Hello everyone! After years sailing, studying and chartering short and long term, to make sure I was committed to the live and sail lifestyle, I have finally moved in, this summer, to a 1992 Grand Soleil 42 with my dog Biba, and am living happy as a
liveaboard with nary a trouble in the gulf of La Spezia. For my question below, consider that I am still working on shore and so for the next 3-5 years I will only be cruising summers in the
Med, with 1-2 days
passage and 5-10 days at a time off a
dock.
I have been slowly working on "The List" we all have, starting from
security items and moving toward the nice-to-haves. It's time for me to upgrade the existing 2013 2x95 Ah lead-acid
batteries with an ESolar
MPPT solar controller converting 2x100W
panels.
I am looking for your advice on upgrading the core system.
If I am not mistaken (photos attached), I have an as-is situation of having shore-power to a transformer and basic monitoring relay (Tele UH50V) that charges for 80 minutes when voltage drops below 13V. This leads to a basic Esolar
MPPT max 40A which leads to two
batteries from 2013 95Ah and everything is in parallel. The two 100 volt
panels put out only about 10 amps on a sunny day. Pretty basic and considering the previous owner used these two for both starting and house bank (autopilot,
vhf, gps/plotter, running lights,
refrigerator,
interior lightsx9, and the usual pumps and fans, plus laptops, tablets, phones, windlass) that it is still running and holding charges, but starting is getting a bit sluggish, so I want to make the
Christmas project to replace this (and seek your
advice on what not to do, alternatives, and what to keep.)
After reading everything I could find in this forum and following discussions for the last few months I am planning to toss the old
charger, and put in 1 95Ah lead-acid for starter and 6xZenith deep-cycle 6V 225Ah for house, giving me 675Ah for house, charged from a Xantrex Freedom XC 80A inverter/charger (or equivalent over 70A). I am uncertain if I also need to upgrade my panels. I think I need at least to double the panel coverage to 400W but I am unsure if I need to replace the
solar controller and raise the max amps. 400W are not going to be giving me more than 20A.
Motor is a VolvoPentaD2 with a 115A
alternator, which as I have researched but not measured should give me 35A at idle and up to 100A at cruising speed.
Monitoring usage since summer, I typically run 3-4 amps idle, 7-8 amps in "high mode" when
vhf and
autopilot are on.
Living aboard, I keep my fridge on but i replaced all lights with led. Occasionally, the 12V ampmeter will rise to 14 or even 40 when
anchoring and during summer my 12V fans are drawing 4 amps. This gives a general idea which I think is typical for a 42 footer.
I have thought about putting in only 4 6volters giving 450 Ah. Possibly I am being foolish by adding the third 12V cellbank, but having done both this summer, I love sleeping at
anchor more than at
dock and as soon as I can afford it, a
water maker is on The List. Being
offshore 1 week or 2 would be heaven. I have room only for a small black-water
holding tank, a
watermaker and the 6voltx6 +
charger bank. Space is tight on a Grand Soleil 42.
Thanks for reading this far. As soon as I have more experience and wisdom I will be sure to give back to the community when I can!