It's mid February and now only 4 weeks to go before Chloe's launch.
Here's a quick video showing where she's at with a focus on the electrical systems installed.
Lots of Electrical systems progress has been in the works. Her 5 MPPT boxes have been installed. An MPPT box for each for her three 360Watt Arch PV panels plus one each, plus one for each side of the Bimini.
Bimini PV Panels
We wanted to increase the solar power by adding some extra panels that would sit on top of the Bimini for when wind was less than say, 40 knots...
Dawn is going to make a sewing project out of the Bimini PV Panels in the future, such that they will fold into the creases of the folded-up Bimini. For this we needed to find some narrow but long, flexible PV panels, most likely 50 Watts each.
We think we'll be able to fit 4x extra 50W PV panels on each side, giving us a total of 2x4x50W=400Watts of extra PV power. Of course the boom is going to throw a lot of shade on the Bimini for when the sun is at pretty much any angle - so we'll install a separate MPPT box for each side of the Bimini.
Total solar power will be (3 x 360Watts) + (8 x 50Watts) = 1480Watts of peak power, for when we're sitting in the Sahara desert in July at noon with no clouds in sight....
In reality, most of the time, we'll probably generate only half of that for an average of 6 hours a day.
Still, 6hrs at 740Watts = 4.4 KWatt.hrs a day which should be plenty to keep Dawn's heavy duty lap top wizzing along, as she programs her iPhone Apps.
Twin Alternators
We installed two Volvo 115Amp alternators on Chloes' D2-75 turbo engine. Diesels like to run under a bit of load, so why make it easy for her. Each of these Alternators are managed with its own Sterling battery charge manager. These will serve as a redundant system also, should one break down or an alternator belt break.
Tank & Battery monitoring
Chloe will also have a Philippi tank and battery manager. This cool system will give us a nice display of the battery energy systems status along with the liquid tank levels: starboard water, port water, poop tank and her two diesel tanks.
12V/240V Inverter We've installed a 3000W Inverter too, so we'll be able to boil water electrically, if the batteries are full and/or run a hair drier if needed.
2 Large Cups of tea will cost about 0.6% of Chloe's 900 Amp.hour LiPO battery capacity; important to know!!
