...we lived and worked in Asia for 15 years. Bought the boat there(Singapore). Loved sailing Asia, and would go back in a heartbeat. But, at 77, there are other considerations, too. The Philippines is great sailing, Viet Nam would be fabulous, and Malaysia/Thailand are not to be missed. And, of course, Indonesia can be fabulous (but it's big!) Go for it!!!!!

May I impose in asking what are the best places in SE Asia you consider as memorable sailing areas and safe zones in the Philippines and Indonesia, cyclone wise?
Sorry more like Cebu, Luzon, Bohol, Leyte, Jakarta, Borneo areas...or areas you know of...

[sailstax]

The value of a wind generator greatly depends on your location. We have this one: https://store.marinebeam.com/marinek...ind-generator/

It is quiet and manages itself with the included controller.

We have 400 Watts of solar and the 400 Watt wind generator. This combination seems to work very well for us with normal loads like the refrigeration, lights, various devices charging, fans, etc.

We are currently in North Carolina and have been having a very windy spring.

Best of luck!

[Drek4]

Originally Posted by sailstax

The value of a wind generator greatly depends on your location. We have this one: https://store.marinebeam.com/marinek...ind-generator/

It is quiet and manages itself with the included controller.

We have 400 Watts of solar and the 400 Watt wind generator. This combination seems to work very well for us with normal loads like the refrigeration, lights, various devices charging, fans, etc.

We are currently in North Carolina and have been having a very windy spring.

Best of luck!

Thank you, this is very kind of you to share this with me!

[motion30]

My take on this is different. I don't think doing an energy budget helps you very much as you can not control the intensity or the degree of the sun . My experience tells me fit as much solar on your boat as you have room for . no one has ever said I regret having too Much electrical energy available

[Drek4]

Originally Posted by motion30

My take on this is different. I don't think doing an energy budget helps you very much as you can not control the intensity or the degree of the sun . My experience tells me fit as much solar on your boat as you have room for . no one has ever said I regret having too Much electrical energy available

I seem to agree with your thinking, I had a pre ideal grid of what I required that I thought as excessive, but I now see that what I though as excessive is wildly underestimated in terms as a required electrical grid to satisfy my needs.
Thank you for your input!

[svfinlandia]

Originally Posted by cottonsail

My complaint about wind generators is none of them are as quiet as a solar panel.

I can’t argue with that, but modern wind generators are not nearly as noisy as the older ones.
It helps to be somewhat hard of hearing, but the only time that I can hear my Kiss wind generator running is when I am standing on deck in more than 20 knots of wind and then I can barely hear it over the sound of the wind.

S/V Finlandia

[svfinlandia]

Originally Posted by Drek4

Thank you, would you be so kind to inform me of a link or model of your wind generator, so I could know the capacity, since you seem to have good results with this wind generator?

Thiese are the people that I purchased it from several years ago:

https://svhotwire.com/kiss-wind-generator/

I seem to remember that they retired and went cruising and sold the rights to manufacture the wind generator to a major manufacturer. I am thinking Vetus, but I don’t see it on their website. Anyone on the forum know anything about it?
You might try calling the number on their website and see if you get the people at S/V Hotwire and they could tell you where to find one, or you might find a used one on eBay.
There was a guy here on the forum selling one for $450 at one point. You might check archives and see if he sold it.
The thing that I like very much about the Kiss is that it is an AC generator and there is not nearly as much line loss between the generator and it’s rectifier.

Al, S/V Finlandia

[Drek4]

Originally Posted by svfinlandia

I can’t argue with that, but modern wind generators are not nearly as noisy as the older ones.
It helps to be somewhat hard of hearing, but the only time that I can hear my Kiss wind generator running is when I am standing on deck in more than 20 knots of wind and then I can barely hear it over the sound of the wind.

S/V Finlandia

Can you share the rated output versus the actual output of your wind generator, regardless of noise?

[moseriw]

Out of my experience: do NOT use ordinary Car-Batteries...
In the good old days car batteries did not rely much on cold start as the starters draw 400-600Ams at much... Nowadays they draw 900-1500 Amps and the batteries are built for that surge.


The downside is thsth these batteries are built to be recharged immediadley and shall always be at 12,6+ Volts. If one uses them for house purposes and discharges them regularely down to 60% they will stand only 2-3 years before brake down.

Even with AGM batteries it is very important that one uses "Deep Cycle" ones but tests show that a lot of them are labelled as "Deep Cycle" and in fact are not.

The trick is to charge the biggest cluster, the house batteries, and to charge the other banks (starter and bow) with Battery to Battery chargers. With these they can be charged exactly as specified in their manual.

Requirements for your house load:
depending on your needs... one is happy just to serve his fridge and needs only 100Ah/Day another wants to cook with electricity and needs 200 Amps just for 1 hr of cooking which I hink is really stupid.

Solar-Grid:
One should expect to harvest 50% of the said WP which is around 6-7Amps per m²
And the Grid should have been rated to get 21% out of the sun.
i.E. I have 2,8 m² 420WP and the maximum harvest is around 200W with 19-20Amps for say 10 hrs an a middle value of 14Amps = 140 Ah/Day which is not really enough.

So.. a good grid shall be 600WP, better 1000WP.

If we get the new panels that can fetch up to 50%, in reallity maybe 40% everything is good but nowadays it is a problem to fit 7 m² (1000WP) on a boat.

Wind generators:
They begin to serve well above 12knots with good erarnings +15knots.
Usually you are downwind with say 6 knots so you need +18 knots to be effective.
And on the chain you get the noise of the windgenerator.

Better way would be to set up your system that you are able to recharge within 2 hrs and use a diesel or gas generator. Best would be if it is in the engine room and is well isolated to avoid noise disturbance.

[mjgill1]

Originally Posted by Drek4

Just curious about how many batteries do you use in your power grid on your sailboat and if this is enough for your usage. I have seen many people sailing with solar panels and 1 or 2 batteries for their power grid, are deep cycle marine batteries so much better than car batteries?
I was thinking of purchasing 2x solar panels 130/145 watts with a 400w wind generator to supply the batteries, but I want to avoid as much as possible turning on the engine to supply the batteries.

We have two group 31 Deka 105 ah AGM batteries for the house and one of the same for a start battery, two high quality rigid 175 watt square panels above the bimini, 140 amp Electromaax alternator with external regulator, Honda 2200 generator and a Pronautic 12/20 shore power charger. The overnight use seems to be mostly refrigeration. We have a Nova Cool fridge and ARB chest freezer. Typically we see 20%-30% used up by morning. The batteries were replaced last month. It was time! On sunny days, we'll be back at 100% SOC on solar alone by mid-late afternoon. If motoring, we turn off the solar so the alternator isn't tricked. The system works well. Personally I would not consider a wind generator. That said, I have heard great things about hydro or tow behind generators. In time, I would love to upgrade to LiFePO4 which would double our house capacity and nearly half the weight. Good luck.