Riverboat

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely investigate solar, it seems a fairly cost effective solution for the warmer months. I think I also need to fundamentally look at energy use and try to reduce it as much as possible. I will try to find a battery monitoring device and then use the existing setup to see how well it works and how much charging time it needs. It seems like I will probably need to charge the batteries with the generator at least daily. From looking at the manufacturers spec sheets, it seems that the wind turbines don't seem to provide much power - except during very high wind speeds.

There is also an old wind turbine on the boat which is not connected, I guess it no longer works. Do many people use them with permanently moored river boats? Do you think it's worth investigation? Perhaps add solar for the summer months and a wind turbine would help during the winter months?

David, thanks for your comment. I am now beginning to realise I need to try to reduce the energy demand. Unfortunately, the boat doesn't have an engine, it's an old barge which is permanently moored up to the riverbank. I was thinking of investigating gas fridges. To calculate demand I have simply looked at the Watts that each device consumes and then multiplied by the number of hours per day. Then added it all up to get a total Watts per day figure. I have just joined this forum and am amazed how helpful everyone is.

Hello, that's very helpful. Perhaps in the longer term I should consider lithium batteries. I will need to check if the Victron Energy MultiPlus Compact 24 | 1600 | 40 inverter / charger will work with lithium batteries.

Thank you. I will investigate a battery monitoring device. Yes, I am going to get some solar panels but hope to live on board during the winter months.

Hello Tony, thanks for your reply, that is helpful. My mistake, it is 20 batteries. They are "Powersafe" SBS40 by Enersys. I don't know why they previously installed so many small batteries rather than a few larger ones. Point taken about the safety issues with petrol generators on board. There is only a digital voltmeter connected to the batteries, no other instruments. How do you arrive at the approx figure of 10 to 12 hours? Just wondering how I can calculate, even if it is very roughly. Thanks.

Yes, you are correct, it is 20 batteries. Thank you for your comments.

Hello, new to the forum and am looking for some advice please. We have recently acquired a boat without any wiring diagrams or instructions. On the boat we have a bank of twenty-one x 38Ah 12v batteries connected to create a 24v string. The daily energy requirement onboard is approximately 3500-Watt hours. The battery string is connected directly to a Victron Energy MultiPlus Compact 24 | 1600 | 40 inverter / charger. There is also an ML8500w portable generator on deck which I guess is for charging the batteries via the MultiPlus Compact 24 | 1600 | 40. All the appliances on the boat are served from the inverter by 230v, there are no DC circuits. My questions are:- 1. What is the maximum AC current that the inverter will accept from the generator when charging the batteries? 2. Is the generator big enough? 3. Is the charger big enough? 4. Most importantly, I want to know approximately how many hours we need to run the generator per day? What is the formulae that I should use to calculate this based on the above information?