Generate

We believe in self provision due to our destinations, places with few facilities. And we don’t want to be a burden on scarce resources. We use solar panels and a high output alternators on our diesels.

Kiskadee is fitted two options from Seawind, the litium update and max solar panels, in our case 1060 watts. We will update after a few years our rigid panels to a higher wattage. I don’t like flush panels, they deteriorate quickly, lets see.

Our diesel engines with high output alternators (dynamo) generate high load in a short time, very suitable for LiFePO4 batteries. The upgrade to Lithium included 2 extra Mastervolt alternators. We barely use them just for generating electricity but we do use the port side engine for hot water,

I will swap this picture with the actual installation on Kiskadee.

Storage electricity

Luckily there is a Lithium upgrade available. Our house bank is 2 * 480 Ah each. I like an all Mastervolt installation and the fact it’s a integrated update with BMS, Chargers AC-DC-DC Inverters and MPPT Solar connection. Pricy but the base for sustainable self provisioning for years, see all of our options

Electricity Power users

I opted to stay with the EasyView from Mastervolt. Enough information, can be configured to show all your needed information. I think C-Zone and a connection to the PC is not really necessary on a 1260 with a straight forward balance sheet.

Most likely we will evaluate after a year of usage and act accordingly. More usage because we swap the gas stove for a two plate induction set, or less usage by extra isolated the fridge etc. So after our first 8.000 NM we added a few things, all electric. A bread maker, a hot air gun etc.

Our biggest users are the inverter itself, and our 230 AC appliances like StarLink (18 hours a day), water cooker, induction plate (both short usage) and several 12 DC appliances (anchor windlass, refrigerator, freezer, autopilot). Another project to be done is rerouting the water heater from shore power to the inverter and on a separate switch to be able to a hot shower anywhere without running the engine.

The old fashion way is a current balance sheet. It is simply a comparison between usage and generated capacity. Very useful to gain insight while in process of picking options. We did a quick add up and decided not to obtain an air-conditioning unit to avoid a generator.