low-amp system for small sailboat

mike95490 · August 2008

Re: low-amp system for small sailboat

Did you ever get a postmortem on the little coleman genset ? It sounds very interesting, having a high output DC charger, and a little 120VAC output. That could have charged both phone and laptop while doing the house batteries.

Something like the Honda EU1000 would be my choice in a new generator,
and a couple, well-secured cans of gas. For energy density, you can't beat gasoline, except diesel, but those generators are real beasts.

I guess for a race, I'd use new deep cycle batteries, and consider them consumable, and return them to costco if they got killed from abuse.

I wonder if a stationary bicycle type charger would be of any use, if cloudy weather set in, and you didn't have a generator...

niel · August 2008

Re: low-amp system for small sailboat

alan,
good to hear back from you. i guess after all was said and done that it was the solar that came through without fail and although it may have been cloudy, i can say that some power was generated by them even if it wasn't much during that timeperiod. just think that the extra weight of that generator and gas was dead weight after it gave out. also that was a good choice to use the leds. they don't emit tons of light, but in total darkness they can be a real beacon.
i am curious how you faired in the standings on the race too.
mike,
if he wants to lug the extra weight again i suppose you can't beat the honda for 120vac, but it outputs only 8a at 12vdc. i guess a utility type battery charger is in order too. the idea of something manual to generate power is a good one though something like that probably won't exceed 100w and not for too long. the plus side is that it only depends on your endurance and when all else fails this could make a difference.

System2 · August 2008

Re: low-amp system for small sailboat

ABout the generator...I sold the boat (and generator) in Kauai when I got there, so I never got back into it. The freakin' thing was getting fuel and spark, and the air filter was clean...not clogged so I have no idea why it wouldn't run. I mean, two-cycle gas motors are not complicated items and the cylinder would turn over.

Placing? I finished 13th of 22 starters and corrected out on handicap to 15th overall. That's not too overwhelming, but on about day 13 I reviewed my goals for the race.

1. to finish
2. to finish with a smile on my face
3. to not be last

And so I succeeded admirably in those goals. I'm happy, and more than happy with my race.

If you want to see some pictures, including a few of the boat that shows where my solar panels were, you can look here:

http://cmgm.stanford.edu/~ahebert/SHTP/shtp.html

Like I said that little coleman gen is not made any more. I bought it in 1996.. Nowadays most of these things are made to put out 110 and be super quiet. Trust me, this thing is NOT quiet, but when it worked it DID shove out the amps at about 13.4 v. It also had a nifty little regulator that would step down the charge as the battery filled up, though how sophisticated that regulator was, I can't really say.

The batteries were about a year old. Nearly all the boating cruising information about electrical systems REALLY focuses on preserving your batteries. I mean, they go on and on about not discharging too much, and keeping the float level way up and so on. For me, I didn't care. I just wanted those batteries to get me to Kauai, and if they died the next day, I didn't care. So those deep discharges and the fact that I never really got the batteries above 13v charge for three weeks....so what?

System2 · August 2008

Re: low-amp system for small sailboat

niel wrote: »

alan,
i guess after all was said and done that it was also that was a good choice to use the leds. they don't emit tons of light, but in total darkness they can be a real beacon.
the idea of something manual to generate power is a good one though something like that probably won't exceed 100w and not for too long. the plus side is that it only depends on your endurance and when all else fails this could make a difference.

The LED replacement "bulbs" for the navigation lights actually have about 20-30 individual LED's in them, so they're pretty bright. I mean, they're Coast Guard certified for vessels under 60 ft overall length, and visible for 2+ miles.

But they're still useless offshore. No guy on the bridge of a ship is going to see them, it's just not going to happen.

I never got around to replacing the interior incandescent light with LED, but then I think I turned it on a grand total of about fifteen minutes the whole time. IF I needed light at night, I wore a 3-LED headlamp that runs on AAA batteries.

Wind chargers.....they work GREAT....

when you're at anchor, or sailing UPwind. But downwind, your boatspeed is subtracted from the windspeed, and the end result is that you most-times don't have enough windspeed to generate enough juice to make them worthwhile. And....they cost a lot. For a cruiser who's going to spend a lot of time in an anchorage, they're great, especially the Rutledge models that you can haul up in the rigging when you want them, and take down when you don't. For a small boat who's on the go all the time, not so much.

Regarding a manual charger.... that takes MY energy. I could either steer the boat myself....the autopilot is where the overwhelming amount of energy goes....or I could bicycle like a madman to generate a piddling amount of energy that would run the autopilot for an hour or two. NOpe.....steer the boat.

The stinker is that nobody can steer the boat 24 hours a day. I'm good for about 6-8 max in stimulating conditions with lots of waves, lots of action. When it's gray, gray gray and light air and boring, I start nodding off after about an hour. To cross oceans solo you HAVE to have some sort of self-steering mechanism. It's just not possible, otherwise.

Anyway, 'nuff! Thanks for the help ladies and gents, and fair winds and following seas!

Alan

niel · August 2008

Re: low-amp system for small sailboat

nice pics and great that one can even finish such a race as that's a big ocean. i'm not a sea-going guy, but i can appreciate what you went through. hats off to you.

System2 · August 2008

Re: low-amp system for small sailboat

mike90045 wrote: »

I guess for a race, I'd use new deep cycle batteries, and consider them consumable, and return them to costco if they got killed from abuse.

Interesting strategy, damage batteries intentionally and then return them to the merchant for replacement or refund.

Pardon me, your character is showing.

System2 · August 2008

Re: low-amp system for small sailboat

Alan H wrote: »

ABout the generator... The freakin' thing was getting fuel and spark, and the air filter was clean...not clogged so I have no idea why it wouldn't run. I mean, two-cycle gas motors are not complicated items and the cylinder would turn over.

Two stroke and bought in 1996? Crank seals, sucking air around them and lowering the fuel/air ratio to incombustible proportions. Awesome story on the race, glad you met your goals and survived.

Cheers,

Bad Apple

low-amp system for small sailboat

Comments

Categories