Where do you dump your excess electricity?

[bene505]

We are putting a Fourwinds wind generator on our Beneteau 50 this spring. We plan on mooring where the average wind is 12 knots and I'm wondering where to dump our excess electricity. So where do you dump yours? Is it your watermaker, hot water heater, icebox, lights?

[Celestialsailor]

I had a Flexcharge 25 with a divert leg. Of course you always hear how boats have mold problems. So I decided that a good solution was to install large 12 volt computer fans throughout the boat Some in dorade vents and a few in adjoining cabinets. They were all wired to the divert leg where when it came on would move air throughout the vessel. It seemed to cure the mold situation completely. Mold does not seem to do well with moving air. The fans would come on for a minute or two when the batteries were topped off and turn back on in 10 minutes or so. Of course at night they were quiet.

[Pblais]

When we had one I just pulled the ha;yard and stopped the blades. The bearing are not made to last an eternity.

[bene505]

CS, Thanks for the reply and sharing that great idea. So those fans are 12v? Did you buy new ones or use ones from old computers?

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I had a Flexcharge 25 with a divert leg. Of course you always hear how boats have mold problems. So I decided that a good solution was to install large 12 volt computer fans throughout the boat Some in dorade vents and a few in adjoining cabinets. They were all wired to the divert leg where when it came on would move air throughout the vessel. It seemed to cure the mold situation completely. Mold does not seem to do well with moving air. The fans would come on for a minute or two when the batteries were topped off and turn back on in 10 minutes or so. Of course at night they were quiet.

[Celestialsailor]

They are really cheap new either through ebay oy discount computer supply houses.

[Celestialsailor]

I just realized our applications might be different. I was strictly solar at the time. If with wind, the fans might run at night too and require a shut off switch for the fans and the generator. You will definitely want to consult the wind gen company

[sv_makai]

We use our excess electricity to run the watermaker. We found it a great way to keep the tanks and washer full while not letting the benefit go to waste.

[bene505]

Originally Posted by sv_makai

We use our excess electricity to run the watermaker. We found it a great way to keep the tanks and washer full while not letting the benefit go to waste.

By "washer" do you mean a wasking machine? By the way you write it, you have it automatically filling when your water tanks are full. If so, how do you have that hooked up and do you worry about overflowing the washer?

[sv_makai]

My main tanks fill automatically. Once they are full a manual three way valve is set to the cokpit tap which is used to fill the washing machine. We love our clean sheets and clothes even on a passage. The wash holds 10 or so gallons and have sometimes dipped water out for other cleaning or rinsing projects.

We don't worry about the washer overflow as it is in the cockpit that has a drain.

[Ram]

What excess electricity ?

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I just realized our applications might be different. I was strictly solar at the time. If with wind, the fans might run at night too and require a shut off switch for the fans and the generator. You will definitely want to consult the wind gen company

Possibly a light sensitive switch would be the answer here?

[bene505]

OK, so we have watermaker and cabin fan. Anyone else have experience with a dump load?

[Aquah0lic]

You could dump some in my boat.

[camaraderie]

Water heater element is what we used for dump load. Easy to hook up and works well.
I don't understand how a dump load can run a watermaker as that requires a pressure pump motor to be run and dump loads will generally not support that. Please explain.
Note I am not talking about being able to run a watermaker directly off a wind or solar array...I am referring to running it automatically off a dump load. Are we talking about the same thing?