Sail Life - Living off-grid. Is 1600W of solar enough? Intro to our electrical setup

That video was fantastic! But how am I going to fit all that on a Moody 336? 😂

1) Liquid fuel storage is VERY efficient in Wh/kg and Wh/Euro. I understand your reluctance towards high dependency of diesel fuel - BUT have you considered adding a fuel cell to your system (e.g. from EFOY) using e-Methanol as a steady weather/sun-independent additional power source, since you dislike wind turbines? E-methanol is maybe on the brink of a break-through (see eg. "Laura Maersk" = an innovation within container shipping) 2) Why charge your EPropulsion battery at night? Why not at solar cell peak hours or the afternoon, when the battery bank is full anyway?

We also have an e-propulsion but we got on optional extra 12v charger. It takes longer to charge it but doesn’t require the inverter. We thought it was expensive at €120 for what it is but the convenience is worth it. SV Aragorn - Dublin

I love your DIY and this geeky explanations about your electrical installation. I believe you have become a really useful reference and entertainment for many of us. Many thanks.

Mads, you're a nerd after my own heart! Loved the nerdy description of your pixey ()angry or otherwise) containment system!

Interesting your comments on the electric outboard. As much as I wish they were practical, it seems they're just not there yet. I hate my noisy 2-stroke outboard, but it starts first pull, is perfectly reliable, has a long run time on 20 litres of fuel, and has enough power to plane my 3.4 meter dinghy with 4 people in it.

On Catamaran Sayonara, we lived the last several years with 1300w of solar, and a similar amount of battery (at 12 volt). I summer, in places like Grenada it was tons of daily power. In the winter, at the top of the Caribbean it was a bit touch and go.

Re: wind turbine, in reality, they don't produce enough to bother with. We have a very high quality D400, and would have deleted it years ago if it weren't for the fact that its mounting pole makes such an excellent grab point for dismounting the dinghy.

Mads, did you ever get the genset repaired?

👍👌❤️🇨🇦,

Can't you create a similar extending solar panel to the aft above the existing panels? Are you going to extend the battery bank? Have you thought about an hardtop with solar on top?

Love your setup. Shame you didn't come to see us for that project ))) I believe you are local to us. If you ever happen to decide to redesign your arch, come to see us and we will declutter your stern with one of our Solar Arches. Only the best quality workmanship and will do a good price for you. Good Luck and keep that content coming. Love watching it. Watched your Starlink episode a while ago.

Long time viewer, first comment.

Thanks for many great episodes. This was particularly good info on energy use at anchor 🙂

My BEng thisis was on vertical axis windturbines for yachts. Some colleauges looked at decarbonisation of yachts more generally, vibration was a huge issue. However, i had always thought you could just tie up the rotor when you dont need to generate power, its fairly noisy when its windy anyway. I will agree that its hard to fit a particularly large turbine on a yacht, hence lower power output. However, i cant see any other means of staying at anchor at northen lattitudes without burning deisel or having extremely large batteries.

Turbine variants with less noisy/vibration could be made but the market is small... Hydrogens a long way off.... Superwind had a particularly well made looking HAWT with an automatic pitch control mechanism that looked well 'spiffy' 🤷🏽‍♂️

Ps patrion when i get a graduate job 👌🏽

300w solar & LiFePo4 does me single handed living on the hook with a kayak & some oars! And a raspberry pi/signalk to track everything. Great thing about cruising is both boats are right! No point judging or comparing, nice setup Mads! Love my inverter for power tools & compressor for hukkah diving on the hull. 😎

fisher panda have had this reputation for decades. Maybe people should consider a Paguro? Italian brand

Yes, using watts is far easier than using using amps on the long run. So much easier. Yeah running AC can cost a ton. I only need it to sleep at times. You are doing amazingly well with your usage and your solar input. Cutting back AC to only the sleeping cabin vs the entire boat can save a ton. But when parties aboard happen then,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Very interesting and nice details. Your system is very well thought out. I question what you estimate the life span of those batteries with them cycling down every day.

24volt x 300AH = 7200AH (25.6*300=7680wh). For two people with those appliances, that is definitely not enough battery.
If you have 2kwh-4kwh solar, you can put the load on DC/AC and minimize wear on battery during the day.
I recommend: +400w or more solar, 2-5x more battery, centrifugal compressor fridge/freezer, and inverter minisplit.

This reminds me why I'd never go total electric (even with induction burners) on a stove and oven, nor go electric outboard only over a gas powered outboard.

Mads, you are definitely a nerd. but I absoolutely love tmhe energy, vibe and can do attitude always on display.

See you👍🏼🥰

Having solar on a boat is always going to have issues with shading and panel angles. The panel angles would be difficult to address but the shading issue could be reduced by using micro inverters or because you are feeding into batteries rather than the grid you would need multiple small solar charge controllers. One for each panel or pair of panels. This would reduce the impact of a charge controller failing. But most of all it greatly reduces the impact of shading. When multiple panels are connected in a string any shading of one panel reduces the output of all panels in the string, even the panels that are still in full sun. With each panel having it's own charge controller if one panel is shaded then only that panel has a reduced output, all other panels will output according to how much sun they are each receiving. This would allow you to add panels in various locations that may be more often affected by shading without negatively affecting the overall output.
For example, if you had panels on the cabin top and the sail shaded one side of the cabin top, if a charge controller per panel were used, then the panels on the unshaded side of the cabin top would be outputting full power.
Having many charge controllers would likely be more expensive but as each charge controller would be a much smaller device, it only needs to be big enough to handle the output of a single solar panel. So I wouldn't expect it to be ridiculously more expensive that a couple of massive charge controllers.

Hi Mads, great video (again). Your explanations are simple and on the point. Just one question: why the 12V battery behind the dc—dc converter. Doesn‘t this setup make friction? Why not gather 12v „on demand“ via the converter from the 24v bank? Andreas

Eco flow... a couple of 220 portable bi facial panels. Just put them out when you need them . They fold up quite small.

Cooking with propane, and having a gas powered outboard saves a lot on electricity.

Hey there, have you all considered those folding solar panels that the Uma crew are developing?

Interesting on the AC usage. My house with 3 people used 120KW for 30 days here in the DC Area. Really awesome that you guys are generating that much power. Curious about the AC Draw on say a hot day for you two. Great info if i ever loose my mind and buy a boat. :P

BTW, great decision to haul out in Trinidad instead of the ABCs. The team at Peakes is fantastic and I believe Powerboat Marina is good as well.

Start by dumping the Isotherm freezer and install a AC powered chest freezer. Far cheaper, more efficient, and better built.

Firstly....great video this week, I loved it. 👏
Some time ago I was learning how to create training packages for teachers to deliver training. It is a real art and a very clever person to take a somewhat complex subject and write it down then deliver that message clearly so everyone can follow and understand. Your explanation and delivery on this topic makes you a true genius. Well done.🤗

Great detail Mads. Thank you

I would imagine you need more storage. If you’re not charging batteries because they’re full, add more batteries. It’ll give you more amp hours to use on the dreary days.

Any update on the generator?

Rich Kids playing .

Hello Mads, nice interesting video again!
Does your alternator charge your LiFePO4 directly or do you use a special charge controler?
I'm asking this because I understand most people charge lead batteries with the alternator and DC/DC this to LiFePO4 .

You could look at the solar Cadoha has that hoists up the mast. Andy UK

This video is EXACTLY the topic I submitted to your DIY viewers help project for my boat! Have you guys chosen the DIY projects to do? Hoping you here back.

Hej Mads
Du siger at din consumption i VRM kun er AC forbrug? Normalt er det altså det kombinerede forbrug af både AC og DC forbrug der vises i denne værdi på VRM portalen.

Br. Jonas

Wish you had finished the iddy-biddy diesel genset you started on. At least you'd be your own customer service and not have to rely on Fischer 🐼 .

Hi, confused why you charge the outboard battery overnight, and not during the day when it's sunny? love the channel, I'm not electrically minded so forgive the question if it's not relevant.

Good information, thanks.

Double up your batteries, you can then afford to run them between 20 and 80%, this will give them a long life... the rest is down to the rainy day genset when it's working? We use two Victron DC-DC converters and they work very well. Just watch the inrush current when connecting. Well done!

Very interesting. Most cruisers have far lower energy expectations / needs :) 😊

Your nav station looks so uncomfortable. Need to raise the desk and monitor.

hello, we making between 4-6 kwh per day with 800 watts of lg neon bifacials , im surprised your 1600 watts is producing so little

Mads started talking about electricity, and I was like, "Watt?"

My head is spinning!

Great primer. You get the FP to work yet? 🇨🇦

Why do you have a 12v lead-acid battery after the DC-DC converter? Is it for peak-load or for emergency's?

You lost me at “Hi I'm Mads” 🤪