Solar Systems USA Free Solar Kit Proposal

Sunday, July 7, 2013

New controller fuse


Since we now have time to finish up some lingering projects on the boat, before we attempt another long trip this fall, I thought I would measure up what space we have available. I feel that for us to have a successful trip we must be able to conform to some of our daily habits in order to not upset the natural balance we have developed.

When we were young, spontaneity was our guide; well at least that was mine. But now that I am not able to travel easily anymore we must stick to what works. There are days when I am up at the crack of dawn, and other days when Lynda has to work at getting me awake.

So, figuring out a routine and making decisions as to what and where we will spend most of our time on the boat, will help us ease in to the cruising life. In calculating our available space in and out of the boat I came up with the following:

We have 911.5 square feet of usable space on the boat; not including the outside walkways. 689.5 square feet is inside, which makes up the pilot house, kitchen, master bed and bath, the 2nd bedroom and bath, and the remaining amount makes up the front porch, back porch, and the top usable deck under the Bimini.  It does not include the engine room (basement with no engines), or the front top of the boat where the solar array is mounted.

Compared to our 28’ Aloha sailboat, and our cabin at the Grand Canyon, we will be living in a mansion! At our former marina, (where there are no liveaboards), three people come to mind. These individuals, who stay on their boats full time, have either never taken their boats out, or have not taken them out in recent memory. All three have sailboats; two 36 ‘, and one 30’. My unwavering contention was and is: why would you want to live on, (I mean stay on), a cramped sailboat that never moves, rather than a palatial powerboat or houseboat?

Some things are not meant for me to know? Regardless, we are quite happy with our boat now, and that camaraderie that sailboat owners have, that often, if not always excludes “stinkpotters”, will have to trundle on without us. Sailboats travel far on wind and diesel, but if you want to travel in comfort, and you like more room, you must consider an alternative; that is why we chose to convert this houseboat into a solar cruiser.

That is enough of my rambling for this blog entry. Since it is going to be in the low 90’s this week, we will probably not go to the boat and work.

I did hook the solar controller back up the other day, so we can get the batteries back up to speed. I still need to separate the eight batteries in to four 24 volt packs in parallel, which will give us 416 amps @ 24 volts. As I mentioned in another blog the controller blew a $50 fuse when it was underwater during the boat flood. I was going to hook the boat up at 36 volts to get more speed, but the 36 volt array will need an extra 20 amps to run, and my number one controller is only set to handle 1000 watts or 40 amps. Even at maximum the solar array with that controller will not be able to keep up with the diminished capacity being extracted from the battery bank. I did consider running my little generator while cruising to compensate, but will save that for later in case I feel more power and speed are necessary. 

I can run my 800/1000 watt generator on full load for 12 hours on .9 gallons of gas. If I went to 36 volts and the increased amperage it will cost me for gasoline whereas I can cruise for free on the 24 volt 30 amps currently. My speed varies according to current and wind, but usually I can average around 3 mph. Clearly that is not fast, but it is free. I suspect I can get used to free with the occasional use of the Johnson 115 rudder.


I did figure out that if I went with the 36 volt system and generator I would be able to average around 30 miles to the gallon compared to the 3 miles to the gallon I get with the Johnson 115, and that is only when wind and current is not against me. So, I will wile my way along until the cooler weather arrives. There is always something to work on at the boat.

No comments:

Post a Comment