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Wayne.B Wayne.B is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 10,492
Default The Ultimate Alternator Project

On Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:01:15 -0800 (PST), jamesgangnc
wrote:

On Nov 30, 9:58*am, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 30 Nov 2010 05:49:55 -0800 (PST), jamesgangnc

wrote:
That will be a good test.


I am inclined to agree with some of the other posters about the amount
of electricity you seem to need. *It would have been a lot simpler to
look for ways to reduce the power requirement rather than engineer a
solution to supply that much power. *If you cook with propane then
what do you really need besides lights and power for the electronics?


It's really an all electric boat. * It has large built-in fridges and
freezers, each with its own 110 volt compressor. *Each one draws about
1 KW of power while running which is the primary demand while
underway, translating to about 100 amps at 12 volts. *That power is
supplied from a 2 KW inverter when underway and we manage the load
manually by switching between the fridge and freezer every so often.
In addition to the compressors we average another 300 watts for
computers and other small electronics, so that's a steady requirement
for 100 to 130 amps at 12 volts just to supply the inverter. *In
addition we have 12 volt house loads averaging about 30 amps for
things like radar, GPS units, multiple radios, auto pilot, etc. * We
also have a house bank totaling about 1,000 amp-hours which supplies
the inverter at night. * It needs to be recharged in the morning after
getting underway. * That can easily consume another 100 amps during
the bulk stage of the recharge cycle.


How many people is it that you have to support? What's the length of
your offshore periods?


Usually it is just my wife and I. We spent the first 6 months of
this year island hopping in the Caribbean and Bahamian Out Islands.
Availability of supplies is inconsistent and expensive so we bring a
lot of frozen food from home and restock when and where we can.