Solar at Anchor

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Rohan

I can't believe no one has suggested the most obvious solution in that situation. Buy a wind generator to supplement your power.

Reasonable point, but i found that once I moved to another part of Australia, my existing wind generator was actually costing me more power from shading than it was generating when the wind blew.

I sold it a few weeks back.

So yes, wind generators can be great and should be considered in the mix, but they can also be a hindrance.

[Mr B]

Wind Generators only work when the wind is blowing,
Which doesnt blow all that often,
I have a wind generator, For some reason I dont understand, It doesnt like being on when the solar panels are working as well,

So its only solar or wind at any time, My wind is only used at night, Or cloudy and rainy days,
I have them all connected by circuit breakers individually, So can choose what I have working to put in power to my battery bank,

[UFO]

Just an Update...


Since moving away from the foul Winter weather of Perth and further North in West Australia my battery banks are generally full by 1PM - Irrelevant of which way the wind is aligning my boat at anchor.


Looks like I need to stay in the fair weather parts of the world

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by UFO

Just an Update...


Since moving away from the foul Winter weather of Perth and further North in West Australia my battery banks are generally full by 1PM - Irrelevant of which way the wind is aligning my boat at anchor.


Looks like I need to stay in the fair weather parts of the world

I you have a constant cycling fridge and swap it for an Ozefridge eutectic you could probably have them charged up by 10am and get a lot longer life out of them.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I you have a constant cycling fridge and swap it for an Ozefridge eutectic you could probably have them charged up by 10am and get a lot longer life out of them.

For sure - Bloody fridges (2) and Freezer is where all my power goes, along with charging all the pads and laptops

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I you have a constant cycling fridge and swap it for an Ozefridge eutectic you could probably have them charged up by 10am and get a lot longer life out of them.

Nah mate, Richard said they don't work, at best a drinks cooler that constantly cycles daily.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Nah mate, Richard said they don't work, at best a drinks cooler that constantly cycles daily.

Just don't go there, it will end in tears or WW3

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Just don't go there, it will end in tears or WW3

Yeah your right, forgive me.

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Wind Generators only work when the wind is blowing,
Which doesnt blow all that often,
I have a wind generator, For some reason I dont understand, It doesnt like being on when the solar panels are working as well,

So its only solar or wind at any time, My wind is only used at night, Or cloudy and rainy days,
I have them all connected by circuit breakers individually, So can choose what I have working to put in power to my battery bank,

Sounds like a visit from a boat electrician might help.

My understanding is that each of your charging devices is likely sensing the battery voltage for itself, and determining charging rate independently. Once one of them has started charging the batteries it will increase the voltage on the line, the others will see increased voltage and determine the battery is full and stop their charging session. This is most prevalent when the battery bank is near capacity and the voltage gets very high while charging.

The best solution is to have your battery monitor measure at the shunt and provide that measurement to each of your charging devices. This is reasonably easy with products like Victron. I'm not sure who else provides that kind of functionality.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Wind Generators only work when the wind is blowing,
Which doesnt blow all that often,
I have a wind generator, For some reason I dont understand, It doesnt like being on when the solar panels are working as well,

So its only solar or wind at any time, My wind is only used at night, Or cloudy and rainy days,
I have them all connected by circuit breakers individually, So can choose what I have working to put in power to my battery bank,

So long as each device has a diode or some other means of preventing reverse current flow and some means of regulating the output voltage you can leave them all connected in parallel. If the batteries condition allows them all to contribute charging current they will do so and then sequentially cease to do so as the battery voltage rises. If fitted their regulators will do the switching in and out themselves.

[hpeer]

^ is my situation.

The wind blows where it blows. Some locations not so much but in the eastern caribbean the wind generator is a major contributor, 24/7