Wind generator vs solar panels.

[francois.lavoie]

The prices of converter for solar panels vary a lot. Is there really an advantage to put more money on a converter. For example, for a 30 amp it goes from $22 CAN to $120. What is the difference?

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by francois.lavoie

The prices of converter for solar panels vary a lot. Is there really an advantage to put more money on a converter. For example, for a 30 amp it goes from $22 CAN to $120. What is the difference?

Some of it is brand and some brands can charge a premium. You are going to pay more for a victon energy controller than you will for some chinese knockoff on amazon.

If you are talking about pricing differences for models of brand with the same amps the major technical difference is PWM vs MPPT used for converting voltages. MPPT is more expensive and generally speaking more efficient especially early in the day, late in the day, and in partially cloudy situations. The entry level models tend to be PWM. If a listing doesn't say it almost certainly is PWM.

MPPT can produce UP TO 20% more energy. Key word is UP TO your mileage may vary. If it fits your budget I would get a MPPT for all but the smallest systems. Generally speaking MPPT has more to work with in higher voltage setups (panel array voltage not battery voltage). If you have just a single 50W or 100W 12V panel it probably isn't going to make a big difference. A cheap PWM controller is likely fine.

Some of the high end models have doodads like bluetooth outputs, fancy displays, and communication/integration into larger systems. You can decide how much that is worth to you.

[francois.lavoie]

Feedback on this thread as I am preparing for the next season. According to your wise suggestions, I have set aside the wind generator. Last summer I managed with blocks of ice in my 40 li cooler. Management of the food in the cooler is some job. Even with someone very good at it, we often lost some food, which got wet in melted ice.



Most of the time we where at wharf at the St-Michel-de-Bellechasse marina, located at the east end of île d'Orléans near Québec city, and electricity and water where available. Thus a mobicool with the Peltier system could have suited us.



I bought a 100W solar panel and a good MMPT controller which can accomodate up to a maximum of four 100W solar panels. I confess that I did not manage to install the unique panel that I had. The problem was to think of a practical place to set the solar panel.


I will retain a few tricks from this thread and from other readings:
- putting the food in the water in a waterproof bag
- covering the cooler with a wet towel to refresh thru evaporation
- if ever going for a cooler, use one with a compressor


I will come back on my ideal summer setup to get some feedback.



Thanks to all.

[alansmith]

Francois, there are coolers, unrefridgerated, like the Yetti brand.... that can hold ice for 4-7 days depending on ambient temperature and exposure to sunlight. They are pretty expensive. But there are plenty of competitors to the Yetti brand that are half the price. I bought 2 of them and am very Pleased with the quality of construction and ability to hold ice for at least 4-5 days.
I also have a refridge that uses about 25-30 amp/hr/day. I have a 12 volt 220 amp/hr golf cart battery. With 100 watt panel it replenishes all the amps burned up with the refridge. Will be switching over to the LiFePo4 that are currently sitting in the garage.

[francois.lavoie]

Hello Allan. I have looked at the yetti alternative. The problem is that with all the insulation, they do not provide much space for the goods you place in it. However, I read about it and never really used it. Your yetti alternative brand would be appreciated. Which refridge brand do yo have?

[Vasco]

When I first started cruising in 1990 I had a Windbugger. I relied on this and a HO alternator to keep the batteries up. Through the years I went to a Kiss and then a D400. All good windgens. The Windbugger was the granddaddy of windgens, no solar in those days.

When I finally got a solar set up I stopped using the D400 even though it was very quiet. No need. Cruising in the Bahamas with a 600 ah house bank and 540 watts of panels I was never low on power (daily use less than 100 ah) even on the rare occasion when there would be three consecutive overcast days.

For Bahamas cruising go with solar. No need for windgens although the Windbugger and Kiss worked well as anchor alarms ( when they got noisy it was time to get out of bed and check the anchor) the D400 was too quiet for this.

Things change over time. My thinking now is solar and, when the price comes down, lithium. Unless something better and affordable comes along.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by francois.lavoie

Hello Allan. I have looked at the yetti alternative. The problem is that with all the insulation, they do not provide much space for the goods you place in it. However, I read about it and never really used it. Your yetti alternative brand would be appreciated. Which refridge brand do yo have?

There are other brands as Coleman that make larger "extreme" coolers w/better insulation that are less expensive than the Yeti.
A Coleman Extreme would keep our food cold for almost a week in 90+F air temps.
We used a couple of frozen gallon jugs instead of blocks of ice. This keeps the water contained when it melts.
You can freeze the jugs much harder than block ice that you get in those boxes. The quality of block ice is variable and depending where you pick up the blocks they can melt quickly.
To keep your food from getting ruined by water, do not use/depend on ziplock type bags. Either vacuum seal food or use water tight locking plastic containers, this will keep the water out.

[Copacabana]

Originally Posted by francois.lavoie

Hello Allan. I have looked at the yetti alternative. The problem is that with all the insulation, they do not provide much space for the goods you place in it. However, I read about it and never really used it. Your yetti alternative brand would be appreciated. Which refridge brand do yo have?

François, have a look on youtube. There are a number of videos that do side-by-side comparisons of coolers (comparing them to Yeti) and also side-by-side 12v portable fridge tests. Sometimes the difference in price is quite high for a marginally better product.

If you go with a cooler, I suggest using frozen bottles of water instead of ice to avoid the watery mess you get at the bottom of the cooler.

Edit: I see Bill O beat me to it! ^^^^)

[francois.lavoie]

@copacabana:
I have been thru these spectacular comparison tests. Also, I have looked at many videos on diy Yeti coolers. If you have a wharf in a marina, you have electricity.



The frozen bottles are my favorite. However, when you are out for many days many nautical miles from home, you have no choice to buy frozen blocks when there are, and you often have no other choice to buy bags of ice cubes.


I am dreaming of longer trips where I will use the anchor in dreamful baies. But maybe, this is not reality, only dreaming, and maybe on another boat, a bigger one.


Thanks to the three of you for these useful comments.

[Bill O]

There was always the great simplicity of the smaller boat. Less systems and generally less power needs than the larger boat. The overall cost of a smaller boat is the best way to get out there and be in the same places as the "big" boats.

I found nothing wrong w/a decent sized well insulated cooler to go out for several weeks while on vacation. Yes, the ice is a pain, but overall not that bad considering the amount you would spend on some sort of refrigeration system then also a larger solar field to keep things powered up.

Enjoy the simplicity while you have it.

[AKA-None]

One advantage of frozen water in a jug is that it’s drinkable :-)

[GordMay]

Published Monday [April 4/22], the Global Wind Energy Council’s [GWEC] “Global Wind Report 2022" [1] said 93.6 gigawatts of capacity was installed last year, a little lower than the 95.3 GW installed in 2020. Cumulative capacity grew to 837 GW. Capacity refers to the maximum amount of electricity installations can produce, not what they're necessarily generating.
The offshore wind segment installed 21.1 GW, in 2021, its best ever year. Installations in onshore wind came in at 72.5 GW last year, against 88.4 GW in 2020.
The report added that global wind energy installations "must quadruple from the 94 GW installed in 2021, within this decade, to meet our 2050 goals."

“Wind industry enjoyed its second-best year but scaling-up for Net Zero requires policy breakthrough”
GWEC Press Release ➥ https://gwec.net/wind-industry-enjoy...-breakthrough/


[1] “Global Wind Report 2022" ~ GWEC
➥ https://gwec.net/global-wind-report-2022/

[bgallinger]

I had fitted both solar (235 watts) and a Silent Wind turbine on my boat. Some surprises I discovered:
1) The wind turbine has a brake to stop it from overheating so even in direct strong winds, it may not run continuously.
2) Obstacles like other boats, buildings and hills provide wind protection for your boat, but they also block the wind to the wind turbine. These structures also cause wind direction fluctuation. When that happens the wind turbine "chases" the wind around the compass rose and doesn't produce much power.
3) It takes at least 10 knots of wind speed to generate any power. Preferably 15 knots.
I looked up the cooler you have and although it may be inexpensive, that cooler will chew through amps like crazy. For a portable 12 volt cooler go with a small Dometic or Engel and use an efficient 100 watt solar panel.