Solar Energy
11 January 2009 | GTC, Bahamas
Not a cloud in the sky!
Another great day!
After a wonderful breakfast of eggs poached in grits (a recent habit), we spent a couple of hours beachcombing for glass and shells, and visiting a local cottage which has been rented by some folks from Vancouver whom we met on the ferry ride over from Treasure Cay. The are LOTS of rental cottages available here and the occupancy is very low, so there is lots to chose from.
This afternoon was spent installing the new watermaker, with great results! I'll pick up a couple of additional fittings tomorrow when the shops open, and we'll be ready for an initial trial. I had to remove the floorboards to run all of the electrical wiring and plumbing, but everything is back together again, and the entire system almost disappears.
The solar panels ( 4 x 130 = 520watts) work until about 4:30pm and due to the flat installation ( they are not tilted towards the sun) they generate about 18amps (200 watts) maximum at high noon. The result is that by 3:30pm all of the batteries are fully charged, and the system indicates that everything that went out has been restored.
We also changed ALL of the lights on the boat to LEDs this year, but with over 30 lights (inside and out) they still use a fair bit of power.
The Xantrex solar charger/controller seems to work extremely well preventing the batteries from being over-charged.
Louise is so excited about the solar energy, she used her 110V toaster at lunch (via the inverter) to toast our sandwiches!
Tonight is another lobster feast with cold white wine and a fresh salad thanks to the Nassau shopping expedition.
If the weather holds, we'll finalize the watermaker installation tomorrow and head out on Tuesday morning to explore some deserted islands.
Bye for now!
glen