Energy management

Happy Sunday All

After exactly 12 hours darkness the Sunday morning sun is rising. Night starts at 8 pm and the sun rises at 8 am UTC which is in this case also local time. Some thoughts about energy use on board - in my opinion this is the most crucial part on a trip like this. For the technique fellows a couple of facts (specially for Robi Naville) :

Consumer batteries : 500 Ah

Starter battery : 120 Ah (only for the engine)

Main consumer : Navigation equipment (here especially the auto pilot which runs more or less 7/24), fridge, water maker, light, consumer electronics (i.e laptop, Ipads and so on), pumps, winches

Energy sources : I use three different energy sources a.) Watt and Sea hydro generator b.) Fischer Panda diesel generator c.) main engine

My consumption during 24 hours is probably around 200-250 ah. Now when the cruising speed is over 6.6 knots the hydro is producing enough energy to covering all my needs - that means after 24 hours the batteries are still at 100 % . If we cruise under 6.5 knots then I have to use either the genset or the main engine to recharge the batteries. The genset is using approx. 1 liter fuel per hour and is loading the batteries by 10 % per hour, the main engines fuel consumption is around 3 liter per hour and he is charging around 5 % per hour. So the decision seems to be clear - the generator is the second most important charging tool...but the big advantage of the main engine is, that he is doing hot water (similar to your heating boiler at home) in a very efficient way...therefore I run the engine for 30 to 45 minutes every day (in neutral with around 1200 rpm) to produce hot water (I'm a pussy I know), normally in the morning. During that I do the wash up in the kitchen, take a long shower and so on.

But the coolest thing is the watt and sea hydro - he is producing (according the fact sheet) around 24 A (around 30 0W) at 7 knots and has a maximum output of 600 W (48 A) at 9 knots cruising speed (in reality the numbers are for sure lower ...hello to Volkswagen :-)). And he is not producing any noise or using fuel....just completely green.

Nice Sunday to all ! Markus from 25.37.614 N / 18.00.861 W