Nice set up. looks to be working very well . Was in two minds about a wind gendrator, I think you have swung me in Favour of one. Thanks for the insights. Best Wishes and Fair Winds. Bob. 👍⛵️✨️✨️✨️
@@WhenSailing You Certainly got me looking, and I think I'll be going with a Dutland 1200 model now. I've had a couple of Rutland made ones before, and Customer Service was always top notch tbh, as were their smaller Wind gennies, which kept things topped up when away from the Boat. I think the 1200 has enough output to really assist the Solar Panels, as I may not be able to get enough Solar if I get a smaller Sailboat to tide me over until I can get a new Island Packet IP 439, which I'll be able to transfer it to. I may try for a Bensteau 2 Cabin 1 head and shower Oceanis 370 , which should be fun to Solo across the Atlantic with on a South of Cape Verde to North Argentina route. Biggest risk, getting becalmed for weeks lol so Watermaker pretty essential 👌 Best Wishes and Fair Winds. Bob. ⛵️✨️✨️✨️❤️
Our battery installation, although both having LiFePO4 batteries, look as though they have been designed on different planets. Firstly, my power loads exclude washers, driers, electric mixers, video editing gear. I also sized my system in terms requirements at sea so that I could run my autopilot 24x7 - even with 2 or 3 overcast days, if I was compelled to. In practice, I’ve tamed my HydroV,and so I only use the autopilot when motoring in/out of port or when working at the mast or tacking or gybing (the technology simplifies things for me and I sail single-handed). 4x100 Ah batteries are working out fine for me. Secondly, my boat “Thistle Doo”, a HR-38 is of a totally different shape compared with “For Tuna” and that provides me with advantages. My batteries live in a battery box built into the port stern bunk and I’ve connected them with a dual bus bar combiner, with each battery fused, and they connect from there with connections just to the bas bars. Outside that box, the world sees nothing of the batteries, just the pair of terminals from the combiner. That box is way higher up than your’s, which would help in case of flooding, but you can only use the space that you have. From the battery box, connections go either to the old connection system (not going to rewire the whole boat) or to a series of distribution boxes which house their own connectors, fuses and bus bars for up to 4 connections; I think it’s important to protect the wiring with fuses, as well as the charging sources and loads. These boxes distribute power to a few items that need to bypass the master house switch and panel for technical reasons (bilge pump system, autopilot drive power, DC2DC charger for the starter battery) and receive power from the MMPTs, the wind generator HRSI, the inverter/charger and the Belmar alternator (my engine does not directly change the starter battery). My inverter/charger is mounted in a wardrobe, with plenty of air circulation and access because that’s where the old one was, but the MMPTs, a pair of switches for my pair of 305w rigid panels, the HRSi, the DC2DC charger are all mounted in clear view on the stern cabin rear wall where I can see things at a glance (or run a disco with all the flashing lights). As I said earlier, my focus is on battery charge at sea, not in port and I don’t like my batteries sitting on full endlessly because I believe it shortens their life span, so here, in Curacao, I’ve removed shore power and also switched out one solar panel as there’s just so much sunlight here. At sea, it’s a bit different as the batteries are always in use, and as long as I have at least 90% SOC entering night time, I am happy. Lowest I’ve had in the morning has been 60% but that’s been during strings of of overcast days at sea, when I entered the night at lower than 90% anyway. So differences I see in our installations - fewer batteries, a more convenient installation arrangement for me - but way more fuses.
Hi Ian 😃really great system! We wanted to search for busbar with fuses but were already happy we found those bus bars (fuses were also difficult to find;) would have loved to connect each battery to a fuse and then to a bus bar but also from a space perspective it would have been difficult...plus might have shifted the batteries more towards the hull so even more weight there (the inverter is really heavy and we are heeling a small bit;) Really nice that you can access your inverter easily, we thought of putting it there too, but then the cables would be way longer and it would be even more towards the hull....unfortunately the other berth if with a water tank so no space there=) Only space we could free up would be a switch to an electro motor;) and get rid of the fuel tank, but suppose we would need a few more batteries there too 😛So did you mostly go with hydrovane during your crossing or had some days where only autopilot was working?
@@WhenSailing At the start of my crossing, I relied on the autopilot as I had little experience with the HydroVane due to all the lockdowns. But by Madiera things were turned the other way around. Biggest issue was learning to balance the sails well enough and having just a working headsail made that hard sometimes; too little headsail means too much weather helm and I used the full mainsail for less than 2 days. With HydroVane, I use the autopilot when gybing (it manages the wheel while I manage the lines), establishing a new course in windvane mode and then adjust the HydroVane in to match. I didn't try tacking at all. In practice, I generally must lock in a few degrees of main helm as my sail balance is not right and the boat might round up otherwise. But once set and stable, the Autopilot is switched off. After that, course adjustments are easy using the control line. Autopilot is way more flexible and convenient for coastal sailing though and I wouldn't rely on HydroVane anywhere near land or reefs if I needed to sleep as a wind shift around a headland might run you aground, but the same could easily happen by using AutoPilot in windvane mode I suppose. Coming to grips with HydroVane is a game changer though as it tunes your thinking more to virtual winds and to sail balance.
@@WhenSailing Michael, you were closer to the battery bus system, that I used, than you realise. I used a “power in” (with extra bolts), from the Victron system. This gave me a twin bus bar system, allowing 100A mega fuses for each battery, all enclosed into a single insulated case - and you can daisy chain them if you have more than four batteries. Once you close them up, you treat the emerging pair of terminals as if they are from one huge battery - without needing to see inside that there are actually more. They also have a version that monitors each fuse and reports of a failure with indicator lights but I thought that was just a bit much. In practice, the BMS from each of my Renogy Smart 100Ah batteries also communicates with the others, across the bus bars, so that cell balancing occurs across the batteries as well as within each one, but that’s more a battery thing than an installation thing.
Hi, amazing installation. Worst comes to worst, can you charge the batteries by connecting (with an adaptor to the shore power plug), a portable Honda 2000 generator?
everything you need to know to make your sailboat off grid ready - how we placed our solars and why, why we bought a wind generator since we are in the caribbean but not in the med, how we can use our lithium installation ⛵drop a question below 💪🏼
Great vid and setup, Could you explain your wind charger setup especially the dump load/brake and controller. We're doing similar but on a smaller scale. We currently have the Marlec HDRi controller for wind power and not sure how to use this with Lithium, Thanks
we had to change our temperature sensor on the controller, with a fixed size resistor for lithium, the load resistor came with the generator and is a buffer when the batteries are full😉 you can search for the super wind manual and wiring, lot of stuff explained in there:)
Do you have a video on connecting the turbine. Im about to upgrade to Lithium Iron phosphate but I would love some info on how to connect the windturbine without damaging expensive batteries.
do you still have lead acid battery for engine and bow thruster and how are they charged is it only when shore power is on or engine running thanks great video
Hi Ian, yea we have one starter battery, charged only when the motor is running (alternator) or on shore power:) bow thruster is still on the main bank but we never use it, ideally put 1-2 100aH in front under the berth for the bow thruster, else cables are really long and you loose a lot😆
From a safety point of view, I suggest you determine how much current could flow in the event of a short circuit. Lithium batteries have very low internal resistance and can permit much higher currents than lead acid ever did. Given you have 7 batteries in parallel I expect the fuse selection of type ANL is not sufficient. It may work and it may physically rupture depending on the magnetic forces encountered. A Class T fuse is likely safer. The BMS will not act in time to address a short circuit. The Class T will also act quicker than ANL resulting is less arcing and protect those around at the time. Food for thought.
Thanks Mike! great input, when we installed we could not find a class T fuse this size and then forgot about it😅 have to order some and new holders🙏🙏 thanks for watching!
Hi! Can you explain how you connected the solar AND the wind generator? Do they each have an MPPT and then several MPPTs go into the charger/inverter? My planned setup also has a solar panel and a wind generator and then the same inverter/charger. But I´m not sure if I can connect the solar panel and the wind generator to the same MPPT which then goes on to the inverter/charger, or 2 MPPTs and then if the inverter/charger can take input from several separate MPPTs. Thanks and thanks for the video! :)
Loving the videos guys! We are getting too much inspiration (and education) from you and are now prepping our B393 for an Atlantic crossing. I'm trying to figure out - how is the extendable pole that holds your side panels attached to the toerail? It almost looks like a heavy-duty zip-tie :)
Hi Matt, this is awesome news! really looking forward to see you on the other side! from where do you start? drop us an email at whensailing gmail com or write us on instagram then we can send you some pictures! Atlantic crossing is the best experience ever 🥰
Hi. We are looking to install solar 300w on our boat. Did you connect the mppt directly to the house battery bank, or to a battery isolator (to charge both engine and house batteries?)
Hi guys. I see that your multiplus is installed in your battery compartment. Although you use lithium, is this safe? Neater for sure. Do you not have any problems with overheating?
the wind generator has a different charger controller, it gives us less control over it but the settings are not all too different. always check with the manufacturers you choose, for example we had to change a resistor for the wind generator set up when we switched to lithium
Ciao Ragazzi Come impianto nulla da dire, fatto come da manuale e come ho visto fare a tanti altri sia veleggiante che camperisti full time, però pensavo che avreste montato anche uno Sterling Power che in caso mancanza vento e sole le batterie si ricariacano tramite il motore Buon vento
ciao Giovanni :) si hai ragione abbiamo dimenticato di far vedere il Sterling, che fortunatamente non abbiamo mai dovuto usare fino adesso perciò forse ci siamo dimenticati di esso 😅
@@WhenSailing ti dico un quasi segreto. Li scorso anno, su un catamarano di 50 piedi abbiamo montato due banchi di batterie al litio di 12 batterie ciascuno e siccome i motori sono 2, anche 2 sterling, oltre a 2 eliche 15 pannelli solari, eliche autogenerati, per un totale di 5,5 Kw, il fatto è che il tizio ha visto il catamarano di Zara si è ispirato a questi con condizionamento per 6 ambienti, lavatrice, asciugatrice 8 TV led, 1 mega frigorifero 2 congelatori da 300 litri, due dissalatori e generatori elettrici....una villa galleggiante a tutti gli effetti. Si è potuto permettere tutto questo perché ha da poco venduto le azioni della sua azienda itali straniera e si è ritirato in "pensione" che credi fosse a lui necessaria prima che scoprano i suoi altarini. Ci hanno detto che il giocattolo gli è costato oltre un milione e mezzo di euro. Io ero lì a seguire, in post progettazione, tutta la parte idraulica, complessissima avendo 5 bagni, dissalatori che ne ha voluti due....2500 litri di serbatoio e da 800 per l'acqua, tanto ha i dissalatori... comunque non ho idea di cosa gli costa la gestione... dimenticavo...winchu tutti elettrici servo assistiti e frizionatì, può gestire le vele dalla cabina interna, anche per lo spi che è enorme, mai visto uno così grande,. Comunque scafo costruito in Vietnam...e montato a...in Toscana
I like everything but if possible I would lose the panel hanging to the right side of the boat. This would leave you with no immediate visibility of any panels.
Thanks Jamie, will consider this in the future! we still have them as the first ones we got flew away and those were the only ones we could find back in cyprus...had to leave the country do to cvid and could not do it without solars 😆
On the introduction, I’m still trying to work out if Greta is trying to lock Michael into that locker - or trying to rescue him.
ahaha thanks Ian - i was not sure either 😜sunny wishes, Michael
Wow, what a change and improvement of the life quality aboard of your amazing ForTuna 🥰🥰🥰
amazing! now the only thing missing is the induction cooking 😅😅😅🥰
Nice set up. looks to be working very well . Was in two minds about a wind gendrator, I think you have swung me in Favour of one. Thanks for the insights. Best Wishes and Fair Winds. Bob. 👍⛵️✨️✨️✨️
Hey Bob :) we are very happy with our set up 🌬️ ☀️ 🔋 we also discussed a lot if we should get a wind generator but are very happy about it now ☺️
@@WhenSailing You Certainly got me looking, and I think I'll be going with a Dutland 1200 model now. I've had a couple of Rutland made ones before, and Customer Service was always top notch tbh, as were their smaller Wind gennies, which kept things topped up when away from the Boat. I think the 1200 has enough output to really assist the Solar Panels, as I may not be able to get enough Solar if I get a smaller Sailboat to tide me over until I can get a new Island Packet IP 439, which I'll be able to transfer it to. I may try for a Bensteau 2 Cabin 1 head and shower Oceanis 370 , which should be fun to Solo across the Atlantic with on a South of Cape Verde to North Argentina route. Biggest risk, getting becalmed for weeks lol so Watermaker pretty essential 👌 Best Wishes and Fair Winds. Bob. ⛵️✨️✨️✨️❤️
Our battery installation, although both having LiFePO4 batteries, look as though they have been designed on different planets.
Firstly, my power loads exclude washers, driers, electric mixers, video editing gear. I also sized my system in terms requirements at sea so that I could run my autopilot 24x7 - even with 2 or 3 overcast days, if I was compelled to. In practice, I’ve tamed my HydroV,and so I only use the autopilot when motoring in/out of port or when working at the mast or tacking or gybing (the technology simplifies things for me and I sail single-handed). 4x100 Ah batteries are working out fine for me.
Secondly, my boat “Thistle Doo”, a HR-38 is of a totally different shape compared with “For Tuna” and that provides me with advantages. My batteries live in a battery box built into the port stern bunk and I’ve connected them with a dual bus bar combiner, with each battery fused, and they connect from there with connections just to the bas bars. Outside that box, the world sees nothing of the batteries, just the pair of terminals from the combiner. That box is way higher up than your’s, which would help in case of flooding, but you can only use the space that you have. From the battery box, connections go either to the old connection system (not going to rewire the whole boat) or to a series of distribution boxes which house their own connectors, fuses and bus bars for up to 4 connections; I think it’s important to protect the wiring with fuses, as well as the charging sources and loads. These boxes distribute power to a few items that need to bypass the master house switch and panel for technical reasons (bilge pump system, autopilot drive power, DC2DC charger for the starter battery) and receive power from the MMPTs, the wind generator HRSI, the inverter/charger and the Belmar alternator (my engine does not directly change the starter battery).
My inverter/charger is mounted in a wardrobe, with plenty of air circulation and access because that’s where the old one was, but the MMPTs, a pair of switches for my pair of 305w rigid panels, the HRSi, the DC2DC charger are all mounted in clear view on the stern cabin rear wall where I can see things at a glance (or run a disco with all the flashing lights).
As I said earlier, my focus is on battery charge at sea, not in port and I don’t like my batteries sitting on full endlessly because I believe it shortens their life span, so here, in Curacao, I’ve removed shore power and also switched out one solar panel as there’s just so much sunlight here. At sea, it’s a bit different as the batteries are always in use, and as long as I have at least 90% SOC entering night time, I am happy. Lowest I’ve had in the morning has been 60% but that’s been during strings of of overcast days at sea, when I entered the night at lower than 90% anyway.
So differences I see in our installations - fewer batteries, a more convenient installation arrangement for me - but way more fuses.
Hi Ian 😃really great system! We wanted to search for busbar with fuses but were already happy we found those bus bars (fuses were also difficult to find;) would have loved to connect each battery to a fuse and then to a bus bar but also from a space perspective it would have been difficult...plus might have shifted the batteries more towards the hull so even more weight there (the inverter is really heavy and we are heeling a small bit;) Really nice that you can access your inverter easily, we thought of putting it there too, but then the cables would be way longer and it would be even more towards the hull....unfortunately the other berth if with a water tank so no space there=) Only space we could free up would be a switch to an electro motor;) and get rid of the fuel tank, but suppose we would need a few more batteries there too 😛So did you mostly go with hydrovane during your crossing or had some days where only autopilot was working?
@@WhenSailing At the start of my crossing, I relied on the autopilot as I had little experience with the HydroVane due to all the lockdowns. But by Madiera things were turned the other way around. Biggest issue was learning to balance the sails well enough and having just a working headsail made that hard sometimes; too little headsail means too much weather helm and I used the full mainsail for less than 2 days.
With HydroVane, I use the autopilot when gybing (it manages the wheel while I manage the lines), establishing a new course in windvane mode and then adjust the HydroVane in to match. I didn't try tacking at all. In practice, I generally must lock in a few degrees of main helm as my sail balance is not right and the boat might round up otherwise. But once set and stable, the Autopilot is switched off. After that, course adjustments are easy using the control line.
Autopilot is way more flexible and convenient for coastal sailing though and I wouldn't rely on HydroVane anywhere near land or reefs if I needed to sleep as a wind shift around a headland might run you aground, but the same could easily happen by using AutoPilot in windvane mode I suppose.
Coming to grips with HydroVane is a game changer though as it tunes your thinking more to virtual winds and to sail balance.
@@WhenSailing Michael, you were closer to the battery bus system, that I used, than you realise. I used a “power in” (with extra bolts), from the Victron system. This gave me a twin bus bar system, allowing 100A mega fuses for each battery, all enclosed into a single insulated case - and you can daisy chain them if you have more than four batteries. Once you close them up, you treat the emerging pair of terminals as if they are from one huge battery - without needing to see inside that there are actually more. They also have a version that monitors each fuse and reports of a failure with indicator lights but I thought that was just a bit much. In practice, the BMS from each of my Renogy Smart 100Ah batteries also communicates with the others, across the bus bars, so that cell balancing occurs across the batteries as well as within each one, but that’s more a battery thing than an installation thing.
Thank you
Hi, amazing installation. Worst comes to worst, can you charge the batteries by connecting (with an adaptor to the shore power plug), a portable Honda 2000 generator?
yes, the inverter we have is a charger too, so shore power goes to the inverter, you could then connect the honda to it too💪🏻
everything you need to know to make your sailboat off grid ready - how we placed our solars and why, why we bought a wind generator since we are in the caribbean but not in the med, how we can use our lithium installation ⛵drop a question below 💪🏼
Great vid and setup, Could you explain your wind charger setup especially the dump load/brake and controller. We're doing similar but on a smaller scale. We currently have the Marlec HDRi controller for wind power and not sure how to use this with Lithium, Thanks
we had to change our temperature sensor on the controller, with a fixed size resistor for lithium, the load resistor came with the generator and is a buffer when the batteries are full😉 you can search for the super wind manual and wiring, lot of stuff explained in there:)
Do you have a video on connecting the turbine. Im about to upgrade to Lithium Iron phosphate but I would love some info on how to connect the windturbine without damaging expensive batteries.
yes we do we show it all here
ruclips.net/video/EJCPzVsT1FA/видео.html
do you still have lead acid battery for engine and bow thruster and how are they charged is it only when shore power is on or engine running thanks great video
Hi Ian, yea we have one starter battery, charged only when the motor is running (alternator) or on shore power:) bow thruster is still on the main bank but we never use it, ideally put 1-2 100aH in front under the berth for the bow thruster, else cables are really long and you loose a lot😆
From a safety point of view, I suggest you determine how much current could flow in the event of a short circuit. Lithium batteries have very low internal resistance and can permit much higher currents than lead acid ever did. Given you have 7 batteries in parallel I expect the fuse selection of type ANL is not sufficient. It may work and it may physically rupture depending on the magnetic forces encountered. A Class T fuse is likely safer. The BMS will not act in time to address a short circuit. The Class T will also act quicker than ANL resulting is less arcing and protect those around at the time. Food for thought.
Thanks Mike! great input, when we installed we could not find a class T fuse this size and then forgot about it😅 have to order some and new holders🙏🙏 thanks for watching!
Hi!
Can you explain how you connected the solar AND the wind generator? Do they each have an MPPT and then several MPPTs go into the charger/inverter?
My planned setup also has a solar panel and a wind generator and then the same inverter/charger. But I´m not sure if I can connect the solar panel and the wind generator to the same MPPT which then goes on to the inverter/charger, or 2 MPPTs and then if the inverter/charger can take input from several separate MPPTs.
Thanks and thanks for the video! :)
every “set” of solars and the wind generator have a separate MPPT to connect them to the batteries 🔋
Loving the videos guys! We are getting too much inspiration (and education) from you and are now prepping our B393 for an Atlantic crossing. I'm trying to figure out - how is the extendable pole that holds your side panels attached to the toerail? It almost looks like a heavy-duty zip-tie :)
Hi Matt, this is awesome news! really looking forward to see you on the other side! from where do you start? drop us an email at whensailing gmail com or write us on instagram then we can send you some pictures! Atlantic crossing is the best experience ever 🥰
Hi. We are looking to install solar 300w on our boat. Did you connect the mppt directly to the house battery bank, or to a battery isolator (to charge both engine and house batteries?)
Hi John, we have the solars & wind only on the house, for the alternator we have a isolator, only the alternator charges both✌🏽
Hi guys. What inverter do you use? Thanks
hey, it's a Victron Multiplus 3.000
Hi guys. I see that your multiplus is installed in your battery compartment. Although you use lithium, is this safe? Neater for sure. Do you not have any problems with overheating?
we have had no problems with overheating our LiFePo4 batteries are very stable :)
are the wind generator charge controller settings the same as the solar panel charge controller?
the wind generator has a different charger controller, it gives us less control over it but the settings are not all too different. always check with the manufacturers you choose, for example we had to change a resistor for the wind generator set up when we switched to lithium
@@WhenSailing why was that? Which manufacturer we should talk to? The battery or the wind turbine?
Ciao Ragazzi
Come impianto nulla da dire, fatto come da manuale e come ho visto fare a tanti altri sia veleggiante che camperisti full time, però pensavo che avreste montato anche uno Sterling Power che in caso mancanza vento e sole le batterie si ricariacano tramite il motore
Buon vento
ciao Giovanni :) si hai ragione abbiamo dimenticato di far vedere il Sterling, che fortunatamente non abbiamo mai dovuto usare fino adesso perciò forse ci siamo dimenticati di esso 😅
@@WhenSailing ti dico un quasi segreto.
Li scorso anno, su un catamarano di 50 piedi abbiamo montato due banchi di batterie al litio di 12 batterie ciascuno e siccome i motori sono 2, anche 2 sterling, oltre a 2 eliche 15 pannelli solari, eliche autogenerati, per un totale di 5,5 Kw, il fatto è che il tizio ha visto il catamarano di Zara si è ispirato a questi con condizionamento per 6 ambienti, lavatrice, asciugatrice 8 TV led, 1 mega frigorifero 2 congelatori da 300 litri, due dissalatori e generatori elettrici....una villa galleggiante a tutti gli effetti. Si è potuto permettere tutto questo perché ha da poco venduto le azioni della sua azienda itali straniera e si è ritirato in "pensione" che credi fosse a lui necessaria prima che scoprano i suoi altarini. Ci hanno detto che il giocattolo gli è costato oltre un milione e mezzo di euro. Io ero lì a seguire, in post progettazione, tutta la parte idraulica, complessissima avendo 5 bagni, dissalatori che ne ha voluti due....2500 litri di serbatoio e da 800 per l'acqua, tanto ha i dissalatori... comunque non ho idea di cosa gli costa la gestione... dimenticavo...winchu tutti elettrici servo assistiti e frizionatì, può gestire le vele dalla cabina interna, anche per lo spi che è enorme, mai visto uno così grande,. Comunque scafo costruito in Vietnam...e montato a...in Toscana
Ora ci vuole una radio SSB!
forse un giorno :) per ora speriamo in Starlink 😉
I like everything but if possible I would lose the panel hanging to the right side of the boat.
This would leave you with no immediate visibility of any panels.
Thanks Jamie, will consider this in the future! we still have them as the first ones we got flew away and those were the only ones we could find back in cyprus...had to leave the country do to cvid and could not do it without solars 😆
@@WhenSailing I think you now have a strong and reliable source of power from the additions. The wind turbine was a great addition too.