mvweebles
Guru
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2019
- Messages
- 7,730
- Location
- United States
- Vessel Name
- Weebles
- Vessel Make
- 1970 Willard 36 Trawler
Good point, and one I didn't really anticipate when switching to LFP, but have found to be very useful. I would say about half of the dock days in our 5 month trip this year were unplugged and not using dock power. In Seward where we stayed for about a week, there is no dock power on the main transient dock. And at a bunch of other stops we just didn't bother to plug it since we were only there for a day or two. This can be very helpful in many Alaska locations where power costs are a significant fraction of the moorage bill. I remember staying in Ketchikan for a month several years ago, and the power bill was the same as the monthly moorage bill.
More than just going LFP/Solar is having some serious net-zero options. When I first got Weebles 25+ years ago, she had three 8D batteries and a 75 amp alternator. I could hobble along for a week or so of short-hop cruising (The Delta, for example), but the battery bank would slowly discharge and never really fully charge until I got back to the dock with plug-in charger.
Now, with 800W of solar, 175A Balmar, and an over-sized LFP bank, our ~250AH of daily consumption is 100% net-zero - really only need to plug-in or run generator for is for extended A/C runtime. This is a real lifestyle improvement. Had a similar experience with my camper van - 30-years ago, I had a 1974 VW Westfalia that I would beach-camp in Baja. I remember leaving one remote beach after 2-days because I was worried about not having enough gas to recharge the batteries. Now with my Ford pop-top van I have solar/LFP and I'm good until the beer runs out.
Yea, most of the benefit is from solar and large alternator. But not all - the LFP bank takes a charge, has no lag under heavy discharge, and is lightweight. The entire system is fantastic. I just wish the form-factors were better. The 48v battery makes sense - hadn't thought of TT's issue of alternator though.
Peter