Electrical/chargiing question?

[steve_cronin]

Dougal, those two 105s.....

...are scarcely big enough. You will notice a vast improvement if you swap to a pair of 180s. With your existing batteries at 20% discharge from fully charged (14.4 volts) you will have used at best 42Ampere hours and the voltage will be beginning to dive. To get the 180s down to 80% you will have to have used 72Ahrs which is much more like a nights consumption. 180s aren't very much bigger than 105s.

Moist would agree that the two most immediate improvements come from:-

1. Replacing the batteries with new.

2. Fitting bigger batteries when doing 1.

Steve cronin

 

[Chris_Robb]

The same applies for a wind generator - it must be able to supply at a good high voltage and be able to reduce the charge when the batteries are full, so check this out with the supplier. I had an early rutland and the controller either allowed the batteries to boil in a gale, or when they reset them - to only deliver 13.5 volts - which is no use to man or beast - let alone a battery.

 

[DaveS]

Re: I think you will find.......

Unless anyone knows different, the answer's "no". To summarise, though, what has been said in different ways by different people, incorporating a smart regulator made by either of these (or any of the other) manufacturers will give far better results than relying on the unmodified machine sensed alternator.

Until any sort of meaningful comparative test between manufacturers is published there is little objective reason for believing that any of them is "fastest". Even with such a table available, choice should also be influenced by other factors like physical size, price, and any added features (e.g. range of indication lights (maybe remote), or delayed imposition of load on a cold engine) that you find attractive.

Oh, and I suppose "brand familiarity" if you believe the marketeers.

 

[castaway]

I used a multimeter to check my battery bank..not very sophisticated I know but the point is that my ( and most other people's) sailing usually involves 30 minute or so motoring at the beginning and end of the day and however clever yr charging regulator is, it just is not going to solve the problem.

Point is that one doesnt have to be a scientist to know if yr batteries are getting sufficient charge or not, after years of use I can tell the state of my batteries by the sound of the starter motor as it swings th engine or the hum of the fridge or whether my antique Pinta autohelm wants to come out and play or not.

I'm quite sure that for most folks a nice trickle charge from a wind genny is a lot more use.

regards Nick

 

[steve_cronin]

If you only motor for half an hour but have a grown up power requirement then YOU are the "problem".

Good night! SWEET DREAMS.

Steve Cronin

 

[VicMallows]

Re: Could be anything.

olewill,

You miss a point: many people (at least in the UK) have cash they want to spend (and why not!) and choose to spend it on electronic gismos.

Vic /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif (head burried)

 

[castaway]

Well exactly my point Steve..I would guess that most on this forum who are concerned about there power supply are in a very similar situ t me.

Adverc or Sterling ..what ever you do yr never going to address the problem. put the money towards a wind genny and at least you start the day with a decent charge in yr batteries and it can trickle charge whilst yr sailing.

Regards Nick

 

[jimbaerselman]

If you're talking about day sailing at the weekends only, I can see that your solution may be sound. However, for live-aboard, sailing every day and supporting fridge and autopilot, The 'better charger' solution driving a big battery bank wins, while the wind generator is just one of several solutions for mitigating your power replacement budget.

 

[steve_cronin]

Not in the eastern Med you don't. Our wind only gets up around midday and dies down at dusk. Solars are best for us and we have 2 x 55 watts of them My wind genny hung on the garage wall in the Uk for many years before I sold it for not a lot. The solars only hold the fort during the day though. With the fridge keeping at <5C, our battery voltage is usually down to 12.3 ish at best in the morning so it is very re-assuring to have Mr Sterling's little black box telling me that it will be 93 minutes before I have a full battery. With an Adverc, I'd be guessing.


Steve Cronin

 

[castaway]

Well i guess if you are doing lots of motoring rather than sailing and not moored up like most livaboards, maybe fitting an Adverc or Sterling and squeezing a bit more out of yr alternator might do it for you...

Regds Nick