Charging systems for Albin 36

[harlie]

In the process of buying an Albin 36 and this boat was set up for travelling from dock to dock. I wish to put a new charger in the boat, increase battery banks to make it a better suited boat for us. We stay on a mooring and at anchor. This boat has a gen. set. Now we live in Canada and the boat is south; went down for the survey and we understand that these systems must be updated, but we do not have a wiring digram of the new project. The question is; does anyone on site use an Albin in this way and what are their systems ; and how are they wired in? What equipment do they have; trying to get my head around some of the items we must get so when we do go to the boat to do these projects I will have a basic idea. Looking forward to your responses.

[DougSea]

Hi Harlie,

A few quick thoughts...I kept my boat (a 28) on a mooring for a number of years. The single most important thing is a good, fully charged battery the runs your pumps! Right after that is a fully charged starting battery. Keep the house bank separate. BlueSeas systems has some good documentation on the wiring and systems needed to charge the banks.

I also had a solar charger hooked up to keep my batteries topped off. And there's a post here on AOG viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3040 that discusses a higher powered solar charger.

[bccanucker]

For our 36 Albin (which we bought last April) We have
1. 3 pairs of 6V Golf cart batteries for the house batteries (700 amp hours)
2. 1 4D 12V for starting
3. Xantrex Freedom Marine 20 (2KWatt) inverter/Charger
4. Xantrex Link 1000 Battery Monitor (Keeps track of amp hours used)
5. Xantrex Digital Echo Charger (Charges Starter battery)
6. Balmar 120 amp alternator
7. Three 135Watt Solar Panels. These make us totally indepentent. Batteries are fully charged each day. We now move the boat to go home because it's raining. These panels are mounted above the bridge canvas.
8 No genset

We aslo live in Canada
Good luck

[Mariner]

What year 36 is this? Is it one of the old aft-cabin trunk trawlers, or is it the newer Express Trawler?

[lawrento]

Hi Roy,
Your Solar system is the solution for my Albin 28TEFD, insufficient space so no genset.
Wish to learn more from You.
Kindly post Pictures of your Solar system on your boat.
What's the cost spend doing up this Solar system.
I wish to mount the Solar panels on the Hard Top area ... Any shortcomings ?
Presently only have one 4D battery 100amp and another 8D battery 230amp.
This system will definitely save me lots of anxiety due to flat batteries syndrome while in the Open Sea.
Cheers !
Lawrence Lau.

[bccanucker]

Here's some more info on the solar panels.
We have 3 X 135Watt Kyocera panels. You can find these for about $500. each. Wiring for panels to switches to controller and to batteries about $.50/ft. We have a Morningstar TriStar MPPT-45 Controller. It cost about $500. Controllers range from $200. to $500. The 3 panels are wired in series giving 36 Volts to the controller. Not all controllers can do that and if you're running in parallel, 12 Volts to controller, wiring needs to be larger.
We had to beef up the bimin to handle the weight. (Each panel about 27lb. plus we added a stainless rack (see pictures to hold the panels). That's a custom install ---$2,700.
Suggest you need a battery monitor if you dont already have one with your inverter/charger. So you can see what's going in and out.
This system put out 10-29 amps depending on the sunshine. Even got 6 amps on cloudy days.
We use 100 to 150 amp hours a day. This past July August we were fully charged at the end of every day.
We now just have to solve the hot water issue. Winter project is trying to find a Paloma or Bosch or ? tankles propane heater.

Solar Panels 007.jpg

Solar Panels 009.jpg

Solar Panels 019.jpg

summertime 2010 135a.jpg

[per]

Here's some more info on the solar panels.
We have 3 X 135Watt Kyocera panels. You can find these for about $500. each. Wiring for panels to switches to controller and to batteries about $.50/ft. We have a Morningstar TriStar MPPT-45 Controller. It cost about $500. Controllers range from $200. to $500. The 3 panels are wired in series giving 36 Volts to the controller. Not all controllers can do that and if you're running in parallel, 12 Volts to controller, wiring needs to be larger.
We had to beef up the bimin to handle the weight. (Each panel about 27lb. plus we added a stainless rack (see pictures to hold the panels). That's a custom install ---$2,700.
Suggest you need a battery monitor if you dont already have one with your inverter/charger. So you can see what's going in and out.
This system put out 10-29 amps depending on the sunshine. Even got 6 amps on cloudy days.
We use 100 to 150 amp hours a day. This past July August we were fully charged at the end of every day.
We now just have to solve the hot water issue. Winter project is trying to find a Paloma or Bosch or ? tankles propane heater.

Solar Panels 007.jpg

Solar Panels 009.jpg

Solar Panels 019.jpg

summertime 2010 135a.jpg

nice set up..
did you cut into the canvas to mount the ss frames?

[bccanucker]

Yes.
The being able to cut through the sunbrella was the key. Quite by accident I discovered that this could be done and then found out that every canvass guy I spoke to had been doing it for years. Knowing this spawned the roof rack idea and I designed one to install myself. The design said I had to drill many, many bolt holes in 1" diameter SS.
Ever drilled Stainless? round stainless? I chickened out and gave the job to the guy you see in the first picture. That cost me lots of $ but he also came up with a way better design that I wouldn't have been able to build.



Blue Heron's blog is at www.blueheron-albin.blogspot.com