What's Your Electrical set-up?

jimbaerselman

jimbaerselman

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 Apr 2006
Messages
4,433
Location
Greece in Summer, Southampton in Winter
www.jimbsail.info
So, I'm trying to get up to date with current trends among those who spend more than a month at a time on their own boat. I've noticed there's an enormous variation . . . and by many standards I'm light on solar

I'm assuming intelligent charger, intelligent alternator regulator, deep cycle batteries, and AH monitoring

My set-up:
12m sailboat
600 AH domestic bank
60 watt solar
No wind genny
1.5kw portable petrol genny (rarely used)
Shore charge about once a week if needed

Consumption Notes: Med, water-cooled fridge, LEDS for all longer duration lights, no inverter, no TV or computer, no freezer, no watermaker, no aircon or fans.

So, what's yours?
 
Set up:

14.6m sail boat
24 volt
435 Ahr deep cycle domestic battery bank
200 watt solar panels
AirBreeze (when it works)
2.5kw diesel generator (used only when washing machine is heating water)
Very rarely attach to shore power (last time was about 18 months ago.

Usage:

Lifeaboard full time in Greece on the anchor
Fridge
2.2kw inverter
washing machine
laptops (with external screen and speakers for movies)
All internal lights and anchor light LED
other lights standard
No freezer, no water-maker (yet), no aircon or fans

We rarely have to run the generator for battery charging and rarely run the engine so we're obviously pretty well balanced.
 
12.7m sailing boat
12v
420 AH domestic gel batteries
Aero6Gen wind generator
300 watts solar
Aqua4gen towed generator
Second alternator on engine

Two fridges (one with a small freezer compartment)
2kw inverter
200 watts inverter
Watermaker
Led nav lights and interior lights (deck level nav light incandescent but only used with engine on)
Electronic autopilot (and Windpilot)
Chartplotter and cockpit repeater
AIS transceiver
SSB
VHF
PC

With wind and sun it seems to work - not too much engine charging
 
30 foot twin diesel cruiser

I have a 660ah battery bank 12 for the domestics
250w solar panel
2kw eu20i silent generator
shorepower if needed, but very rarely plugged into

1 fridge with freezer compartment
eberspacher heating
led lighting throughout
flat screen 12v telly
car stereo type sound system
electric flushing loo
laptop thats on most of the time
mobile phone that provides wifi internet throughout the boat so on charge constantly on a desk dock
 
12.8mtrs sail boat

Turkey

300AH 12v flooded lead acid cheapo batteries, they seem to last around 8 years.
No solar
No wind gen
no Leds
no smart charger
standard 240v 50a battery charger
240v water maker
240V washing machine
12v fridge with keel cooler
12v PC

loads of stuff for drying hair (which I dont have)

4KVA diesel genny

genny run on average for about 2 hours every day to produce enough water about 120 ltrs and charge batteries, heat water, do the washing etc. Have never used the engine to charge batteries.

now in year 4 with no problems, we spend 4-6 months onboard continuously, around 10 months a year (if that makes sense).

Thinking about a solar panel to keep the batteries topped up when we are away from the boat. BUT boats I know with solar always seem to have lots of trouble with batteries - and their beer is warm.
 
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Not the med

12.8m boat
We have 440Ah 12V domestic
3.5kW Mastervolt Whisper built-in diesel generator which is v quiet, with
100A Mastervolt smart charger
100A alternator and Adverc charge controller
Towed generator (but I hardly ever deploy it).
No wind generator, no solar panel.

Domestic loads are fridge with water cooling and smart controller, LED interior lights for those which are on a lot, Ebberspacher type heater, lap-top from small inverter. Sailing loads are the nav lights (I do not use LEDs yet), Instruments, Radar and electric wheel steering (Raymarine 6000 series).

However we may be an outlier in your data: when we cruise and are on-board for >1 month at a time it has so far been characterised by (i) temperate or cold climates and (ii) moving every day, often with several weeks at sea. Virtually never living on-board when in a marina.

This means that when coastal cruising the engine is on enough (20% - 70% of the miles, depending on where we are - in the arctic it's near 70%) that no other power source is required and the batteries are always full.

It's only on long passages that we have issues since we are invariably sailing and using the autopilot 24hrs a day, drawing ~6A, ie 25% of our capacity in a day. This means that we have to run the generator every day for an hour or so. I could tow the generator, and use the Hydrovane self steering, but actually I'm often too lazy and besides it's nice to have hot water, and this needs the immersion heater from the generator or engine calorifier. When we eventually cruise to the tropics I plan to add a water-maker which will also require the generator.
 
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13.7m sailboat. Live-aboard full-time in Greece/Turkey.

330Ah domestic wet (sealed) batteries 12v
2 x 80W solar
No wind genny
Intelligent 4-step (Sterling) external alternator regulator
Intelligent 3-step (Mastervolt) mains charger
2kw Honda portable generator
1kw inverter (rarely used)
Charging via shorepower all winter, solar and when engine is running during the summer. (We motor a lot I must admit)

Fridge (no freezer), automatic 240v washing machine (use the Honda genny to run that in summer), two laptops, TV, DVD player
 
Full time Caribbean liveaboard on the hook 360 days a year.

Fridge [large] that makes ice.

No led lights or any saving measures.

Heavy lappie use.

675 amp/hrs battery [ 6 x golf cart wet cells ]

400 watts of tiltable solar on a rear arch.

I need to run the engine for charging maybe once or twice a year if we get three days with heavy cloud cover.
 
Algarve

200W solar tiltable on arch + Aerogen4
Domestics 480AH (in 2 banks) open lead acid "leisure" + engine start car battery.
2 x BM1 for monitoring domestics only
No alternator booster
Honda Eu2.0i 2kw petrol genny, rarely used.
1 x 40A 3 stage + 1 x 20A 4 stage battery chargers.
350W inverter.

LED anchor and interior lights.
Tungsten bulbed nav lights (lowers + tricolour).
Fridge BD50F compressor. Runs 24/7, makes ice and keeps food frozen in "O" ring.
240V microwave (via genny or shorepower)
Netbook computer
LCD TV.
Usual FM car radio, small appliances etc.

In normal sunny summer conditions, never have to run engine or genny to charge batteries.
 
Caribbean, 12v system.

13m sailboat
780 AH domestic bank (new Trojan 130AHs). My others lasted 18 before I boiled them when my alternator fell over! The previous set lasted 4 years.
110 AH cranking battery (Should be 220 AH but 1 died and the other is dying, but they are over 7 years old now!)
60 AH alternator (I also have a 120 AH Balmar alternator in for service)
570 watt solar
DuoGen
Shore power when in a marina, only 9 weeks this year :-)

Consumption Notes:
Fridge, inverter, 3 laptops (we are still working), no LEDs inside, LED sailing & anchor lights, incandescent steaming lights, radar, plotter, auto pilot, etc when steaming or sailing, SSB, decent stereo/speaker system, 4x12v fans & 2 teenage kids.

No TV, no freezer, no water maker, no air conditioning & no generator.

It works very well, we had no alternator for 5 months and we never ran out of power!
 
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Power

Greece
10m Sail

130 watt solar on arch
50 watt solar portable (or movable) both into switch type on/off regulator (I get 9amps max and average 7 - 7.5 amps for most of the day - perhaps 3 - 4 amps at ends of day)

1x 105 amp alternator
1x 60 amp alternator - both controlled from Adverc smart reg

440 amp (4 x 110amp) deep cycle batteries

20 amp smart (Sterling) mains charger

2 x air cooled fridges plus laptop, radio etc

From May till end of August solar manages OK but need to engine charge or occasional shore power for Sept/Oct

Looking at 3amp direct methanol fuel cell as possible solution to aviod running engine.
 
12.5 metre sailboat

Relatively new to liveaboard life so the boat is more or less as bought. Much of the kit has been installed over about 12 years, I've owned for 3 years and only swapped out the domestic batteries for new ones. Been on the hook since the beginning of June in the Western Med. I dont let the discharge go over 200A (usually 150A) which means charging with generator for c. 3hrs every 2-3 days if not motoring somewhere.

Power:
720 AH batts (6x6v AGM GC cells in 3 pairs)
Air X
1x100 A alternator w/Adverc
2.7 kva built in generator (Paguro 3000)
Heart Interface Freedom 20 Charger/Inverter + Link 2000 monitor (3 stage 240v charger + 2kw)

Load
Large fridge + coolbox (no freezer) - Isotherm water cooled
LCD TV
2 x Laptops
LED Anchor light + all frequent use cabin lights
When sailing: autopilot, laptop + usual instruments

I can see that solar should reduce my dependence on the generator - just have to find somewhere for the panels. I'd also consider an A2B 3 or 4 stage charger on the alternator. The generator is small for the Freedom charger, fortunately it can be throttled back to charge at 70A rather than 100A which stops the overloads.
 
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13,5 m sailboat

Not in the med but Acores at the moment.
600 Ah battery (6x2V Gel)
Yanmar main engine with build in generator (2 x 3 KVA) and 2 inverter / chargers.
Watermaker, PC, all LED lights. Fridge with vacuum isolation.
Engine runtime 2 x 30 min charging or while making water.

Mike
 
2 x 6v 200 amps deep cycle lead acid batteries for domestic
3 X 100 CCA gel batteries for engine generator and winch
Smart charger for the different battery types
House battery status monitor
Volt and amp instruments for start and domestic batteries
12 volt deck and mast lights all incandescent
12 v saloon round lights and strip lights
75 amp alternator
4 KVA generator
Ampair wind generator
240v shore power
240 volt fridgee
110 volt water maker with transformer
Computer with 12 volt cigarette lighter plug to 240v inverter
AM/FM/CD player
VHF radio plus external speaker
SSB radio
Inmarsat C transceiver and terminal
Radar
Autopilot
GPS with cockpit repeater
Depth
Speed
Wind speed and direction
Fluxgate compass

Running the generator one hour in the morning and late afternoon charges the batteries makes water and cools the fridge. The wind generator tops the house batteris up.
 
10.5m sailboat
150AH domestic bank
75 watt solar panel
no wind
no genny
sterling 20a charger
adverc alternator regulator

keel cooled fridge
all internal lights LED

Self sufficient at anchor as long as I dont have an internet connection.

Need to run the engine for a couple of hours every couple of days at sea, but hoping the LED tri-colour will fix that - just need to find someone willing to go up the mast :)
 
We have 280W of solar, a wind generator and a AC generator. I would say they service our power 75%, 20%, 5% respectively, not being in the Med we don't run the engine very much. We spent a lot of time, (and money), reducing consumption before tackling power generation, working on the principle that it's easier and cheaper to save energy than it is to make it.
The big draw is not the fridge, (now have a watercooled one), it's the damn laptops! The answer is not to have one but then I wouldn't be able to write this post!
One day I'll research low powered laptops, if there is such a thing!
 
Tim - do bear in mind that laptops usually convert ac to dc so if you're running off an inverter you lose a % there and then the lap top power pack converts it back so you lose another % there. If you use a dc car type charger for your lap top from a 12v socket you could save quite a bit
They all vary but my mac book pro uses almost 20% fewer amps on a dc charger...
 
My power!

We have 10 m sailing boat.

Have been away this season in N France, coast hopping, from mid May to late August. This involved a mix of anchor and marina stops. Never had to drink warm beer.

Also plenty of chances for the engine to charge that batteries, given the wind and weather conditions this summer.

Have

2 x 110 Ah batteries [ basic - caravan type] in series for domestic use. 2 seasons old, previous set lasted 5 years with a lot of use and abuse.
1 x 140 Ah battery for fridge, water pump and Ebersbacher. 2 seasons old - functions but knackered by a problem with a French marina this Summer.
1 x ?? for engine starting. Came with the boat 6 years ago and seems good and strong.

These 3 banks are electrically separate, it would take a fault in the Adverc or the diode to allow one bank to interfere with any other.
If necessary we can hot wire the system to start the engine from the entire battery banks. A jump lead that I keep locked away out of sight of anyone else.

Domestic set has a smartish mains charger and the fridge detects the mains and uses that when available.
No freezer, washing machine, computer or TV of any form.
Otherwise the usual array of lights and instruments.

Have fluorescent lights, you get more light for your money and your amps than LEDs.
The NAVTEX and the recording barometer are permanently on when we are using the boat.

The alternator charging from the engine has an early Adverc system which feeds a diode to decide which battery gets what charging.

Reasoned that we would either be using the fridge or the heating so they could run off the same battery. The water pump caused interference on the 'car radio' we have. So that's why it is on a separate circuit.
Also there is a gizzmo that prevents the fridge draining the battery too low.

Generally we have found this pretty optimum, but considered a solar panel to deal with the fridge battery and maybe a second for the domestic batteries. Given that the present set up works quite well I'm reluctant to add the expense of the solar panels to the system.
You can buy a lot of diesel to run the engine to charge the batteries for the price of a couple of solar panels.
 
2 x 180 ah AGM batteries for domestic bank, 1 x 50 ah car battery for the engine.
About 150 watts of solar panels, but they're just fitted to the deck so not vejry efficient (but I got them for nothing when a mad Italian was throwing them out!)
Sterling charger
Engine alternator - bog standard no smart controller.
1Kva gene

LEDs through out, except for steaming light and that's waiting for someone to go up the mast.
Fridge - main drain
Computer - use the netbook through the summer, as it uses about 1/4 of the power of the laptops.
Usual range of nav thingies and autopilot

For most of the summer, the panels keep pace with the demand but during the hottest part of the year we run the main engine for perhaps an hour a day to keep pace with the, which works hard in the heat.
 
13m Legend, 7 years liveaboard , 4 winters in the Med .

5 x 210 Ah Lifeline AGM Service batteries - 8 years old
37 Ah Red Flash AGM Starter Battery
2.5 KVA Victron Inverter/Charger – 120 Amps
100 Amp Balmar Alternator and smart regulator
4 HP Fischer Panda DC Generator – charges at 12 v @ 280 amps
140 watts flexible solar panels – on foredeck
5 watt solar panel for Starter Battery
DuoGen Wind/Towing generator
BEP Battery Monitor and SmartGauge

All LEDs except Nav lights, fridge/freezer, Watermaker, 12,000 BTU air con (can run off batteries), microwave, two computers, everything except a washing machine.

On passage with DuoGen towing genny using autopilot and two chartplotters can end a passage with more Ahs than we started with. Run 12 volt genny maybe once in 10 days.
 
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