What do you use for Generating AC/DC

I'm at a crossroads here. My gen set engine is done and I have choices to make. I can either buy a new engine and retain the generator or get a new generator. This is a small generator and was installed by the PO. It is a belt drive with a Kubota twin probably 12 HP. When I contacted Kubota they said that engine is discontinued. It is a 3.5 KW gen. I don't have the need of a 6 or 7 KW genset and the 5's I've read about don't impress me.

I currently am not cruising and my house bank runs the refrigeration for a few days which is long enough for weekend getaways.

I was also thinking about solar and possibly wind. BUT, I just don't like the look of them.

I have AC but I never use it at anchor. If I do go to Mexico I'll probably need the AC. It's 1300 Watts and 19,000 BTU.

Is Solar or wind a reliable option?

I’m confused, but that is most likely my fault not yours.

Is the electrical alternator belted to your Kobata AC or DC? Most marine gensets are direct drive and produce AC current. Your use of “belted” is causing my confusion.

Do you know your energy budget? How much power do you need?

Within some parameters solar and wind, or both together, can work really well.

More info will get you better answers, from more experienced people in alternative energy than me.

Mike

I have a Power Ginny made on OC, CA and they are no longer in business. It has a cog belt and is designed so both the engine and generator sit sideways and have pulleys. It's a bad design and one that eats belts which are metric and very hard to find. If I changed out the engine, I'd fix that issue.

Yes, all AC only.

I think my power needs are 1500 amps a day? I'm going from memory and that's mostly a guess. I also lost my fridge so that will be replaced and might change my need.

Once I looked at mounting solar panels on the fly bridge railing or somewhere like that and I could live on solar mostly. An occasional fishing trip would top off the batteries if I went for a long cruise.

In my marina, being in Los Angeles Harbor, there are many many boats that stop here and outfit for cruising. Some from Canada but most from north of here so I see a lot of different configurations.

I'm just not fond of cluttering up a clean looking trawler. In my thinking, sailboats are clutter anyway so adding lots of things to them doesn't change much visually.

I'm just asking if anyone has good ideas for generating electricity for the house bank. I can live on my inverter very easily.

The best marine diesel generators around are Northern Lights but they are not inexpensive. So they may be more than you want to put into generating electricity at this point. It's been some time since I've looked but I believe their smallest generator is about 5kw, which still may be more than you need.

Should the day come when our old Onan Jurassic Series MDJE 7.5kw gives out we will replace it with a Northern Lights.

Solar can certainly work but in my observation it takes a hell of a lot of panel surface area to do anything serious.

I might suggest you look into a Honda EU2000 inverter generator. They are super quiet, extremely reliable and can pull double-duty in a power outage around the house or on the boat. They run in "economy mode" when on light loads and you can hardly hear it a dozen feet away. They can be found used for $500 or so, and new for around $900-$950. Really one of the better accessories I've purchased for any boat. It's really earned it's keep.

Marin said:

Should the day come when our old Onan Jurassic Series MDJE 7.5kw gives out we will replace it with a Northern Lights.

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We have a Northern Lights on ours and you're right, they just purr. I was shocked when I found out what it was worth though. They are sure nice.

SomeSailor said:

I might suggest you look into a Honda EU2000 inverter generator. .

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This is a good idea, too. The argument I hear most about using Honda-type stand-alone generators is that they are gasoline powered so you have to deal with storing gasoline which is much more volatile and "dangerous" than diesel fuel.

But most diesel cruisers have a dinghy or shoreboat of some type and 99 percent of the time they are outboard powered so the owner is faced with having to store gasoline safely anyway. So I don't see carrying a Honda generator as adding any more "risk" than the owner has already with his outboard fuel.

5 KW Norhtern Lights Generator - The Hull Truth - Boating and Fishing Forum

Too bad it's on the east coast......

I carry a 2 gallon dinghy tank and keep the Honda topped off. If needed I could always transfer fuel from the dinghy tank. It's such a small amount of gas there is no real danger to speak of.

Greetings,
A gallon of gasoline packs the explosive power of 14 sticks of dynamite.

I'ld 2nd the Honda I've got one & used it with my last boat that was gas power & had a 6.5 Westerbeke. The Honda would run on the swim grid & not be noticed in the solon while watching tv with the kids. I would run it all night & use less than a gallon of fuel. I'ld use the 6.5 when the Honda wouldn't carry the load - cooking mostly.

Thanks for the many answers. I have seen new installations of the NL 5KW and a Panda. I also had a friend work at a store who sells westerbeke and he said not to buy one.

My friend with the NL had to remove the head and do carbon cleaning in Mexico the first year of ownership. His problem is like mine. We really don't need 5 KW. I cook with propane ans my fridge is the only electrical drain of any size. I have lights and stereo. I have watched TV once in 15 years on the hook. Too much life going on to watch TV, I think.

I forgot to mention, I own a small gas generator I use on the fly bridge right now. I need to get past the gas generator. It's not as nice as the Honda inverter however. Those are really nice. I use that to run my battery charger to charge up the house bank.

I'm going to look again at small generators. Does anyone know anything about Phasor Marine Generators? They have smaller gen sets in the 4 KW size as does Westerbeke. It's been over 10 years since my friend worked there. Maybe they have improved their units.

It's either that or replace my engine on the one I have.

Capthead said:

Thanks for the many answers. I have seen new installations of the NL 5KW and a Panda. I also had a friend work at a store who sells westerbeke and he said not to buy one.

My friend with the NL had to remove the head and do carbon cleaning in Mexico the first year of ownership. His problem is like mine. We really don't need 5 KW. I cook with propane ans my fridge is the only electrical drain of any size. I have lights and stereo. I have watched TV once in 15 years on the hook. Too much life going on to watch TV, I think.

I forgot to mention, I own a small gas generator I use on the fly bridge right now. I need to get past the gas generator. It's not as nice as the Honda inverter however. Those are really nice. I use that to run my battery charger to charge up the house bank.

I'm going to look again at small generators. Does anyone know anything about Phasor Marine Generators? They have smaller gen sets in the 4 KW size as does Westerbeke. It's been over 10 years since my friend worked there. Maybe they have improved their units.

It's either that or replace my engine on the one I have.

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Wow! Westerbeke and Northern Lights bashed. And based on heresay.

Greetings,

All Power America LLC.

Capthead said:

I'm going to look again at small generators. Does anyone know anything about Phasor Marine Generators? They have smaller gen sets in the 4 KW size as does Westerbeke. It's been over 10 years since my friend worked there. Maybe they have improved their units.

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Several of the 45' charter fishing boats on my dock have these to power AC units when they are running charters. So far they have done well with both models running them 12 hours a day when they have charters. Talked to the company tech rep about the smaller one. His comment was that you need to run them with 50% plus load all the time or the engine temps drop and you will carbon up the head.

3.5 KW Generator

5 KW Generator

Ted

We use a 4kw Kohler, I picked up on Ebay, inexpensively because the engine would not run. The engine is a Yanmar 2gm, which is also discontinued. The yanmar gm series is very well supported partswise.
It turned out the fuel rack in the injection pump was frozen and after freeing that up the engine ran. New belts and a rebuild of the sea water pump and I was good to go.

It has been running since and works great.

The point is even though the Kubota engine on your genset is discontinued I bet the parts are available to rebuild it or repair it.

Might be the easy way out if you are mechanically inclined.

JohnP

Capthead said:

My gen set engine is done and I have choices to make. I can either buy a new engine and retain the generator or get a new generator.

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Please pardon my use of irony for a humorous result. I mean nothing by it... BUT...

Perhaps the use of synthetic oil would have extended the life of your genset.

*cue the band*

(Thank you ladies and gentlemen. I'll be here all week. Please don't forget to tip your waitresses and bartenders... and you should try the veal. I hear it's fabulous!)

I share the concern about running an oversize diesel genset. Cygnus has a 7.5 Onan but all the house loads (minus Air Conditioning) run on one 30A main. The PO removed the A/C so until I replace that, I can never run it even at 50% load.

I used a Honda EU2000 on my previous boat, and will bring it aboard this one, too. Not real keen on having to store more gas, but as long as I have a gas dinghy engine I'm storing it anyway. I ran the A/C all night on the Honda, or cooking or water-heating loads, but never together. It's a pain to find a convenient (and safe!) place to run it, but it's a viable option.

I have no problem shutting off one large load so I can run another, so for me, anything over about 3KW is unnecessary, and risks under-loading the engine. If the Onan dies I'll replace it with something smaller.

Tom.B said:

Please pardon my use of irony for a humorous result. I mean nothing by it... BUT...

Perhaps the use of synthetic oil would have extended the life of your genset.

*cue the band*

(Thank you ladies and gentlemen. I'll be here all week. Please don't forget to tip your waitresses and bartenders... and you should try the veal. I hear it's fabulous!)

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Why not opt out of a genset completly?

Since your electrical needs are modest, what about a larger house bank?

If you calculate the electrical usage, then build a house bank sized accordingly and use a large frame high-amp alternator with smart regulation for recharging. Use an inverter for smaller loads as needed.

Then you will have the same result, without extra noise when at anchor. You will just have to calculate your longest time between running the mains on your boat to properly size your house bank.


In our case, we can comfortably stay anchored up to 6 days before initiating a recharge cycle by starting the main and moving to a different anchorage.

Our use is approx 100AH per 24/hrs, so 600ah in 6 days - house bank is around 1400ah. This includes typical lighting/tv loads as well as running a 12v freezer in the cockpit.

We find the typical time at anchorage rarely goes more than 4 days, so this has been a very practical solution for our cruising style.

I have been looking at the Honda 2000 on ebay. It has 2 120v, 13.3 amp outlets. My shorepower is 30 amp; will this work? I assume it will as long as use is 13.6 amps or below. But, my charger is 20 amp (2 banks @ 10 amps each).

I would be careful pushing any generator right up to it's rated output.

The Eagle has a 5 KW cruise gen set powered by the main 671 connect with two V belts that have to be changed about every 5 years or so. I carry extra belts/hoses/fluid/tools. Cruise gen are common on sail boats and smaller power boats. You can buy the gen set portion at Tool Town for like 500 bucks. We have them mounted in our service pick ups for small AC tools.

There is nothing wrong with having a high KW gen set as long as you put a high amp load periodically. Also gen set are set for a constant high RPM, so its not going to idle like big HP engine at hull speed.

As for having no gen set, battery/inverter, is Ok as long as the total amp hour demand is low. The catch 22 is how to charge back those amp hours?

We use 1 Westerbeke 15 KW, 1 Westerbeke 8 KW and in this moment i mounted the third Westerbeke 8 KW.
____________________
Norbert

This is my experience with generating. For the last 4 years I have been relying on a Honda 2000 but I find its noise to be objectionable. When I use it, it has to run at close to full power and it doesn't have enough power to do the 2 things I want it to do, heat water and charge the batteries, at the same time. I have to first heat water which draws 12 Amps for an hour than I charge the batteries which also draws a similar amount for an hour. During this time, the Honda is just screaming. It is very quiet at low power but I don't have any low power needs.

So I have been researching generators. I found that the best small AC generator for my needs was the Next Generator 3.5 KW for its size and weight, about 200 lbs with sound shield. I found the best price from a EBay dealer at just over $6,000 plus shipping. Do an Ebay search for "Next Generator 3.5 KW" to find this dealer. This generator runs at 2400 RPM rather than the normal 3600 RPM for the other small generators.

But this isn't what I finally bought. I decided to go with a DC generator made by Aquamarine. It has a 150 Amp alternator and I am running its cooling loop though my hot water tank to make hot water while it is running. I'm probably saving about $1500 but the DC generator will require a bit more fiddling with valves and RPM adjustments everytime I use it. I'm still in the installation process so I can't give any experience on how well this will work. It certainly won't be as hands off as the AC generator would have been.

Oh by the way, I recently found out that Honda now has a 3000 model that only weighs 78 lbs versus the 140 lbs for the older model. I may have gone this route if I had known this. I saw this in a recent Camping World catalog.

Ron

Windmist is right, the Honda is a great generator but when not in the economy mode, she makes a racket and I am almost never in the economy mode. But for the week or so I spend at anchor, she meets my needs.

I run it on my back semi enclosed sun deck with a exhaust hose running out the back into the water and a CO2 alarm mounted just above it. The noise is no issue if you are inside but if you are near it, she is pretty loud.

Don't know, just asking, is a propane powered generator an option since one might also have propane on board?

windmist said:

Oh by the way, I recently found out that Honda now has a 3000 model that only weighs 78 lbs versus the 140 lbs for the older model. I may have gone this route if I had known this. I saw this in a recent Camping World catalog.

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I just read up on this....It puts out 25 amps. too!