Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

You can use your battery system monitor to show the amp output of the wind and solar using my package.  It consists of a panel, switches, shunts, and a terminal strip.  What it does is momentarily switch from the system monitor shunt to a shunt that is located in the wind or solar circuit.

$95 BUY NOW

Keep in mind that renewable energy applications need very energy efficient stuff light LED navigation lights…

In the state of Florida one of the requirements for a contractors license is verifiable work experience working  for  a contractor for at least three years.  I have never worked for a contractor, and while I thought it might be possible to get around that requirement when I took the tests, it looks like I will never be able to get the license because I won’t be closing our business and going to work for someone else.  I have other certifications; Airframe and Powerplant FAA Certificates, Bachelor’s in Education, ASE (automotive) Master Mechanic, USCG Captian’s License, and others, none of which count (nor should they).  I do have 12 years experience woking with wind and solar systems, mostly on cruising sailboats.  I have attended various manufacturer’s seminars, including UniRac, Xantrex, Outback,  Sharp, Sanyo, SMA, Morningstar, Southwest Windpower, and others. I stay in touch with new developments and give seminars on “Solar for Your Home” (nothing like lecturing in front of a bunch of people to motivate you to know what you are talking about!).  In order for your solar system to qualify for the (substantial) Florida rebate, you will have to show that the system was installed by a licensed electrical or solar contractor.    I have contractors that I work with that can do the installation.

• Four US Made High-Flux LEDs
• 600+ Lumen* LED Light
• Highest lumen-per-watt LEDs outperform other LED lights in its class
• Best Marine LED Light in the market for commercial and recreational boating
• Spreader / Deck / Spot LED Light

The Kevin is a general purpose waterproof light with four US made high-flux LEDs.  This light is fabricated from the highest quality components to assure long life and trouble-free functioning.  Die cast aluminum housing provides ample heat sinking to the LEDs to ensure long life operation. Their patented internal circuitry provides consistent brightness and makes them immune to life-shortening voltage fluctuations.  Their incredibly low power draw (1A @ 12V) makes them the perfect way to reduce energy consumption. 

$159   BUY NOW

Versatile LED Chart & Reading Light with red and soothing warm

Cobra Chart Light

white light

 

World’s First and Only Bi-Color (Red/White) Single High-Flux LED Chart and Reading Light.

$99  BUY NOW

LEDs are advancing rapidly.  Although they have always been very energy efficient, the earlier ones  were blueish-colored, not very bright, and not very long-lived (see our Yard Sale section).  Fortunately, the newer ones have overcome those problems.  They are now available in just about any form to replace nearly any light bulb, and the prices are coming down.   Because we (at least try) to keep up with what’s happening in LEDs and represent several companies that make LED lights, we can probably recommend the best product for your application.  Call us for suggestions.   Following are some of the companies we represent, in no particular order:

Stecktronics – Reynold Steckley in Marathon, FL, has been building extremely reliable, bright, and energy efficient bulb replacements and assemblies for years now.  He builds LED clusters that replace incandescent bulbs, optionally assembles them into housings, and now has navigation light assemblies.  His latest offering are USCG approved anchor and tri-color lights.  The tri-color/anchor is available with an innovative feature:  The anchor and tri-color can both operate off of two wires, and you choose between anchor and tri-color by turning the switch on and off (no additional switching required).  Also, the anchor light can be made to “strobe” by a sequence of switching.   He makes  an anchorlight assembly for $66, the best value on the market, and it fits the same mounting holes as the Aqua Signal.  

Orca Green Marine – One of the first on the market with USCG approved navigation light assemblies.  Extremely waterproof and bright.

Dr LED – Chinese-made bulb replacements (and now some housing assemblies) for nearly any housing, interior or navigation light.  Simply remove the old bulb and install the LED cluster:  plug-and-play.  The anchor light bulb replacement ($46) has been the most popular and is the most cost effective LED replacement you can get.  It is USCG approved when used in an Aqua Signal series 40 housing.  Latest offerings are an LED deck light (the “Kevin”) and a very stylish chart light.  New: the only bulb replacement for small stainless domed nav lights used on small boats.    

Marine Beam – The first company to offer a replacement LED cluster for small recessed dome lights.  Warm colors, very energy efficient and reliable.  At $10 their Davis Megalight bulb replacement is a best value and is more energy efficient and brighter than the original.

Bebi –   Former cruisers now living in Fiji build these basic bulb replacements.  A wide variety of products, all with a lifetime warranty.  One of the most energy efficient product choices available and comes with a dual circuit driver that increases reliability.  Hand-made and sometimes requires additional handiwork to install.  Check out their Fautasi fluorescent light relacement and Beka cockpit light.

Sailor’s Solutions (makers of the SensiBulb) – Technically one of the most advanced bulb replacements, with precise energy and heat control (needed for the newer SMT LEDs). Made in the USA.   Innovative mounting system allows it to be used in a reading light or dome light.  Bright and warm, you can’t tell there is an LED in the fixture. See the Sensibulb here.

The Florida budget that passed May 8, 2009  includes $9.4 million for the solar rebate program, which pays you $4 per watt, or about 1/2 the cost of a solar system.   On Monday the 11th,  the Florida Energy and Climate Commision (FECC) voted to approve the plan put together by staff that will be submitted to the federal government for approval, such that the funds should be available July 1, 2009, at the start of the state’s fiscal year. 

The staff is also asking for an additional $5 million that would cover most of the $5.2 million applications currently on file.

Other parts of the plan call for $20 million to install 10K solar systems on about 190 schools and shelters.  A state loan program for homeowners to buy solar water heaters ($10 million).  Money for R&D, economic development, training, and outreach (letting people know the funds are there) and retrofitting to energy star are included.

All of the funds are coming from the Federal Economic Recovery Act, which requires that the citizens be notified of how the money is being spent.  Part of the Federal requirements is that the state have a web site.  For information about the Florida funds see:  flarecovery.com

Keep in mind that the Gainesville Utility has a very generous program that will also qualify for the rebate funds.  With lots of systems being installed there, it is unlikely that the money will last till the end of the year.

There is also a 30% federal tax rebate available.  It covers 30% of the installed cost of the solar system.  You must have a tax liability (you must owe taxes in that year) to take advantage of the tax rebate, but it does “rollover” (you can take the rebate in the following year). 

With this years reduction in solar panel prices, the Florida rebate and the federal rebate, there is a “window of oportunity” to get a solar system for very little cost.    For example: a 2000 watt system might cost $16,000.  The Florida rebate = $8,000.  The federal incentive would be $6,000.  Your cost = $2,000.  If it saves you $1 per day, $365 year, that’s 5.5 years to recover the investment, for a system that should last over  25 years.  If you have equity in your home, you can borrow the money.

Under Florida statutes, the county cannot raise your property taxes because of the solar installation.  There is no sales tax on solar products.  Our insurance went up less than $100 per year when we included the solar system in our home owners.  Deed-restricted communities cannot prevent you from installing a solar system.

For more information Florida on incentives, see:  http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/index.cfm?re=1&ee=1&spv=0&st=0&srp=1&state=FL

The Technology    Skip to “Bottom Line”  if you really don’t care how they work.  There are two basic kinds of solar panels (more properly called modules); crystaline and thin-film.  The crystaline fall into two catagories; mono-crystal and poly-crystal.  Thin-film modules look monolithic, with no noticeable individual cells.  Polycrystal cells have a crystal look to them, sort of like broken ice, when viewed at the right angle.  Mono-crystal cells are gray to dark blue, with no crystal structure visible.

 The cells in a monocrystal module are more efficient – they produce more power per square inch, but the way they are made requires that they start off round.  Trimming some of the edges, so that they can fit more closely together, helps them fit together more tightly, but the cell material is very expensive.  Polycrystal cells start off square or rectangular, meaning they can be packed in more tightly, covering the area more completely.  So, the overall efficiency of mono vs poly-crystal modules is very close, with there being a slight advantage in price to the less expensive poly-crystal modules, and slightly more power per square inch for monocrystal.  What it usually comes down to is what fits better.  Poly-crystal modules tend to be shorter and fatter, while mono-crystal modules tend to be longer and narrower.

Thin film modules use a lot less of the expensive pure silicon than crystaline modules.  Unfortunately, the very low cost modules that this promises have only recently started to come to market, and in forms that are not well adapted to boats.  The down side to thin film is that it is less than 1/2 as efficient as crystaline, meaning that at least twice as much area is needed to produce the same amount of power.  The up side is that they are not nearly as effected by shading.  Shading one cell of a crystaline module can reduce the output by 50%.  Completely shading one row of crystaline cells can bring the output to near zero.  Shading a portion of a thin film module only reduces the output by the amount shaded.  Shade it 10% and lose 10% of the power.

Bottom Line    You’ll want to use crystaline modules if they are going to be fully exposed to the sun all the time (like over davits), and thin film if they will be significantly shaded (like under the boom).

Whether you are keeping the batteries from going dead or running your alternative lifestyle, solar panels on a boat make a lot of sense.  Most of us are not willing to live without the comfort and safety afforded by electrical power.  Creating that power from fossil fuels can be expensive, smelly, loud, and inconvenient.  Solar power is silent, reliable, environmentally correct, and in most cases cost effective.

Solar vs Fossil Fuels    Making all of your electrical power from a generator or high-output alternator on the auxilary engine will be much more expensive than getting it from the grid.  A typical cuising sailboat uses about 150 a amp-hours per day (Ah/d).  If you were getting this power from the grid (like at your house), this would cost about $0.20 per day.  If you make this amount of power with fossil fuels, just the fuel alone is likely to cost over $1.00 per day (and require that you carry additional fuel or top off the tanks more often).  If you add maintenance, depreciation, and repairs that could easily go to over $2.00 per day, and that doesn’t consider the noise, smell, etc.  With solar there is virtually no maintenance (maybe cleaning the bird pooh off occationally).  Solar modules will last a long time, probably more than 40 years.  The warranty is typically 20 – 25 years.  Figure the cost of the solar at $6 watt (including the controller and installation equipment), and the break-even point compared to fossil fuels is about 3.5 years.

Other Advantages     But wait, there’s more; solar does not polute.  Solar is much more cool (it doesn’t heat up the boat).  Batteries prefer to be charged at a low rate over a long time, compared to the high rate for short time from a high-output alternator or generator, which can overheat and shorten their life or even damage them.  Your batteries are more likely to get fully charged with solar, because when charging in a short time from fossil fuels, they typically do not accept the last 10% or so of the charge, and they are likely to not get cycled as deeply with solar, making them last longer. 

The Down Side     Cost.  At $6 per watt, a typical system for an offshore cruising boat would cost about $2700.  But, unless you have a catamaran or have a generous sized arch, you probably do not have room for the all the solar modules needed.  Also,if your boat already has a high-output alternator or gen-set, then you will have little in the way of avoided cost, at least for the initial investment.

Very bright, very long life, very good value.  The Marine Beam “Hammer” is the best LED bulb replacement available for the small, recessed lights.  Very little heat, and 2 year warranty.  We’ve found these to be very reliable, and they use about 1/10 the power of the bulb they replace.$35    

 MORE INFO     BUY NOW 

Xantrex 3 stage voltage regulator, for quick, safe battery charging.  Settings for flooded, gell and AGM batteries.  Looks and acts just like the Balmar regulator.   Includes wire harness.  Optional battery temperature sensor.  Optional alternator temperature sensor.    More info    $250    BUY NOW

Voltage Regulator

Voltage Regulator