Solar Power
Monday 18th January 2021
A couple of days ago I mentioned that I was working on securing the cabin sole (floor boards). Well it turns out the attempt to use plastic wood to fill the stripped screw holes was a dismal failure so I reverted to filling them with matchsticks dipped in polyurethane glue. With the filler fully cured, this morning I re-drilled the holes and screwed down the boards … and it worked perfectly!
Gloria meanwhile was working on her latest quilt and so I turned my attention to a job that I’ve been meaning to do for a while. Actually it’s been nine years, but you wouldn’t want to rush into these things. Our comprehensive boat manual says that electrics have been set up to take “future” solar panels and indeed there is a flexible solar panel stored in the v-berth, but we’ve never made use of it. This morning I plugged it in and went through the set up to make sure I understand how it is working. I was able to measure the direct output at ~24 volts and also determined that once moderated by the voltage / charge regulator it was generating 13 volts and the output wiring seems to be connected to common +ve/-ve terminals. So all of that looks fine. The system doesn’t generate a lot of power (30 Watts) but nonetheless it surprised me that when switched on I couldn’t detect any noticeable change in the overall voltage in our system, so I remain a bit skeptical that it is actually adding any charge to our batteries (which in fairness are huge). I’d be delighted if anyone with any thoughts on this topic would comment below! (I should add that reason we have been slow to get to the solar power system is that our refrigeration runs off a direct drive compressor on the engine, so we end up running our engine (and alternator) twice a day regardless of our battery requirements.)
This afternoon we took our bikes to shore with the intention of cycling to Pigeon Key, which is a couple of miles south (west) of Marathon and accessible via the old “7 mile” bridge and road. Unfortunately, we were a little late … actually very late as the old bridge is derelict and has been shut down for repairs for the past 3 years. I like to look at the positive and think of it as being very early … the old bridge is due to re-open in another 2 years once repairs are complete. You can take a ferry but I’m not sure that we are up to being confined in small space with all the other passengers. We did enjoy the bike-ride and saw several colorful iguanas.
Mike
24 42.220 N, 81 06.131 W
The quilt is beautiful Gloria! Is it me, or is there an ocean theme? The large squares look like sea urchins and the purple ones look like sea weed. Thanks for showing us your progress!
ReplyDeleteDitto, Gloria! It's beautiful!
DeletePS the iguanas look really huge!
ReplyDeleteThey range in size but some are up to 4 ft long. You really wouldn't want one to fall out of a tree onto you!
DeleteI sent my comments about the solar array via email. Also, I could suggest that repairing stripped screw holes would go faster and easier with plumber's epoxy sticks that are sold in most big box stores. These 2 part epoxy stick cost about $8. You cut off a piece, knead it until uniformly mixed, apply to the hole, wait 10 minutes til it cures and then you can redrill a pilot hole. Voila! repair done.
ReplyDeleteRod - got your email thanks. I think your thoughts are correct but hard to test as we are barely taking any juice out of the batteries at present! I'll chat with you on the phone. Thanks also for suggestions about plumbers epoxy - we actually carry some of that on the boat but never thought to use it in this way!
Delete