Steve Kopesky
New member
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2017
- Messages
- 15
Is it still called a POWERWALLif it's on a sailboat?
So, I'm not sure what I know less about Sailing or powerwalls?
Seeing as how this is not a sailing forum,I suppose I will start in explaining my situation and then asking about building a powerwall
Iapologizefor possibly not knowing the proper terminology or explaining myself fully. I'm so green to this that I am not sure I even know the proper things to state or question?
I am hoping that I can document this process for others that may come after me or are also in the process. I also know that I need a lot of help hence the reason why I am posting here.
My wife four-year-old daughter and I are soon to be moving to a 45 foot sailboat in Florida. We plan on spending a couple few years cruising around goofing off in the Caribbean before returning back to normal life.
The boat that we are looking to buy currently has solar panels and wind generator and can also charge the lead acid battery bank via the engine. However, I am sure that we are going to want/use more energy than the existing set up has. Ideally it would be set up so that wecould run a small AC unit during the night...6000 BTU would be enough to make us content.
I believe I have settled on wanting to install a 48 V system using recycled 18650s. I'm not sure of just how big of a battery bank I am looking to have but would want to have the ability to expand it in the future. I already have purchased about4 kWh of used18650 cells made up of two different cells. 3 kW worth of 3.71s22P at 2000 maand 1 kWh of 3.71s2p atabout 2300 ma. I am sure that I will be buying a lot more.
Due to the nature of a sailboat there are many things that can create shadingon a solar panel. Due to this fact, I believe this means that I would want to set them up in a serial manner? I have also thought that multiple smaller MPPT controllers with only one solar panel attached would make the most sense?
As far as an inverter goes, I am thinking that a pure sine wave continuous 3000 W model would be the max I would need?
The boat we are in the process of purchasing has the original engine with a lot of hours on it. While it likely could run for another few thousand hours, it could also go downout a month from now. I would like to consider the possibility of installing an electric motor. That is part of my rationale for considering a 48 V system over and beyond the obvious efficiency and wiresizingadvantages
So I guess my questions are:
~Wire size?
~Cell level fuses needed?And if so what kind of amp rating?
~ What other type of monitoring would be recommended?
~ recommendations on materials used specific 2 useon a sailboat in the ocean? I would imagine everythingwill be mounted in the engine compartment?
~ The ability to plug into the system for monitoring from a tablet or PC would be very handy. Any recommendations? It would need to be a plug-and-play type of thing as the last programming that I did was using AppleSoft DOS.
~ Recommendations on acharge controller that is able to handle multiple voltage and Source inputs i.e. Solar/wind/dinosaur. Also a charge controller that is compatible with lithium and a 13s x 3.7voltage?
~ Specific Brands/voltage/wattage of solar panels recommended for a 48 V system?
~ Does one controller to one solar panel make the most sense or is there some other type of configurationI should be considering?
~ am I correct on my size of inverter given the fact that I want to run a small AC at night. In situations where navigation equipment would be being used I'm assuming we wouldn't be running the AC and vice versa.
~ Is there anything wrong with using 2.3 amp hr cellwith 2.0amp hr cells as long as I account for the lowest common denominatorin the charging parameters? I do realize that I may end up with slightly less capacity from the 2.3 that I otherwise getbut I'm less worried about that then just making use of them.
~ I love the idea of possibly just installing Tesla or similar modules Isee listed on eBay and elsewhere.Does this make sense? It seems so obvious in theory but is that also true in reality? If it feasible, does it make sense to mix them with my existing cells or should I just keep it simple and make it all Tesla?
~ any other equipment or issues that I should be taking into consideration?
I'm sure I have 1000 other questions and I'm sure t i'm sure I have 1000 other questions and I'm sure there are 1000 more questions that I am not even aware of but it's a start
Thanks in advance for any enlightenment, recommendations,comments and critique! I look forward to documenting this process as time goes on. We currently live in Arizona. Hopefully be in Florida within the next 5 to 6 weeks. I would like to think I have the system up and running by the first of the year but have been through enough to know that it's best not to set deadlines if I want to do it right.
Thank Steve
So, I'm not sure what I know less about Sailing or powerwalls?
Seeing as how this is not a sailing forum,I suppose I will start in explaining my situation and then asking about building a powerwall
Iapologizefor possibly not knowing the proper terminology or explaining myself fully. I'm so green to this that I am not sure I even know the proper things to state or question?
I am hoping that I can document this process for others that may come after me or are also in the process. I also know that I need a lot of help hence the reason why I am posting here.
My wife four-year-old daughter and I are soon to be moving to a 45 foot sailboat in Florida. We plan on spending a couple few years cruising around goofing off in the Caribbean before returning back to normal life.
The boat that we are looking to buy currently has solar panels and wind generator and can also charge the lead acid battery bank via the engine. However, I am sure that we are going to want/use more energy than the existing set up has. Ideally it would be set up so that wecould run a small AC unit during the night...6000 BTU would be enough to make us content.
I believe I have settled on wanting to install a 48 V system using recycled 18650s. I'm not sure of just how big of a battery bank I am looking to have but would want to have the ability to expand it in the future. I already have purchased about4 kWh of used18650 cells made up of two different cells. 3 kW worth of 3.71s22P at 2000 maand 1 kWh of 3.71s2p atabout 2300 ma. I am sure that I will be buying a lot more.
Due to the nature of a sailboat there are many things that can create shadingon a solar panel. Due to this fact, I believe this means that I would want to set them up in a serial manner? I have also thought that multiple smaller MPPT controllers with only one solar panel attached would make the most sense?
As far as an inverter goes, I am thinking that a pure sine wave continuous 3000 W model would be the max I would need?
The boat we are in the process of purchasing has the original engine with a lot of hours on it. While it likely could run for another few thousand hours, it could also go downout a month from now. I would like to consider the possibility of installing an electric motor. That is part of my rationale for considering a 48 V system over and beyond the obvious efficiency and wiresizingadvantages
So I guess my questions are:
~Wire size?
~Cell level fuses needed?And if so what kind of amp rating?
~ What other type of monitoring would be recommended?
~ recommendations on materials used specific 2 useon a sailboat in the ocean? I would imagine everythingwill be mounted in the engine compartment?
~ The ability to plug into the system for monitoring from a tablet or PC would be very handy. Any recommendations? It would need to be a plug-and-play type of thing as the last programming that I did was using AppleSoft DOS.
~ Recommendations on acharge controller that is able to handle multiple voltage and Source inputs i.e. Solar/wind/dinosaur. Also a charge controller that is compatible with lithium and a 13s x 3.7voltage?
~ Specific Brands/voltage/wattage of solar panels recommended for a 48 V system?
~ Does one controller to one solar panel make the most sense or is there some other type of configurationI should be considering?
~ am I correct on my size of inverter given the fact that I want to run a small AC at night. In situations where navigation equipment would be being used I'm assuming we wouldn't be running the AC and vice versa.
~ Is there anything wrong with using 2.3 amp hr cellwith 2.0amp hr cells as long as I account for the lowest common denominatorin the charging parameters? I do realize that I may end up with slightly less capacity from the 2.3 that I otherwise getbut I'm less worried about that then just making use of them.
~ I love the idea of possibly just installing Tesla or similar modules Isee listed on eBay and elsewhere.Does this make sense? It seems so obvious in theory but is that also true in reality? If it feasible, does it make sense to mix them with my existing cells or should I just keep it simple and make it all Tesla?
~ any other equipment or issues that I should be taking into consideration?
I'm sure I have 1000 other questions and I'm sure t i'm sure I have 1000 other questions and I'm sure there are 1000 more questions that I am not even aware of but it's a start
Thanks in advance for any enlightenment, recommendations,comments and critique! I look forward to documenting this process as time goes on. We currently live in Arizona. Hopefully be in Florida within the next 5 to 6 weeks. I would like to think I have the system up and running by the first of the year but have been through enough to know that it's best not to set deadlines if I want to do it right.
Thank Steve