On Jul 26, 11:49 pm, Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:51:23 -0000, Skip Gundlach
wrote:
We've already got massive batteries. The issue is properly keeping
them charged. At 750 nominal (less aging) AH, we can go for a long
time with no charge input. But if we don't put in the charge,
eventually the biggest battery bank will be flat, even if nothing is
drawn from it, out of normal charge dissapation (flooded = ?%/
month)...
To recharge 750 AH in a reasonable length of time you need a 3 stage
charging source of 150 to 200 amps (25% of capacity). Don't let Larry
tell you anything different. Wiring of appropriate size is also
required of course.
If you had a generator you could do that the way we do - use the
charger half of a high powered inverter/charger. Since you don't, you
will need a seriously high powered alternator with an external
regulator. An alternator of 200 amp capacity will typically be a
large frame Leece-Neville, require two drive belts, and quite possibly
some custom work on your engine drive sheaves and alternator mount.
All of this is not cheap of course, and it will take some shopping
around just to find someone qualified to do the work. Nothing less is
going to get the job done however.
I'm obviously missing a great deal of intelligence here.
I had thought we'd properly sized our bank and input sources to allow
for our anticipated usages.
Obviously I was mistaken; I need a large-frame alternator and the
appropriate drive components, in order to only bring my bank to 90%.
Instead, I'm inputting, over an entire day, unless they're already
full, in which case the controllers either divert or disconnect the
load, on average, somewhere between 150 and 300AH, an average (varies,
of course) of 6-12A per hour. Obviously, that's inadequate to keep a
battery topped up, especially a big one.
Trickling it in, I'd expected to rarely stress my batteries, rather
than subjecting it to high inputs for short times, and to, for the
most part, keep them full. I see I'm mistaken and must put not less
than 100A into the battery bank any time I'm charging, and must make
time in my schedule to run the main engine at least often, if not
regularly.
My 370W of solar, and KISS wind generator, are taking waaaay too much
room on the arch considering they're doing nothing to enhance my
charging regime. I figure I can save at least 100 pounds off the load
on the stern if I ditch them. Where I am, right now, in Charleston SC,
at 9AM, I'm only making 10 solar Amps with a bank which reads 13.9.
Yesterday, at 5:30, when I turned off the outside power and fired up
the inverter and put everything I could find on the load, it only was
making 20A. Controllers apparently size the output to the load (?).
I wonder what it would do at noon with a load?
I have no idea what it will do in real-world situations. I've only
seen 25A at the dock, sometimes, and 30A from the wind, but today's
dead calm, so there's nothing there.
Perhaps I'll just have to learn to live on less than 200AH/day, and
buy one of those massive alternators. Damn. I thought I was finished
in the engine room for a while. Oh, well. My 360CFM air exchange
ought to make it a little less stifling in there
Oh, and, of course, never leave the dock, as to do so would be to
surrender to a schedule. After all, if you get somewhere, sometime,
you've fulfilled *some* schedule, even if it wasn't something
targeted. But since I but since I can ill-afford the prices in any
marina, let alone this one, we'll have to do it from the hook, which
is ok, too. I just wish I'd get to see more places...
I'm going to cast caution to the winds today and go out for a sail, to
seatrial our repairs. However, we'll return to the security of the
dock this afternoon. We might play tourist for a while here, but we'll
have to do it from the hook, having exhausted the excuses to be at a
dock, not requiring any outside mechanics' assistance.
L8R
Skip
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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