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08-02-2013, 14:46
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#31
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always in motion is the future
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: in paradise
Boat: Sundeer 64
Posts: 18,866
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
Quote:
Originally Posted by rebel heart
20 frigging amps? Holy crap.
Small Engel uses 2-3, radar is normally on standy, no depth sounder unless close enough to shore that I'm on engine anyway, paper charts. Handheld GPS plugged into 12v and VHF/ais receiver round maybe half an amp?
Manual windlass, led running lights, etc. No chart plotter.
I guess I'm on the lighter end of consumption.
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No, you're roughing it a but more, but that will change with the years
5A? That is my stereo during the muted seconds in between the rock songs we play while underway!
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08-02-2013, 14:52
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#32
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2007
Boat: Mahe 36, Helia 44 Evo, MY 37
Posts: 5,731
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
Silence is golden.
Solar just works with no maintenance.
Put all LED lights in. Increase your battery bank for cloudy days or night sailing.
On a windy day the last thing you want to hear is more wind and spinning carbon fiber just above your head.
Just listen to this lady. She thinks its just dandy keeping the neighbors awake.
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08-02-2013, 15:33
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#33
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Northern and Southern California
Boat: too many
Posts: 3,731
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
We have such better and more efficient options now than when I last cruised. I was in the Rebel Heart usage level when I was in the Sea of Cortez. Back then solar was $5 per watt and I had (2) 68 watt panels. Used (8) 220 a-hr 6 volt golf cart batteries and a Trace 2012 inverter. Loads were a small DC fridge/freezer, water maker, lights, electronics, HAM radio, and galley appliances. In the sunshine of the Sea of Cortez, that 136 watts of solar was enough. Storage was big for the day, 12 volts at 880 a-hr, but because they were lead acid and those 880 a-hr was based on a 20 hour rate, and for long cycle life you don't draw down past 50% DOD, the usable storage was more in the range of 300 a-hr.
Today with LED lights, Engel portable freezers, solar at $1 per watt, and most important LiFePO4 cells at $0.20 per watt, it is a all new level of luxury on the hook. A 400 a-hr LiFePO4 bank of cells has more usable electron storage than my old bank at 1/10 the weight and good for 2000 cycles. Lead is Dead.
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08-02-2013, 17:30
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#34
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: boat currently at Rio Dulce
Boat: morgan 462-sageofsalem
Posts: 79
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
Solar first and last but wind also.
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08-02-2013, 18:30
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#35
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,140
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
Quote:
Originally Posted by forsailbyowner
I find solar and wind complement each other nicely. I remember one cloudy breezy passage where the wind genny cranked out 20+ amps for days keeping us powered up when solar was negligable.
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I agree. Riding out several overcast but, windy days (or nights) it's nice to have the wind turbine tapping into that energy flowing past the boat:
THE BIANKA LOG BLOG: AN ENERGY EPIPHANY
__________________
Mike
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08-02-2013, 19:28
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#36
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 6,185
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
Quote:
Originally Posted by s/v Jedi
No, you're roughing it a but more, but that will change with the years
5A? That is my stereo during the muted seconds in between the rock songs we play while underway!
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Yeah, everyone told me things were going to change when I got married, then they were going to change when I had a kid, etc, etc, etc.
If anything I use less power now. My speaker system is a bluetooth portable unit with its own rechargeable battery. Charge it up during the day when there's plenty of juice, runs for five hours.
We use foot pumps in the galley for water. There's a lot of stuff we do to cut down on power and it really doesn't seem like roughing it to me. We never even used a microwave when we lived in a condo on land but some people swear up and down how important they are. I think we're just minimalists.
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08-02-2013, 19:52
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#37
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Back in Northern California working on the Ranch
Boat: Pearson 365 Sloop and 9' Fatty Knees.
Posts: 10,466
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
Quote:
Originally Posted by rebel heart
20 frigging amps? Holy crap.
Small Engel uses 2-3, radar is normally on standy, no depth sounder unless close enough to shore that I'm on engine anyway, paper charts. Handheld GPS plugged into 12v and VHF/ais receiver round maybe half an amp?
Manual windlass, led running lights, etc. No chart plotter.
I guess I'm on the lighter end of consumption.
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I'm in the same boat... ...low consumption, nothing fancy. My boat came with Electric windlass but how often is that used a day? I have 300 wats of panels and no wind gen. I did have a Air-X on my Ingrid 38 and detested it. It sounded as if a ghost was moaning on board. It was on m y mizzen and I was always worried someone would slacken a mizzen halyard and catch a blade.
__________________
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow - what a ride!"
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08-02-2013, 20:29
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#38
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2008
Location: daytona beach florida
Boat: csy 37
Posts: 2,976
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
we're part time cruisers but go for months at a time. solar only. i'm a keep it simple kind of guy and wind gens are way too complex for my simple ways.
a friend had both on a little morgan 28 out island. but he installed the air-x at the top of the mast! didn't worry about shading his lone solar panel...
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09-02-2013, 04:32
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#39
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Cruising the Eastern Caribbean
Boat: Beneteau 473
Posts: 779
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Quote:
Originally Posted by forsailbyowner
I find solar and wind complement each other nicely. I remember one cloudy breezy passage where the wind genny cranked out 20+ amps for days keeping us powered up when solar was negligable.
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+1 here too and ours is very quiet too.
__________________
Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived. JEAN LUC PICARD, Captain of the Starship Enterprise
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09-02-2013, 04:43
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#40
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always in motion is the future
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: in paradise
Boat: Sundeer 64
Posts: 18,866
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
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09-02-2013, 04:49
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#41
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Houston
Boat: ‘01 Catana 401
Posts: 9,626
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rebel heart
If our nighttime load exceeds 5 amps, that's with the fridge running, something is way wrong.
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Even with the spreader lights on and the water maker running we don't approach 20 amps. Our typical night load is much like yours, we're in the 3-5 amp range with the windvane and 4-6 with the AP.
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09-02-2013, 04:56
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#42
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Toronto
Boat: CS36Merlin, "La Belle Aurore"
Posts: 7,557
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fishspearit
I've cruised with a wind generator, and I've cruised with just solar. 15 years ago I would have answered that a wind generator was important. Because of the significant price drop in solar over that last 5 years and the advent of MPPT controllers, today I would say that all solar is the best way to go. It's just no longer worth the noise, hassle, and expense for the wind generator when you can get sufficient charging from solar. (This applies for people cruising the East Coast and Caribbean, it probably doesn't apply to someone in Washington state.)
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It doesn't apply in the Bahamas either. It is unusual but on occasion you can get four or five days of overcast. When this happens the wind usually is honking so the windgen works good. A few years ago, in one of these overcast periods, a Gemini had to radio for help to start his engine as he relied solely on solar. He didn't even have a small Honda.
__________________
Rick I
Toronto in summer, Bahamas in winter.
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09-02-2013, 13:02
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#43
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 9,398
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cotemar
Silence is golden.
Solar just works with no maintenance.
Put all LED lights in. Increase your battery bank for cloudy days or night sailing.
On a windy day the last thing you want to hear is more wind and spinning carbon fiber just above your head.
Just listen to this lady. She thinks its just dandy keeping the neighbors awake.
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We hardly ever visit marinas, so this amazes me! Are there really people so ignorant as to leave a wind generator running in a marina? Where shore power is available and your neighbours are only a couple of metres away?
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09-02-2013, 13:29
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#44
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 6,185
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat
We hardly ever visit marinas, so this amazes me! Are there really people so ignorant as to leave a wind generator running in a marina? Where shore power is available and your neighbours are only a couple of metres away?
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The only reason a wind generator isn't running in a marina is if it's broken. The owners don't care.
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09-02-2013, 13:35
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#45
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Vancouver, BC
Boat: Union Polaris 36
Posts: 153
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Re: Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?
We have solar, it is nice. I put in a sunforce wind gen, it is quiet works well in low winds and awesome in high winds. A wind gen is more like a trickle charge, my batteries love it. Add the bracket
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