Power generation

[hilaryb]

Can someone tell me why my Stirling inverter often goes on to overheat and squeals? So........ It gets turned off and then I lose the entire contents if my freezer. Am planning to go cruising for a couple of weeks next weekend and have to find a solution else no fridge!

[Ex- Member]

Can someone tell me why my Stirling inverter often goes on to overheat and squeals? So........ It gets turned off and then I lose the entire contents if my freezer. Am planning to go cruising for a couple of weeks next weekend and have to find a solution else no fridge!

 

Could be a few reasons, an inverter does require good ventilation, Make sure there's plenty of clearance around the inverter. It could also be partially blocked with dust that's accumulated over time. I recently cleaned out our inverter, it's surprising how much dust can get inside.

 

If you're moving every day then you will most likely charge your batteries. If you let members know your B/B size alternator amps etc they'll give you better information. It might also pay to check your batteries are ok before you cruise, If you've been moored and on shore line for a long time, It's difficult to judge just what condition the batteries are in. You could disconnect the charger for a day and see how long the batteries last as a guide.

[Grace and Favour]

Can someone tell me why my Stirling inverter often goes on to overheat and squeals? So........ It gets turned off and then I lose the entire contents if my freezer. Am planning to go cruising for a couple of weeks next weekend and have to find a solution else no fridge!

As Julynian has asked - how big is your battery bank, (Do you also use a battery monitor?)

[Arthur Brown]

Overheat usually means that the load is too high or the inverter is full of dust, or the fan isn't working.

[George94]

Can someone tell me why my Stirling inverter often goes on to overheat and squeals? So........ It gets turned off and then I lose the entire contents if my freezer. Am planning to go cruising for a couple of weeks next weekend and have to find a solution else no fridge!

 

The clue is in the name: "Sterling".

 

Sterling equipment is somewhat cheaper than the leading makes, and statistically, may be better value. In other words, if it breaks down twice as often, but cost only a third as much, it's apparently a better deal on average.

 

 

But if you reckon that any failure of key equipment represents a major hassle, then you might consider that the real cost of such failures (in stress and time and inconvenience, as well as money) is greater than the additional cost of buying a Mastervolt or Victron instead of a Sterling.

[bottle]

You may want to check your freezer as well, it should be able to 'protect' the food for at least 12 hrs or up to 24 hrs if a decent make, check the specifications

[Malarky]

Sorry, havn't been on this forum for ages, and slightly off topic; although power storage could be usefull; I do have quite a few half decent leisure batteries, to offload for a small fee if anyone is interested. Can even probably arrange delivery round the network somehow

[NB-BUD]

Just joined and first question. On another side of power generation! What are the pros and cons of lpg v petrol generators?

[George94]

Just joined and first question. On another side of power generation! What are the pros and cons of lpg v petrol generators?

 

An LPG genny is more expensive to buy but cheaper to run.

 

Do the sums, and make your choice.

 

ETA: LPG is more difficult to get hold of.

Edited September 15, 2014 by George94

[Alan de Enfield]

 

 

ETA: LPG is more difficult to get hold of.

 

I cannot agree with that - petrol supply is almost non existent on the cut, whilst LPG is available at every marina, chandlery and fuel boat.

[George94]

 

I cannot agree with that - petrol supply is almost non existent on the cut, whilst LPG is available at every marina, chandlery and fuel boat.

 

Point taken. But here on the river, it's much easier to find petrol.

[NB-BUD]

One thing another boater mentioned to me is that of reliability. That is lpg burns a lot hotter than petrol therefore wear on valves etc is greatly increased, therefore impinging on the waranty/reliability of any generator. Any thoughts?

[Alan&sue]

Thanks for that-

 

I've just tweaked the link so it works directly -

 

http://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Book-EN-EnergyUnlimited.pdf

Clever⚓️

[thisoldsoul45]

Anyone recomend a good Gen...seen some honda petrol ones with 240v and 12v outlets at about £600. the deisel ones are £1000's

[MtB]

Anyone recomend a good Gen...seen some honda petrol ones with 240v and 12v outlets at about £600. the deisel ones are £1000's

 

 

First, you need to decide and say what you want it to do, in a bit of detail. Firstly this will clarify your needs in your own mind and secondly, you'll then you'll get some specific recommendations from peeps here.

 

In general, Hondas are regarded as the best in petrol gennies. Their big drawback being the fact that petrol is not generally available on the cut so regular trips off to petrol stations will be needed. Diesel gennies avoid this but generally are not portable, and need to be installed.

 

Final point is don't buy second hand. Most on the market second hand have been beaten to death running burger vans or stolen. (Wild generalisation!)

 

MtB

[thisoldsoul45]

Plan to use it when there's no shore supply,times of heavy use like using the washing machine.could just use the main engine but want to avoid glazed pistons...I'm a total newbie so open to advice

[by'eck]

An option is to buy a petrol inverter/generator (clean sine wave output) and have an LPG coversion fitted. You already have the fuel on board your boat (same propane as you run your hob/cooker with) unless its all electric of course.

 

If you buy a 2kW+ model it will run your washing machine as well.

[bottle]

It wouldn't run my washing machine.

 

Thisoldsoul45, do a search for "bore glazing" or "glazed bores"

Edited November 22, 2014 by bottle

[thisoldsoul45]

Know about Glazing and polishing the bores through no load running...like a lot of diesel engines...given that the boat i end up with would prob be run in it would be less of a problem but still something to be avoided...I intend to use 300w solar and the engine when moving to keep the batts topped up but also a gen when not on shore supply.the honda 20i looks like a good bit of kit given it has 12v and 24v regulated...there's no perfect solution off the mains it seems to be a case of compromises

[RichardCVSAllen]

Have you tried an optima AGM sealed long life battery?

[Heffalump]

 

Snigger

[blackrose]

I only read the first few posts of this thread but I bet it's the fridge - plus the the OP not realising that 12v power from batteries is basically crap and you simply can't consume power in the same wasteful way as you do in a house (unless you spend a lot of money on power generation and storage equipment).

 

So the solution is either to do that; or switch the fridge of at night and also reduce power consumption on other consumables; or get rid of the fridge and install a gas fridge; or get a mooring with shore power and run the battery charger full time; or a combination of the above.

Edited August 30, 2015 by blackrose

[Nige123]

I only read the first few posts of this thread but I bet it's the fridge - plus the the OP not realising that 12v power from batteries is basically crap and you simply can't consume power in the same wasteful way as you do in a house (unless you spend a lot of money on power generation and storage equipment).

 

So the solution is either to do that; or switch the fridge of at night and also reduce power consumption on other consumables; or get rid of the fridge and install a gas fridge; or get a mooring with shore power and run the battery charger full time; or a combination of the above.

Hi all just to add my 2p worth....

 

I have posted here before about my power generating set up & after 6 months + of living aboard I can give an update....

 

I have 10 100watt semi flex 12v panels on my roof & run them in parallel (12volts) to a home made 200amp 12v controller (I can make you one for £150.00 also works with wind power & has a dump load connection)...

 

I also have a Honda EU30 generator & a 80amp smart charger as part of my charger/inverter set up & I run the generator once or twice a week to condition my battery bank that is 3 135 amp hour + 4 200 amp hour batteries.....

 

I run a fridge freezer washing machine (3 loads a week + cold wash) tv my wife has all the normal lady items like hair dryer heated hair clamp things & likes to use a sewing machine to make stuff.... We also have lots of lights on every night & waste power on sunny days as the controller trips out by midday most of the time.....

 

I read up for hours about the technical details & as a sparky that works on boats it just made my head ring...... so I thought I would use old school thinking & came up with 600 watts of power being what I needed so then went another 400w for over kill... A total of 1KW gives me a good supply of power & I can go away for weekends & don't need to worry about the freezer melting food etc in fact I did go for about 3 weeks without running the generator at one point....

 

So cost.....

each 100w semi flexible panel cost me £120.00

each 200amh battery cost me £100.00

controller cost me about £80.00 to make

used EU30 (Like new) from ebay cost me £1250.00 (an EU20 would have done but EU10 is to small to run the 80amp charger)

 

so about £1700.00 + a generator & I have the power.....

Hope this helps the people that need it & if you want a controller my number is 07973 233 717 Nige

[ditchcrawler]

I still think there could be some misunderstanding from maybe the newer members to their life afloat regarding making the connection in replacing used power.

What I mean is ,,Running your Engine, With say a 90a Alternator running for 1hr, would probably NOT put back onto your Battery, The 90a @ 12v (approx 1000watts @ 230v 'in round figures') that has been used say via an Inverter.

Depending on RPM, Battery SOC ect it might take 2 or 3 Hrs for it to be replaced, So if you have a 100% Charged Engine Battery, and Say a

90% Charged Domestic Battery,

it's probable that you would have to run your Eng for Say 15 minutes to top up your Engine Start Battery (Needed to start your Engine),

Then 2.5Hrs to Replace the 1000w used via the Invertor Say the Previous Night. And Then Additionaly another 30 minutes to top up you're Domestic Battery Bank from the to 100%.

So it 'Could ' Take well over 3 Engine Hours to Replace just 1000watts @ 230v used via an Inverter if the only source of Charging you have is a 90a Engine driven Alternator !.

Not the Hour some people may be thinking it would take. So now imagine using 2000w or more !. (Possibly 4 or 5 Hrs Eng Run.)

Maybe someone who can correct and present the above point better could elaborate.

 

Note to all the purists, above figures are rounded and approx, for easy understanding of a point trying to be made.

I dont have solar and I plan on at least 3hrs per day engine run to achieve a reasonable SoC for the batteries each day. We normally do more.

The bread maker and vacuum cleaner is only used while the engine is running, as is the slow cooker.

 

I have just noticed that this is an old thread that Heffalump seemed to resurrected with a meaningless post

Edited October 18, 2015 by ditchcrawler

[Theo]

Does anyone ever run a washing machine via their engine alternator/batteries/inverter, whilst on the move?

 

I tried it once for a few minutes. The engine slowed noticeably (obviously) but my main concern was how hot the 180 Amp alternator got!

 

I decided to wait until I moored up and plug into the mains rather than risk wrecking the alternator.

Never run it any other way unless we stop for lunch while it is running. It then carries on with just the inverter. But we feed it with hot water for the initial fill and set it to a twenty degree wash so that the heater doesn't operate. We have made no modifications to the washing machine, just the thermostatic mixer on the input.