wind generators

[FF]

The big advantage of solar is its ability to actually bring the house to 100% SOC.

A noisemaker is usually secured at 85-90% SOC as that last 10% takes "forever".

Happily some days solar works many many hours silently bringing the house set back up.

With a large bank the service life of 85% SOC vs 100% SOC could easily pay for a solar panel or two, and a charge controller.

AS a buck a watt is getting more common , why not?

 

[VixenII]

Even a controller is unnecessary if your solar system's total output over 24 hrs is less than 3% of the total amp/hr rating of your battery bank. You can't overcharge at that rate. Justin, I would plan on solar panels and bag the wind gen. (Average cost of new wind sets are c. $1000 -$2500 for new units - plus the mounting hardware) As previous comments have said, you can get alot of solar for the same price - especially on the size boat you are talking about. You can probablly mount a couple of panels totaling 200-300 watts and wire them directly to your battery bank. If you are worried about over charging while the main engine is running, it is quite simple to put a disconnect in the circuit - it can't hurt the panels. If you have the normal battery bank of four 6 V. deep cycle - you can't run into trouble. As your battery bank gets bigger, you can add more solar without modification. You will still need, IMHO, a small (ie; Honda 1Kw or 2Kw) genset as a fail safe. And, I know this is another thread - but don't use automotive battery chargers - be sure you have a fully grounded marine charger (IOTA, perhaps, or others...)

 

[Moonstruck]

Until you get to the Gulf, you will probably find both solar and wind unreliable. There is a reason that you will see a lot of house boats on the rivers. They don't like wind, and there are many overcast days. If you are running most every day, a large battery bank with about a 120 amp alternator/3 stage regulator should keep the batteries in good shape. You haven't mentioned an inverter, but if so an efficient one will still consume about 10% of the power.

You can mount solar panels on a rack above a bimini top. In florida and the islands solar should work quite well, but would still require 50% if you want them to last.

 

[justinclay]

Houseboats dont handle chop very well hence the reason im not even contemplating the idea of one. Solar panels it is then bc there are days when the sun is bright and strong so itll def help. We also get hell storms up here that produce wicked winds. So wind generagor still isent off the list yet

 

[Aquabelle]

I agee with FF at post #31 above...he makes a good & valid point about bringing batteries to 100%.