Wind Generator vs. Solar

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halven
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Wind Generator vs. Solar

This will be the first season I will be keeping my boat on a mooring instead of a dock. With the money saved by not having the dock I am considering auxiliary power of either wind or solar. I am hoping to hear of pros and cons for each. I am currently leaning towards wind since I like to roll up the bimini top some times and can't think of anywhere else out of the way for enough panels.
I am hoping for enough power to keep the fridge powered up. I am thinking the fridge will consume approximately 72 amp hours per day. My house battery bank is two 4Ds in parallel. My mooring is on north eastern Long Island Sound (Noank, CT) and is not super protected from wind. Any first hand experience with this would be appreciated.

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deising
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Joined: 11/3/08
Posts: 1351

halven,

I am definitely a solar-power fan. Once purchased and installed, there is no maintenance and they are dead silent. Wind generators have noise and maintenance, plus the danger element to mitigate, and many do not put out nearly as much energy as you hope they will. Some find a combination of solar and wind works well for them, however.

We have four 110W panels (3 mounted above the large bimini and 1 over the davits). They add a bit of windage when heeled, but as for location, we never remove the bimini here in the Florida sun, so they are out of sight, essentially.

We did a 100 day cruise last year, never plugged into a marina, and ran the engine just once for one-half hour to charge the batteries (just as a precaution). We probably could have been OK with 330W total, but I like overkill when possible.

BTW, super-insulating your refrigerator compartment will help a lot in reducing your power requirements. I have yet to do it, but I keep reading about others who have.

Good luck.

Duane Ising - Past Commodore (2011-2012)
s/v Diva Di
1999 Catalina 36 Hull #1777
Std rig; wing keel, M35B, Delta (45#)
Punta Gorda, FL
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/diva-di/

pierview (not verified)

I don't have either, but FYI, Practical Sailor has done studies on both solar and wind and the various commercial products out there.

If you (or a friend) have a subscription, you can access them on-line. The wind generator comparison was done about a year and a half ago as I remember.

Chuck Parker

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Rob Kyles
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Joined: 6/15/08
Posts: 172

We have both. On our trip to Tonga from N.Z. last year Our Air-x 400W gave us plenty of power for the autohelm on a passage, but not much on anchor. The extra noise when it's windy is a bit unnerving at times :-) There's no way it would keep our fridge cold all day (not super insulated). We tended to pick protected anchorages but some places got a bit of wind. If we wanted peace or the anchorage was crowded we switched it off.
Our 120W solar panel did not work the whole time, but when it did work previously it is nice quiet power. You have to have it set up where there is no shadows on it, and you have to adjust it to meet the sun square on as much as possible. What with cloud and swinging at moorings you would need a lot of panels to keep your fridge going like Duane.
We ran our fridge just a few hours a day, used LED anchor and Nav lights, avoided things that needed freezing or constant refrigeration and got by.
Wish the solar panel had been working, it would have helped a lot.
I think I might have used solar plus a 2Kw Honda inverter generator if I was doing it again. The windy is good, but not as good as I hoped - and noisier...

 

S.V. Wind Star

Rob & Margie Kyles:    Auckland ,New Zealand
Mk I  Hull #105 1983   Std Rig, Std Keel

 

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mutualfun
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Joined: 6/25/07
Posts: 454

Halven:
Here is a couple of links that has a lot of good info, Lots of reading. They are the SSCA & Liveaboard discussion boards. They have lots of info on solar and wind gens. I myself have 240 watts of solar and a kiss wind gen. I am able to do ok with the solar if on anchor and setting with the firdge running with just solar. But had to add the Kiss wind gen for added amps at night sailing as instruments and radar would be running. Take a look at the 2 sites ,I think they will help you some.

Randy

[url]http://ssca.org/phpBB3/[/url]

[url]http://www.livingaboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi[/url]

Randy Sherwood
Mutualfun 1990 # 1057
T/R W/K M35a
Home. Charlotte, Mi.
Boat. St Augustine,Fl.

halven
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Joined: 3/11/09
Posts: 4

Thanks for the info. The websites are very informative. Randy, where did you place the 240 watts of solar panels to be out of your way?

Hal

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mutualfun
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Posts: 454

Halven:

What I did was had a single stainless 1"dia arch built to go up and over our bimini. It keeps the panels about 12" above the bimini and thus lets me tilt the panels to get a litttle more use from the panels. Plus it is high enough mold does not grow on the bimini as I have seen in the past if there is not enough light to get onto the fabric. Here is a link to a blog I started that has a picture of the boat and the panels. The picture is 2 years old and does not show the wind gen.
Randy

[url]http://www.sailblogs.com/member/mutualfun/[/url]

Randy Sherwood
Mutualfun 1990 # 1057
T/R W/K M35a
Home. Charlotte, Mi.
Boat. St Augustine,Fl.

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