"Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach sez use my name at earthlink dot
fishcatcher (net) - with apologies for the spamtrap wrote in
:

Hm. Help me with the math. As a lapsed math, physics and chem major,
I don't remember my stuff all that well. However, I'll have right in
the neighborhood of 500W solar

How big are these solar panels? A Kyocera KC120 panel at 120 watts is:
Max power: 120 Watts
Max voltage: 16.9 Volts
Max current: 7.10 Amps
Dimensions (LxWxD): 56.1" x 25.7" x 2.2"
Weight: 26.3 lbs

4 of those kinda hinders going on deck, I suppose. Or, do you mean 500
watt-hours per day?? 500 watts x 8 hours = 4 KWh/day...pretty nice!

, and a KISS wind generator in the
Caribbean. Various vendors suggest I take the wattage and divide by 3,
or 4 if really lousy weather, for a reasonable typical AH input,
daily. My math has that at 170-125AH/day, plus some other unknown -
but apparently pretty substantial - AH from a KISS.

Solar is useless on cloudy days, but that's when the wind is usually
blowing so you got it covered.

Speaking of wind power, have you see http://www.otherpower.com/
These homebrewers are really producing KWh!


Our anticipated daily budget is about 125AH; we'll have (for
simplicity in this calculation) ~1250AH capacity. It's our
presumption that we'll have 4-5 days capacity, in the most
unimaginable (in the Caribbean) circumstance of continuous no wind or
sun.

Have I missed something here?

No, not at all. The big inverters are great for QUICK and TEMPORARY loads,
even heavy loads if the battery banks can produce the heavy load currents
without sagging a lot.

Too bad boats don't use 48 volts instead of "car power". The whole thing
becomes much more efficient as the voltage rises.

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach sez use my name at earthlink dot
fishcatcher (net) - with apologies for the spamtrap wrote in
:

Hm. Help me with the math. As a lapsed math, physics and chem major,
I don't remember my stuff all that well. However, I'll have right in
the neighborhood of 500W solar

How big are these solar panels? A Kyocera KC120 panel at 120 watts is:
Max power: 120 Watts

Not really. That is advertising hype.

Max voltage: 16.9 Volts
Max current: 7.10 Amps
Dimensions (LxWxD): 56.1" x 25.7" x 2.2"
Weight: 26.3 lbs

4 of those kinda hinders going on deck, I suppose. Or, do you mean 500
watt-hours per day?? 500 watts x 8 hours = 4 KWh/day...pretty nice!

Useful power is more like 4 hours a day. 10AM to 2PM. Before and after
it is vastly reduced.

, and a KISS wind generator in the
Caribbean. Various vendors suggest I take the wattage and divide by 3,
or 4 if really lousy weather, for a reasonable typical AH input,
daily. My math has that at 170-125AH/day, plus some other unknown -
but apparently pretty substantial - AH from a KISS.

KISS is a great generator.

Solar is useless on cloudy days, but that's when the wind is usually
blowing so you got it covered.

Depends upon where you are.

Speaking of wind power, have you see http://www.otherpower.com/
These homebrewers are really producing KWh!

Sure, with 6' or better blades.


Our anticipated daily budget is about 125AH; we'll have (for
simplicity in this calculation) ~1250AH capacity. It's our
presumption that we'll have 4-5 days capacity, in the most
unimaginable (in the Caribbean) circumstance of continuous no wind or
sun.

Have I missed something here?

No, not at all. The big inverters are great for QUICK and TEMPORARY
loads,
even heavy loads if the battery banks can produce the heavy load currents
without sagging a lot.

Too bad boats don't use 48 volts instead of "car power". The whole thing
becomes much more efficient as the voltage rises.

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 21:23:15 -0500, Larry W4CSC
wrote:

Too bad boats don't use 48 volts instead of "car power". The whole thing
becomes much more efficient as the voltage rises.

===========================================

It's not unheard of to use a 48 volt inverter bank. You lose the
ability to tie into your alternators for charging but if you have
reduntant generators and inverters that is not really an issue.

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 21:23:15 -0500, Larry W4CSC
wrote:

"Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach sez use my name at earthlink dot
fishcatcher (net) - with apologies for the spamtrap wrote in
:

Hm. Help me with the math. As a lapsed math, physics and chem major,
I don't remember my stuff all that well. However, I'll have right in
the neighborhood of 500W solar

How big are these solar panels? A Kyocera KC120 panel at 120 watts is:
Max power: 120 Watts
Max voltage: 16.9 Volts
Max current: 7.10 Amps
Dimensions (LxWxD): 56.1" x 25.7" x 2.2"
Weight: 26.3 lbs

4 of those kinda hinders going on deck, I suppose. Or, do you mean 500
watt-hours per day?? 500 watts x 8 hours = 4 KWh/day...pretty nice!

, and a KISS wind generator in the
Caribbean. Various vendors suggest I take the wattage and divide by 3,
or 4 if really lousy weather, for a reasonable typical AH input,
daily. My math has that at 170-125AH/day, plus some other unknown -
but apparently pretty substantial - AH from a KISS.

Solar is useless on cloudy days, but that's when the wind is usually
blowing so you got it covered.

Speaking of wind power, have you see http://www.otherpower.com/
These homebrewers are really producing KWh!


Our anticipated daily budget is about 125AH; we'll have (for
simplicity in this calculation) ~1250AH capacity. It's our
presumption that we'll have 4-5 days capacity, in the most
unimaginable (in the Caribbean) circumstance of continuous no wind or
sun.

Have I missed something here?

No, not at all. The big inverters are great for QUICK and TEMPORARY loads,
even heavy loads if the battery banks can produce the heavy load currents
without sagging a lot.

Too bad boats don't use 48 volts instead of "car power". The whole thing
becomes much more efficient as the voltage rises.

Design development is under way for 42 volt car systems

Brian W

"Brian Whatcott" wrote in message
...
Design development is under way for 42 volt car systems

It's already there. AFAIK all new VW marine diesels have a 42V system to
power the injectors.

Meindert

"Meindert Sprang" wrote in
:

It's already there. AFAIK all new VW marine diesels have a 42V system to
power the injectors.

Meindert




I think the Toyota Prius hybrid takes this even further with a 480VDC
system, doesn't it? A friend has one and it's quite impressive, once you
get used to NOT starting the engine to take off from the parking lot.
That's a bit unnerving, just turning it on and driving away...(c;

Well whats wrong with a good electric blanket and a heavy comforter to keep
warm over night. That would be alot less taxing on an electrical system. You
still have to be able to recharge, but getting through the night should be
easy.

John

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Meindert Sprang" wrote in
:

It's already there. AFAIK all new VW marine diesels have a 42V system to
power the injectors.

Meindert




I think the Toyota Prius hybrid takes this even further with a 480VDC
system, doesn't it? A friend has one and it's quite impressive, once you
get used to NOT starting the engine to take off from the parking lot.
That's a bit unnerving, just turning it on and driving away...(c;

John Cassara wrote:

Well whats wrong with a good electric blanket and a heavy comforter to keep
warm over night. That would be alot less taxing on an electrical system. You
still have to be able to recharge, but getting through the night should be
easy.

John

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...

"Meindert Sprang" wrote in
:


It's already there. AFAIK all new VW marine diesels have a 42V system to
power the injectors.

Meindert




I think the Toyota Prius hybrid takes this even further with a 480VDC
system, doesn't it? A friend has one and it's quite impressive, once you
get used to NOT starting the engine to take off from the parking lot.
That's a bit unnerving, just turning it on and driving away...(c;


The eliica car seen recently on Discovery uses 8 each 100 brake
horse power electric motor regenerators built into the wheels,
lithium ion batteries, and would need high voltage and high variable
frequency switching I expect. It goes 350 KM and about 400 KPH and
0-100 in FOUR seconds! Not all ot once, I expect.

Would not one such wheel motor be capable of driving a boat and
regenerating charge with the propellor providing the juice on a good
day? Why haul useless lead ballast if a keel was all batteries
immune to sea water / chlorine gas dangers?

A 5 horse genny could wait for an excuse for quite a while, if solar
cells were in the mix and harbour navigation was all that was really
needed. Even a long haul in doldrums would be tolerable at two or
three knots, using the genny if the batteries were flat. Relatively
slow water transport takes little energy, while a good sailing day
would likely keep batteries up unless you ran an air conditioner or
heater.

Terry K

Using my old 22ft Catalina as the example, quite a bit of drag is felt with
the O/B in the water while sailing. The prop-driven recharge would produce
alot of drag, but as they say there's no such thing as a free lunch!

John

"Terry Spragg" wrote in message
...
John Cassara wrote:

Well whats wrong with a good electric blanket and a heavy comforter to
keep warm over night. That would be alot less taxing on an electrical
system. You still have to be able to recharge, but getting through the
night should be easy.

John

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...

"Meindert Sprang" wrote in
:


It's already there. AFAIK all new VW marine diesels have a 42V system to
power the injectors.

Meindert




I think the Toyota Prius hybrid takes this even further with a 480VDC
system, doesn't it? A friend has one and it's quite impressive, once you
get used to NOT starting the engine to take off from the parking lot.
That's a bit unnerving, just turning it on and driving away...(c;


The eliica car seen recently on Discovery uses 8 each 100 brake horse
power electric motor regenerators built into the wheels, lithium ion
batteries, and would need high voltage and high variable frequency
switching I expect. It goes 350 KM and about 400 KPH and 0-100 in FOUR
seconds! Not all ot once, I expect.

Would not one such wheel motor be capable of driving a boat and
regenerating charge with the propellor providing the juice on a good day?
Why haul useless lead ballast if a keel was all batteries immune to sea
water / chlorine gas dangers?

A 5 horse genny could wait for an excuse for quite a while, if solar cells
were in the mix and harbour navigation was all that was really needed.
Even a long haul in doldrums would be tolerable at two or three knots,
using the genny if the batteries were flat. Relatively slow water
transport takes little energy, while a good sailing day would likely keep
batteries up unless you ran an air conditioner or heater.

Terry K

With a good heavy comforter you don;t need the electric
blanket. I've have no idea the wattage of an electric blanket.
We have a small Glomate butane heater to take off the
chill. If it's really cold then we power up the Espar.


"John Cassara" wrote in message
...
Well whats wrong with a good electric blanket and a heavy comforter to
keep warm over night. That would be alot less taxing on an electrical
system. You still have to be able to recharge, but getting through the
night should be easy.

John

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Meindert Sprang" wrote in
:

It's already there. AFAIK all new VW marine diesels have a 42V system to
power the injectors.

Meindert




I think the Toyota Prius hybrid takes this even further with a 480VDC
system, doesn't it? A friend has one and it's quite impressive, once you
get used to NOT starting the engine to take off from the parking lot.
That's a bit unnerving, just turning it on and driving away...(c;