A way To Save Charging Time

[weavis]

I did not ask him where he is going to place it... I guess it will be a surprise when I visit..

[Kenomac]

I just got off the phone with Asseo, they have an installer located right here in San Giorgio, so I can go with the zipper type solar panel attachment which will enable a larger 450w installation which can't be seen from the water.

Wow, might not even need the generator.

[Fuss]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Using A/C with solar would be impossible, a large generator or shore power is the only solution if one requires A/C. We never need or use ours since we're nearly always in anchorages which are much cooler.

With our electric galley, I expect 375w of solar should be enough even with some shading at times, if we run the generator during meal preparation for breakfast and supper which will also take care of our hot water needs.

The biggest draw is refrigeration.

In order to run a no gas boat without using a generator you need....
-700ah 24v batteries
-500w solar
- very efficient fridge and freezer
-250a 24v alternator, this way you can ram the power in, ignore all the alternator 25% of battery capacity advice. just dont go over 29.6v and once a month try to equalise at 31.5v with all devices disconnected.
-20a propshaft alternator or some equivalent method of generating 10+a under sail at 6kts.
-a method of boiling water for coffee efficiently.
-induction cooktop
-combination fan oven microwave grill like the panasonic
-5000w victron multiplus or better 2x 3000w multiplus

Your systems will then be mostly balanced meaning daily viewings of the battery monitor will begin to fade.
You will no longer find yourself motoring longer than needed just to put a bit more into the batteries.
And a really big plus, you can run your A/C in the evening for half an hour just to take the days heat out of the boat with no generator.
Your 6kw Generator then becomes a backup that normally does not need to be used unless you sit in an anchorage for 4 days.
Your boat becomes much quieter ,which is the reason most people have a sailing boat and go to nice quiet anchorages.

[SVNeko]

Our boat has been set up that way since 2004.

[a64pilot]

Depends, I have a kilowatt of Solar, and it looks as it will fall short of my needs, and I don't cook or use any AC.
I'd estimate to get any real use of electric cooking and or AC, your needing at least 2 KW, and I'd want at least three.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Depends, I have a kilowatt of Solar, and it looks as it will fall short of my needs, and I don't cook or use any AC.
I'd estimate to get any real use of electric cooking and or AC, your needing at least 2 KW, and I'd want at least three.

I'm seriously looking now at 450w of solar, might as well go all in.

[a64pilot]

Ken I think power is a lot like water and money.
Real easy to know when you don't have enough but tough to actually have too much, and when you have a nearly unlimited resource your usage rate will increase, that is just human nature.
In other words, go with all you can fit and live with. I went with inexpensive residential panels, may one day upgrade to the more power dense ones to increase output.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by robbievardon

Kenomac, I don't understand your reply. Where does your power come from at night/sunless days? What do you do with your surplus/why do you need surplus? What level of efficiency do your panels run at?Do they track the sun?

We have an 8kw, 48 panel array which will be expanded to 15kw in November which will take care of 100% of our domestic useage and the needs of 17 office tenants year round. It'll even produce an extra 10% above our needs which will take care of our four carriage house office tenants. Yes, it's connected to the grid.... it's a requirement in order to build and install an array. The system produces a surplus during the day when the electric meter goes backwards, then at night the meter goes forwards using some of the surplus electrical power produced during the day. No batteries.

[Kenomac]

OK, before I spend money to fix an issue which might not exist, I decided to do an experiment this evening.

I allowed the batteries to discharge throughout the day down to 72%, then fired up the generator and new battery charging system.

The results: Charging time was reduced by 60% during all cycles of the charge including bulk and absorbtion. It took only 1.5 hours to bring them back up to 97%, then I didn't feel like listing to the genset for another 45 minutes or so just to get the final 7ah back in, so I reconnected to shore power.

Adding more charging capability doesn't just save minutes, it saves hours of charging time. Still looking at solar mostly now for the quiet.

[Kenomac]

It took a total of 2 hours to get back to 100% with the new charging system.

Correction: My prior post should have read 98.5% not 97%.

[a64pilot]

What are you using to determine SOC?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

What are you using to determine SOC?

The onboard digital battery monitoring system.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

The onboard digital battery monitoring system.

It's lying to you, you can't get to 100% SOC that fast, I don't care if you have a 1000 amp charger, unless you have a Lithium or similar bank, and I assume your lead acid?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

It's lying to you, you can't get to 100% SOC that fast, I don't care if you have a 1000 amp charger, unless you have a Lithium or similar bank, and I assume your lead acid?

Come on over, I'll show you.

[a64pilot]

Ken, I know you know how to read the thing, and I am sure it's telling you your at 100% SOC, but I think it's lying to you.
PM Maine Sail and tell him you battery bank, type and size and your charger type and size, and ask him if you can go from the SOC you were at to 100% in the time you had.

He knows way more about this stuff than me, a whole lot of what I know, I read from his posting and his site.

I know from personal observation that I can go from say 50% SOC to say 85% SOC pretty quick, from about that point on it bogs down and the last 10% or so trickles in, the last 5% likely takes as long as the first 30% did.