Big Electrical Milestones

Milestone 1

This first milestone for the day, is shown in today's short video

This was key because it means that, for the first time, we can start getting energy out of our booster bank. It can potentially trickle into the main house bank 380w, 24 hours a day.

Using this kind of Isolated DC to DC converter keeps the booster bank as separate from the main house bank as possible. If we had a catastrophic failure of the main house bank then with a small amount of rewiring we could turn the booster bank into a replacement main house battery bank.

Milestone 2

It took the rest of the day but I managed to get the next batch of solar panels fully connected. These are four 110w Levante Panels (semi rigid with a carbonfibre backing) that we got through a kickstarter project. For this winter they are hanging off the port guardrails. See this short video:

So an additional 440w of solar is now connected and I got 5 minutes of charging before the sun went down. These are connected to the Booster Bank. Now we can both charge that bank and pass that charge onto the house bank.

This means that in total we now have 2,000w of solar connected.

• Four x 215w (at the moment 2 behind the boat and 2 in the on-deck solar far) through a Victron MPPT into the 48V house battery bank
• Four x 175w (2 port side guardrails, 2 starboard side guardrails) through two Renogy Rover Boost MPPTs into the 48V house battery bank
• Four x 110w (hanging from the port lifelines) through one Renogy Rover Boost MPPT into the boost battery bank.

Still to connect

• Two 100w panels (currently in the on-deck solar farm) through one Renogy Rover Boost MPPT into the boost battery bank.
• Four 40w panels (on top of the wheelhouse) through a Victron MPPT into the 12v House battery bank
• One 55w panel (last of the Levante panels, hanging on the port lifeline at the moment) through a Victron MPPT into the 12v House battery bank

Typically it takes me a couple of days to connect any bank of solar. One to make and fit all the MC4 cables (the ones from the panels to the Isolation switch). Another for all the connections from the isolation switch -> the MPPT -> Circuit breaker -> Busbars. As the potential yield diminishes (because only the smaller panels remain) these jobs move down my priority list.

With the North Wales weather our yield is much reduced, today the nominal 1,560w of panels contributed only 470wh in total (approx 1/3 of what they should be capable of providing in one hour of full sun). Still we have dramatically reduced how much boatyard electricity we are having to buy so it is all worth it.

Milestone 3

We realised that we have not updated you about the electric motor installation.

In summary, we are delayed because some of the parts we need for the installation were delayed. At one point we were told they would not arrive until January. So we have rescheduled the installation for January with the intention of launching as soon after as possible (realistically March is the very earliest we could be ready). Since then the parts have arrived 😄

There are still some big jobs that need to be done before the installation:

• Finish the wheelhouse extension cover to provide full weather protection
• Build a battery box for the Electric Motor Batteries. Fit the busbars, switches etc on top of it
• Get the propeller shaft alignment fixed, and locked into the aquadrive which needs to be fitted to the thrust bulkhead in exactly the right place. Includes fitting the dripless seal on the propeller shaft and the water cooling for it.
• Fit the electric motor controller (above the thrust bulkhead) and install its cooling system.
• Fit the electric motor mounts and the motor onto them connected to the aquadrive
• Create a mounting for the main motor switch and throttle.

So you might ask why I am doing other jobs like solar and insulation at the moment? Some of these need to be done before the motor jobs as access will be reduced. Others are to allow us to be productive and comfortable in the boat yard through the winter.

That's it for this update!