Would you recommend?

[nb Innisfree]

My problem is that wind or solar can only trickle charge. I dont know what is best for battery longevity...a constant trickle charge or a short daily baulk charge back to float. I just want to know wether having all these trickle charge gadgets hanging all over the boat is better than just firing up a big genny for 20 mins.

 

Is it better for the batteries to be trickle charged or not..?? The boat I'm talking about has a fridge and a freezer and is all electric (no gas) so cooker/kettle etc are all heavy loads...big chunks of charge go out in a short time, would slowly trickle charging be a good thing or a bad thing. Does it matter how the battery is re-charged or just that charging of some sort takes place...??

 

When we were ccing our solution was to bulk charge for an hour daily with the main engine when batts were new and gradually increase to two hours bulk/absorption daily as batts age and do an extra 8 hr absorption every week or so with a digital genny, most of the time it's on tickover and out in the sticks so no bother to anyone. 8 hr absorption uses 1.9 lts of petrol.

 

Batts last a reasonable time so we reckon this is the most cost effective method, Kipor genny is cheap to replace but having said that it's already 4 years old and still going strong. We have a fridge and run TV 6hrs or so, our consumption is 1.5 kwh per day and 2kwh if the washing machine is used on a hot wash.

Edited August 19, 2011 by nb Innisfree

[Ianey]

Hi all again,

Thanks for your help again and I've chosen to go with the air x wind turbine to complement my 145watt solar panel.... So the next question is... Would anyone recommend a control panel which can handle both items? Also, does anyone know if they come with inbuilt 'stop' switches for the wind turbine or would I have to get a separate one?

 

Thanks again

 

Ianey

[Bob18]

Rules for solar and wind power:

 

1 Wind can happen at any time of the day or night, but not all the time :-(

2 Sun can only happen during daylight hours, and in this country not always then :-(

3 During daylight hours often the two are mutually exclusive - you have one not the other.

4 Sometimes there is a freak of nature and during daylight you have both sun and wind, this never happens between sunset and sun rise.

5 Neither will happen if you really need the power - this is an immutable rule.

[NB Willawaw]

No the AIR-X needs an external kill switch.

Should be covered by the manual.

 

We have a small panel with the switch, fuse and an ammeter so we can see what it generates.

 

You could combine the controls for the two things on the same panel, but they should be separate circuits, so apart from tidiness, can't really see any benefit.

 

Hi all again,

Thanks for your help again and I've chosen to go with the air x wind turbine to complement my 145watt solar panel.... So the next question is... Would anyone recommend a control panel which can handle both items? Also, does anyone know if they come with inbuilt 'stop' switches for the wind turbine or would I have to get a separate one?

 

Thanks again

 

Ianey

Edited October 13, 2011 by NB Willawaw

[AjW]

Have you any idea what its been doing in those 4 years...? are you happy with its charging capabilities..?

 

I'll add to above and ask does anyone on here have any idea just what exactly (or near enough) their turbine is doing.

It frustrates me because no one seems to know...we buy all this shit and dont know what its doing or wether its appropiate.

 

erm....it's been spinning and charging the batteries

 

Haha, no seriously, I think what you're asking is; do I have performance logs of wind speed vs charge current? Sure, in the early days I used to run back and forth between the windspeed monitor and the ammeter and could tell you that it kicks in around 6-8mph with 0.5-2A. On strong wind days it hits 10A, and I've not seen it go above 15A more than 2-3 times a year. That for me is not trickle charging. Numbers are surely meaningless unless I provide a full energy audit averaged over several years but as a liveaboard I got a feel for what is happening and stop looking at guages and my numbers wouldnt apply to anyone else here because only y boat is moored where it is moored.

 

The turbine was down for two weeks whilst I procrastinated over the slip-rings and I noticed an effect on my charge routine. I can't quantify that effect though. All I know is that apart from the depths of a still winter I barely have to run the engine due to the turbine and the 80W solar panel. I'm glad I bought all this shit, cos it saves on diesel, engine hours, engine noise and hassle, and that makes it worthwhile.

 

Is this right..??

 

Depends on how often he runs the genny, what the abosorbtion/float current is and what his energy uses are. Maybe your friend is an electrical ignoramous or was misold a product or maybe the inverter/charger has a de-sulpherisation/equalisation stage he wants to put the batteries through.

Edited October 14, 2011 by AjW