I have a Spectra
Newport 400 12V
water maker. It uses little power compared to other
water makers per gallon. With 1000W of
solar you can run that water maker all day and still get some charge into the batteries. Your
solar should produce about 50+ A peak and over 40 for several hours. The water maker uses 26A to make about 18 gallons. So you still get about 20A into your batteries while it is running. The
Catalina uses 15A for 12.5 gallons. Send a message to Tellie on this forum for advise. He is absolutely great.
Battery Capacity.
The more capacity you can fit the better.
I have LiFePo batteries, but at this point you need some good understanding of
electrical and
electronics systems to make sure they keep running for you. I run 1400Ah LiFePo batteries of which 1200Ah is usable and have 1800W of solar. But then I am a pig on power, even using electrical for hot showers. On a previous
boat I had 900W of solar and that works well between spring and fall equinox.
Winter is just not enough daylight. On that boat I had 840Ah aead acid an it was so so ok. Running a big
inverter often tripped the low voltage of the
inverter or low voltage of the auto pilot. But that was running a toaster and a coffee maker at the same time.
Along the typical around the world cruising routes it should
work year round for you, but going to latitudes like the
Bahamas will keep you falling short mid November to mid February. I still made it through those days but had to cut back a little on luxuries. It is a tough life.
On the other end (for you)I recommend Trojan T105 6V golf cart batteries connected in series to 12V and paralleled to the capacity you want / need. They are really tough and hard to break. Stay away from
AGM. Too much
money for too little gain and to picky. T105 can be had in
Florida for just under $100 a piece. I would recommend at least 6 of them for 675 Ah, better 8 for 900 Ah.
One thing is very important on all lead acid batteries. Most cruisers murder their lead acid batteries because of constant under
charging. At least once every two weeks they should be charged to 100% full. That means to feed them 14.6V until the amps drop to under 1.5% of capacity. So for a 900 Ah bank you have to keep 14.6V until the
current accepted by the bank drops to about 13A. With the solar you have and a outback Flexmax this should not be a problem. With a
generator or charging from
alternator this can not be reached, as it takes about 5 hours to take the bank from 80% to 100% of charge and no one wants to suffer through such long
motor hum and fumes.
Make sure you have a good battery
monitor, such as the Victron BM600 or 602 and learn what the numbers mean.
Linear Mode
Recent Discussions