Can you run a cruising boat on solar? Including the new Bluetti Elite 300
We now think we have the perfect set-up for our on board power. We have uprated our solar ( which has been very successful with the bifacial panels) and we have greatly increased our battery capacity by getting a Bluetti Elite 300 which is the world's smallest 3 kWh portable power station. It also has other great features for the boat as you will see.
The history of setting Fair Isle up for power on board is this:
Our big generator in the engine room was unreliable from the start, it cost a fortune but in the 4 years we had it I had to rebuild it twice. So we ditched it.
Our first attempt at solar was having two 215w panels on an arch I built at the stern and a small 100w flexible panel on the dog house roof. This wasn't really enough. I also fitted a Balmar 115Amp alternator to give us good power when motoring but we quickly found we needed more.
So in Venice I fitted a 400w Bifacial panel in the bit of space we had left in front of the two monofacil ones. We also fitted a bimini an I managed to get a 200w flexible panel on that.
We cruised like this for 5 years, it was okay, we mostly had enough power, but we were always conscious of what we were using. We did get a small petrol generator that lived in the sail locker for emergencies. We used it 3 times in 4 years.
We don't like to ever run the ships engine to charge, it is not good for a diesel engine to run with no load so we've avoided doing that.
This year we decided to swap our 2 original monofacial panels for two new bifacial ones. these panels were rated at 500w. So we now have 1400w of solar on the back arch and 200w on the bimini that charge our 630AH lithium house bank.
We did this in April and straight away, even though the weather was not good, we were full before lunch time! Now in summer we have more power than we can possibly use. We cook on an induction stove, charge our epropulsion electric outboard every day and run our DC watermaker every other day, but everything is always full.
Obviously as Autumn comes around there will be a lot less sun, but we are now very confident we will never be short of power. This is because we have extra capacity of the Bluetti. We could probably make the house bank itself a bit bigger now as well but you have to be careful not to make it so big that you struggle to get a regular top balance. Lithium batteries need a regular charge to 100% as it's only when this happens that they can switch into their 'balance' mode where they equalise out the charge across all the cells. It's important that the batteries get to do this once a week or so.
If you've been following the channel you will know we have been testing lots of fold out solar panels as well. These are great when you are at anchor and very useful if you have a solar power station as they come with XT60 plugs that slot straight into the Bluetti and charge it up.
It's really nice to sit in an anchorage knowing that we have all the power we need without making any noise whatsoever!
We can thoroughly recommend getting bifacial panels, ours were from Leroy Merlin in Cartagena and were an absolute bargain at €69 each, we couldn't quite believe it!
The Bluetti Elite 300 is also a very good buy it gives you an extra 3000W of storage (250Ah), a 2400w inverter and an inbuilt MPPT capable of connecting a 1000w solar panel to, so much cheaper than buying all that lot separately. I can imagine people with a small boat just buying a Bluetti to take care of all their electrical needs. Have a look at the specs on their website, it's impressive: https://bit.ly/4eNzPsV
Sailing Fair Isle
Steve and Judy: The veteran BBC filmmakers navigating the globe aboard their Hans Christian 48, Fair Isle, blending broadcast-quality storytelling with blue-water grit.
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