Keeping an electrical system functioning in a marine environment as opposed to land based application is tricky. Bravo to Delos crew for keeping everything humming along.. You are using about 1/6 the electricity per day that I am using at my house. This is an 80+ acre property with 3 barns and irrigation. Of course I am running electric water heater, stove, clothes dryer, pool pump, four well pumps that are all 240v. I have converted my workshop to off grid solar as it is an ideal setup because I use it intermittently. 200w solar with 2 lead acid batteries and a 3000 w inverter. I can run lights and most power tools since they are not being run for a long time period. Great video.
you guys made me planning to buy my own sailboat and travel from Europe to the Caribbean. at this moment I am just soaking up all the information I need and learn every bit of information thats available. these types of videos are like pure solid gold for me. please continue Brian doing these kinds of videos.
Hi Guys. Thanks a for sharing your lives with us,. I sail a Dufour 39 around the Baleares Islands and the Costa Brava. I find your tips incredibly useful, and the way that Brian explains everything is really easy to understand. I have just listened to the episode on electricity consumption, wind and solar generators 12 to 24V which Brian and Brady put together and it has been enlightening, if you pardon the pun. Good luck wherever you are now.
Brian, you are so good at explainning everything. I know some might feel overwhelmed by data analyst(you being an engineer) but I just love listening to your clear, crisp voice explaining sophisticated systems we can all understand. Please make more of these. They are great and create a good balance with the beautiful photography and videos that you guys publish every week.
Another great video. One thing many get hung up on is comparing the 12V to 24V(DC) and then 110 & 220(AC). Explaining the commonality of these in watts or KWh is helpful. BTW, I fully and 100% blame you guys for the position I’m in. You guys made us quit everything. Waiting on the last assets to sell and boat shopping for full time cruising very soon. Hope to meet you out there one day!
Right on Jason! Congrats and so happy for you. yeah, boat stuff is kind of messy because the old-school DC stuff is in AH. But if you just remember P=IxE (power = current x voltage) it pretty much applies to anything. Good ole' Ohm's law to the rescue.
I just went on a sailing trip with my buds and the electrical systems where the second most concerning thing we faced... Second to dragging anchor when the wind got gnarly at night. This vid was really awesome! I think for newer cruisers/aspiring cruisers like myself, a video on feeling secure with anchoring in new locations would be pretty cool too. My main issue was not knowing exactly how deep we were and not knowing how much anchor chain I was spitting out per second. I digress.... My buddy and I both looked at our electric bill to see what we use per day to get a good feel for what a kwh means to us! You guys/girls inspire me and educate me every week. I really really really appreciate it. I like the educational videos because I plan cross an ocean one day too. We have a little music vid we are working on from our trip. I didn't take the Delos shirt off the entire time!! Much love!
I'm in the middle of completely restoring a 1963 cruising boat. Redoing everything from the glass up. I gotta tell ya, these Boat Bits are incredibly helpful in my planning processes. Thank you!
I was an sailor for 17 years . We said that boat life is an miniture society. Allways looking forward to watch an episode in the evening. Keep it up like it a lot :) best from sailorbear
This is truly valuable data! Brian, it's great to hear someone that's at instructor level sailing as captain then willing to share his info. You're intelligent and it's refreshing. I feel smarter after watching this informative video and I want to thank you for that.
No one else is covering this material as well as you are. This is really valuable. You will be a resource for millions with these videos. You have the perfect system to showcase the various elements that apply to most mobile electrical systems.
Please keep making these videos. I am currently working on restoring a 1963 43' Stephens Flush-deck motor-yacht with plans to sell it shortly after restoration to purchase a cruising cat, or build a Wharram, and live aboard sailing the world, so these videos are very significant to me personally, as I have my head in boat-work and systems almost every day, and the real world insight you bring to the topics is invaluable. I have been watching Delos since Australia, and it's no understatement to say the inspiration you have brought me literally changed the course of my life.
I honestly wasn’t going to watch the first one because I figured I wouldn’t understand it. I did anyway because Brian is awesome at communicating and explaining technical issues. Future Patron soon and I look forward to meeting you guys on Delos in the near future. Because of you I found out sailing is possible for almost anyone. I would have never of thought otherwise. Thank You!!!
dude absolutely loving this new series on the board electrical. extremely helpful and i love the way Brian breaks things down into a no nonsense explanation. this series will be an excellent reference for me for future use.
If serious first time sailboat buyers are not watching and making notes , then shame on them. This info can't be found elsewhere. Thank you for the effort to keep logs etc etc. Great videos , thank you.
Perfect timing for these videos. I recently bought a boat after selling up, and now after 3 weeks of scraping, sanding, and painting I am about to start on electronics. The boat already has solar and MPPT controller, just upgraded battery bank to AGM(lithium was not in budget). I didn't know the MPPT had bluetooth until seeing your video. I'm sure I would have eventually figured it out, but thanks for the info. The inverter that came in it is a Trace engineering U2512 2.5kw from 1993. It works fine but I wonder if upgrading to a newer one would be more efficient. And I agree with Jason Ensminger, I blame you, TH-cam, and all the other sailing channels for making videos of people living the dream. Hope to buy you a beer one day, or maybe you could buy me one. I might be out of money by then.
This series is a huge help to me. I will retire in 2 years, we are buying a bigger boat that will eventually end up in South East Asia. The sweet spot in efficiency is becoming much more clear.
My 4000 sq-ft house in Texas used 3325 kWh in the heat of the summer this past July with a pretty high electricity demand for air conditioning. That was a little over 100 kWh per day. This past October it dropped to 1825 kWh with cooler weather which is about half of what we used in July. This was really interesting and informative. Thanks Brian & Brady!
Most technical information is still in books when it comes to sailing. The information that is online is usually entertainment and heresay. It’s no surprise that Delos nailed it, they always do. Best sailing vids around! Thanks guys!
Everyone does the high level info type videos... its great you are getting deep in the weeds and nerding out for the people who search for this kind of stuff. Good effort!
Delos system design and tech tips are great. I love the repair and maintenance videos as well. It’s the magic behind “the self sustaining life” you live and we admire.
Brian, I looked up my electric bill and I consume between 500-700KW per month, which is about 16-23kw per day. So I guess that is about 3-4 times what you use on the boat. I am single and live in an 1800 sq ft home in the USA (NC) with most of my electric being consumed by the Central AC/Heat I suspect. GREAT Video guys! Like the Brian Bits!
@@seafever8644 Just for another comparison. In QLD Australia, House is around 2000sft. Have 2x Fridges, Freezer, Pool. Air conditioner gets used when needed, it's quite hot here. Average for us here would be around 15kwh a day average. We pay roughly 28c / kWh here. 2 Adults, 2 kids. Most of the bill goes towards the pool + electric stove/oven. And cooling when we use it.
We are a family of 4 in a detached home of about 3500 Sqft in Canada and run about 450KWh\month (13.3\d) with a low of 300 and a high of 600\m. Sorry Australia but our power rates are 6.8 cents\KWh. Much of our energy usage though is for heat which comes in the form of Natural gas which isn't included in these numbers.
1600 sq. Ft. Single family, 2 people with fridge, freezer, basic lights, computers, little TV, extra power WiFi, electric stove, our own well, propane hot water, ~300 kwh/mo. $0.115/kwh but more than 80% by solar. The 300kWh is before solar generation.
The descriptions are extremely clear, so electrical luddites find it easy to understand. You should have been a teacher, Brian. Oh wait, you've been teaching sailors for years. Cheers.
Just the very best sailing cruiser channel since the beginning. Great people, lots of good well explained information. Great adventures and a great boat. Life will be very different from the moment the baby will enter your lifes. It will determain the rithm of the days. Lot's of spontanious things will not work any more. But please do not get over protective. It is important to give the baby sort of rithm and a bit of comfort and rest. But when the baby is used to sounds it will not get disturbed by them. By that I mean that when it is going to bed do not try to stop making sounds. And start to whisper etc. Just play your music and have conversations etc. It will make life much easier and more enjoyable. Thanks for the effort of making these video's and welcome to the new chapter. Kids are hard work but at the same time the best there is.
Sing along the intro song: ”I’m dancing I’m licking on Bolerom sause I couldn’t see my leg I couldn’t see my leg My leg” 😂😂😂 Thank you guys for shareing your experiences and travels! it keeps our spirits high during this corona crisis and home lockdown. Lots of love from Finland! ❤️❤️❤️
Super content guys. I love hearing about the reasons behind why you have done what you did. Not to mention how it all worked out after the install. We have all wrestled with decisions like this whether on a sailboat or not and being part of the process (even from afar) is really helpful.
Brian and crew- we're really liking the tech video aspect combined with real world data from someone doing it. It doesn't get any more real than that. Thanks!
This series is awesome. I'm just getting started outfitting my boat with solar as an electrical neophyte. I was going to have it done for me but the quotes I got for solar, lithium batteries, and a new charge controller were in the $15K range -- more than I wanted to spend. Educating myself so I can do it on my own will not only save a lot of $$$, but I'll know how to troubleshoot it and continue to upgrade it as time goes on (i.e. bimini solar, wind, hydro, etc.) or for the next boat.
These tech videos are valuable to me. I must admit, I haven't learnt much from them but what I believe to know has been confirmed. Brian does a great job explaining things, I think he was a teacher in a past life lol.
These videos are excellent info for people that are looking to get into sailing and need this type of info for future upgrades. Thanks and love e videos what a crazy awesome adventure of a life. Can't wait to meet the little one!
loved this one. i was very curious how your numbers looked compared to our cat. and i like that you drilled down in to the numbers and did not gloss over the details. and ya we got rid of both our wind generators. the noise and shadow on our big solar bank just made them annoying. much happier without them. and got a good price for them. dont miss them at all
Great information that you guys have passed on in this video. Delos may be an older vessel but she is state of the art when it comes to her electric systems. I'm glad to know that the Lithium ion battery experiment is working out well. I may go that way soon on my boat. On a different subject, since you guys are out cruising you probably don't drive cars too much, but fully electric cars are so cool. We've now had two of them and they are like magic. Best regards, John Fradkin, s/v Deerfoot
Been working on getting my Wife on board (no pun intended) about living on a boat part of the year, or full time if it was up to me. Anyway she is a very smart factual type. The more information I know, I can combat alot of her concerns. Anyway i said all that to say the last few episodes have help me tremendously. Thanks y'all
3,200 SF house in Maine, typical 2x6 walls with R-19 wall insulation and R-40 blown into attic. Two people with a 5KW solar array. In summer we use about 10kWh/day, heating months with almost exclusive electric heat pump heating it’s 40kWh/day. Propane domestic hot water. Average solar generation all year is 17kWh/day. What’s cool is in the spring and fall the panels run more efficiently at cooler temps and produce more power with less total day light.
If you do decide to try the thin flexible film solar route, videos of the install... and heck even the debate on how and where you decide to do the install would be of interest! The thought process you go though is quite educational.
Your boat is really dialed in nicely. The lithium batteries and electric stove/oven are probably the future for all boats. No more propane! You could almost get away with not needing a generator at all
These videos are great! I wish I had a Brian in my life as I tackle the electrical projects on my boat. I'll be sitting in the marina this weekend watching TH-cam and reading a book for Dummies.
Great presentation on keeping track of power in/power out. Excess charging=making more ice=more happy hours. All the systems and working knowledge is quite interesting.
The electrical info is great and you're doing an excellent of making relatively understandable. I'm not sure why but I like your maintenance videos, but I do find them interesting. This is going back awhile, but your replacement of Delos's standing rigging was really interesting as well. I've enjoyed sailing vicariously through you guys! Be safe, be well and I hope all goes well in future events!
Thank you for the technology updates, these are great videos for us tech geek sailors. Having studied some energy engineering back in the 90's, this was interesting to see. Boat owners should always have an up to date wiring diagram of their boat. 95 percent of boaters do not have one, but having done a few re-wiring and installation jobs, I can appreciate a diagram of the existing system. in the 80's my father bought a beautiful wooden powerboat (36 ft traditional Finnish fishing boat, displacement hull, built 1976). The original owner was an electrical engineer by profession, and he did not have any wiring diagram, or any other documentation of the wiring. There were lots of weird electrical connections: when turning the engine room fan on, the navigation lights had a dim glow, etc. I think you should try to make Delos 2.0 a carbon-neutral yacht, using only renewable energy (solar and wind) while at anchor. This should be possible with some optimization. You might want to forget the diesel main engine altogether, and have an electric propulsion motor. It would allow motoring short distances without using diesel fuel at all. (Entering anchorages/marinas etc). When you need more power (or for a longer time) than what the solar/batteries can provide, two smaller diesel generators (probably one larger and one smaller for power reserve) would be far more effective than one large main diesel engine. Smaller generators could always be run at the most effective RPM, having much better power/fuel consumption ratio than running the main engine.
I appreciate the mindset towards establishing a baseline of system performance before throwing more components in the mix. Do you maintain a spreadsheet for the purpose of doing so, recording data regularly? Incidently, this mindset is just as helpful when it comes to troubleshooting faults within any onboard system. A lot of folks with more money than brains will start replacing components in shoot-from-the-hip scattergun fashion rather than taking the time to allow faults to fully develop, and their minds to fully comprehend. ”Retail Therapy” can easily be achieved in the first world, but it’s when you get off the beaten path that ”Repair Therapy” comes into its own. Patience and observation then become the backbone of shipboard systems management. Diggin’ the tech discussion. 👍🏼 I’d like to hear your thoughts on Watt & Sea hydro generators and Solbian PV, as I expect you’ve considered both.
Brian and Brady, thank you for this EXCELLENT and informative video. It so much help knowing from someone that really uses their systems, how well they work. Yes, lithium ion batteries are expensive BUT, your user facts about how they have performed has sold me. I hope you will share your thoughts about dive compressors in a future video. Being a scuba diving couple, I have been considering several options for adding a recharge system to our sailboat. Thank you for all you do for all of us. Charlie
A different boat, but it is interesting how far Uma has taken things. I really enjoy both your channels. You both put a lot of work into your boats. You both are so down to earth. You both also do a great job creating your videos.
I have to admit that I'm envious of your solar and wind generators. I have to run my generator at least 4-6 hours a day to keep my batteries charged right now.
My first comment... I’m really glad you’re doing this series as I’m saving for a cat in the next 4 years and casting the lines. These are teaching me so much about how I want to set up my boat once I have her. Thank you so much Tim
Very good info! My take on this is that if you changed out the old wind generator, for 1 you can use you would gain 10% or about 1kwh a day, and if you could add about 1 more Solar panel maybe flexible ones over the cockpit you could gain about 15-20% 1-1.33 kWh Giving you a Total of 5 KWh you have now + 1KWh from wind + 1-1.3 KWh from Solar = 7-7.3 KWh and no need for the Generator = 100% Green Boat How cool is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another excellent video. I live for the technical videos. It really rounds out the channel giving a nice balance of sailing, touring, exploring and technical.
I know alot about alternate powers and I still find your entire system very interesting and amazing !!!!!! What an awesome set up !!!!!!.... I have no problem being off the grid !!!!!
I really like the technical videos. I have been thinking about solar for my house for a few years, but haven't gotten any real specs on if it will be worth it or not. Your videos really help. Oh and congratulations on being a Dad. Nuttin but love for you all.
Fantastic video, well explained and really helps the rest of us understand how having all three options (Solar, Wind, and Generator) help to keep power available and ready anytime of day or night.
Most excellent video. Thanks. I’m trying to size an electrical power system for my boat upgrade. Around 1000 watts to 1200 watts of solar power seems to be the consensus of those boaters who make TH-cam videos. Yours, at around 900 watts is very comparable. It’s really nice to know that about 70% of your power is made by solar.
Always appreciate the awesome advice and knowledge you share! Love the fact that you do your research and put alot of thought into your own setup and then share your knowledge of it! Please keep it up! Definitely on the right track!! Hope to see you guys out there someday soon! 😁
I received my Duke Energy bill this morning before watching this video. For October, when there wasn't much if any AC running in the house and we have gas heat. Our house is about 2300 ft^2, 2 stories and it is my wife and I and our newborn. We have an electric water heater, and mostly LED lights everywhere in the house. We used 796 kWh over the 29 days or 27 kWh/day. In July when the AC was pumping since we had one of our hottest month's ever, we used 78 kWh/day...
Excellent guys. The only hypathetical Q? I have is, How much lees would you run the Generater if you had a 12V Watermaker and would that make enough water for daily living. If that was OK then you would only be running the Generator for the Dive Compressor charging tanks. You are really showing first hand how valuable it is and practicle it is to keep historical data for today’s anayisi and decisions.
Just a note on flexible solar panels, a fellow TH-camr did an interview where they discussed his use of the flexible panels and he had to mount them on a sheet of Lexan. Apparently the panels got very hot to the touch and it effected to the output. By mounting them on the Lexan sheets, air was allowed to flow under the panels. The panels remained cool to the touch and energy output was much better. The fellow TH-camr's name was Nick O'Kelly and I think the title was "Top secret boat tour", or some such. Safe sailing and stay well! Grim
I really like these tech-videos. Please keep releasing them not only about electrics but also about other topics. I'm surprised that your solar power would be more than sufficient for my whole electricity consumption as a single person in a 60m² appartment. But I also have central heating and warm water that is heated with oil. So I only use electricity for light, household appliances and things like computer, TV, etc. And I don't have AC because that is uncommon for houses in germany.
Thank you so much for sharing. I have done some similar Solar project with my land yacht (RV). I love comparing notes. Some of my biggest mistake have been calculating amps. This is because half of the RV is on 12v system and the other half is 120v. Let's just say my AC run time turned out to be a lot shorter than originally planned.
Helped me make a decision, thanks. I’m on a Lagoon 440 and was toying with wind but I think I’ll just put more solar on. Currently running 1400w of solar into 800ah of LiFePo4. Also have no propane on board. Great videos Delos crew.
Great vid! I have a very similar setup for solar (same controler, same battery monitor, but still on lead-acid batteries). A small correction on what you said about efficiency, regarding the amount of energy you get from the solar to the batteries. Yes the lithium are more efficient in the sense that you can get out a bigger portion of what you put in, in terms of energy, but the real reason you panels are producing more is related to 2 things: Lithium will always accept full current from your solar up to 99.99% SoC (its "only" about 40A max to 400ah of battery) while the lead acids would start to "reject" some of this power when you are at more than 80-90% SoC. So you loose quite a few, potential, Watt-hours in that. The second one is actually "the same", but, with lithium, you are not worried to top up every day, so stay more "in the middle" of the SoC range, and basically what ever the solar produces in that day, your batteries will pick up.
I thought the first video on schematic overview was fantastic, but this one had seriously good info on the reliance on the various generation sources. Interesting that wind gen is so low a source of power and potentially so noisy. This is great work Brian
Great topic as I had seen before but looking for a wind generator now and wanted go back and find this one for reference. Mainly looking for quite one lol. Thanks and you guys stay safe out there...
Super informative. Thanks for giving us the real info. I was surprised at the difference in battery efficiency from Lead/Acid to Lithium batteries, and their huge benefits in practical use.
This is great info - we’re doing a refit and just changed to lithium batteries. We really find these “tech” episodes very helpful (some of us “crave” the details, e.g. what brand and model was that controller you showed for your wind generators and are you happy with the it) - but do enjoy the non-tech ones as we prepare for our departure.
Great analysis of power usage onboard. My boat, Shindig (Oyster 485), is also a 24 volt DC system with generator/wind /solar. Similar usage profile and charging sources. Solar does most of the work and wind helps about 10%. Generator makes up the balance and used to make water. My experience with flexible solar has been terrible. After 1 year the efficiency dropped to 40% of rating then 25% in year 2. I upgraded to 2 X 300 watt hard panels won't go back. I still use AGM battery technology but will look into lithium when they are EOL.
Keeping an electrical system functioning in a marine environment as opposed to land based application is tricky.
Bravo to Delos crew for keeping everything humming along..
You are using about 1/6 the electricity per day that I am using at my house.
This is an 80+ acre property with 3 barns and irrigation.
Of course I am running electric water heater, stove, clothes dryer, pool pump, four well pumps that are all 240v.
I have converted my workshop to off grid solar as it is an ideal setup because I use it intermittently.
200w solar with 2 lead acid batteries and a 3000 w inverter.
I can run lights and most power tools since they are not being run for a long time period.
Great video.
Brian fixing stuff and his tech info is why I got "hooked on Delos" years ago!!!
As an engineer and sailor myself, this episode was like crack. :)
Be myself a Electromechanic, technical information was really interesting!!! :-) :-)
🤪🤣🤪🤣🤪
you guys made me planning to buy my own sailboat and travel from Europe to the Caribbean. at this moment I am just soaking up all the information I need and learn every bit of information thats available. these types of videos are like pure solid gold for me. please continue Brian doing these kinds of videos.
Hi Guys. Thanks a for sharing your lives with us,. I sail a Dufour 39 around the Baleares Islands and the Costa Brava. I find your tips incredibly useful, and the way that Brian explains everything is really easy to understand. I have just listened to the episode on electricity consumption, wind and solar generators 12 to 24V which Brian and Brady put together and it has been enlightening, if you pardon the pun. Good luck wherever you are now.
Brian, you are so good at explainning everything. I know some might feel overwhelmed by data analyst(you being an engineer) but I just love listening to your clear, crisp voice explaining sophisticated systems we can all understand. Please make more of these. They are great and create a good balance with the beautiful photography and videos that you guys publish every week.
Another great video. One thing many get hung up on is comparing the 12V to 24V(DC) and then 110 & 220(AC). Explaining the commonality of these in watts or KWh is helpful. BTW, I fully and 100% blame you guys for the position I’m in. You guys made us quit everything. Waiting on the last assets to sell and boat shopping for full time cruising very soon. Hope to meet you out there one day!
Right on Jason! Congrats and so happy for you. yeah, boat stuff is kind of messy because the old-school DC stuff is in AH. But if you just remember P=IxE (power = current x voltage) it pretty much applies to anything. Good ole' Ohm's law to the rescue.
Way to go man. Living the dream not dreaming the life!!!
Chris T Thank you sir. It’s been a hell of a process to get here but my wife and I are pretty stoked
Same here :-( ;-) Sold house etc. bought Lagoon 420 :-)
pvdneste wanna sell that 420? Lol
I just went on a sailing trip with my buds and the electrical systems where the second most concerning thing we faced... Second to dragging anchor when the wind got gnarly at night. This vid was really awesome! I think for newer cruisers/aspiring cruisers like myself, a video on feeling secure with anchoring in new locations would be pretty cool too. My main issue was not knowing exactly how deep we were and not knowing how much anchor chain I was spitting out per second. I digress.... My buddy and I both looked at our electric bill to see what we use per day to get a good feel for what a kwh means to us! You guys/girls inspire me and educate me every week. I really really really appreciate it. I like the educational videos because I plan cross an ocean one day too. We have a little music vid we are working on from our trip. I didn't take the Delos shirt off the entire time!! Much love!
I'm in the middle of completely restoring a 1963 cruising boat. Redoing everything from the glass up. I gotta tell ya, these Boat Bits are incredibly helpful in my planning processes. Thank you!
I was an sailor for 17 years . We said that boat life is an miniture society. Allways looking forward to watch an episode in the evening. Keep it up like it a lot :) best from sailorbear
Like seeing the other side of sailing. Not just the nice places you go... That is why this is one of the best channels out there. Great job.
This is truly valuable data! Brian, it's great to hear someone that's at instructor level sailing as captain then willing to share his info. You're intelligent and it's refreshing. I feel smarter after watching this informative video and I want to thank you for that.
No one else is covering this material as well as you are. This is really valuable. You will be a resource for millions with these videos. You have the perfect system to showcase the various elements that apply to most mobile electrical systems.
Please keep making these videos. I am currently working on restoring a 1963 43' Stephens Flush-deck motor-yacht with plans to sell it shortly after restoration to purchase a cruising cat, or build a Wharram, and live aboard sailing the world, so these videos are very significant to me personally, as I have my head in boat-work and systems almost every day, and the real world insight you bring to the topics is invaluable. I have been watching Delos since Australia, and it's no understatement to say the inspiration you have brought me literally changed the course of my life.
I honestly wasn’t going to watch the first one because I figured I wouldn’t understand it. I did anyway because Brian is awesome at communicating and explaining technical issues. Future Patron soon and I look forward to meeting you guys on Delos in the near future. Because of you I found out sailing is possible for almost anyone. I would have never of thought otherwise. Thank You!!!
dude absolutely loving this new series on the board electrical. extremely helpful and i love the way Brian breaks things down into a no nonsense explanation. this series will be an excellent reference for me for future use.
If serious first time sailboat buyers are not watching and making notes , then shame on them. This info can't
be found elsewhere. Thank you for the effort to keep logs etc etc. Great videos , thank you.
Perfect timing for these videos. I recently bought a boat after selling up, and now after 3 weeks of scraping, sanding, and painting I am about to start on electronics. The boat already has solar and MPPT controller, just upgraded battery bank to AGM(lithium was not in budget). I didn't know the MPPT had bluetooth until seeing your video. I'm sure I would have eventually figured it out, but thanks for the info. The inverter that came in it is a Trace engineering U2512 2.5kw from 1993. It works fine but I wonder if upgrading to a newer one would be more efficient. And I agree with Jason Ensminger, I blame you, TH-cam, and all the other sailing channels for making videos of people living the dream. Hope to buy you a beer one day, or maybe you could buy me one. I might be out of money by then.
This series is a huge help to me. I will retire in 2 years, we are buying a bigger boat that will eventually end up in South East Asia. The sweet spot in efficiency is becoming much more clear.
My 4000 sq-ft house in Texas used 3325 kWh in the heat of the summer this past July with a pretty high electricity demand for air conditioning. That was a little over 100 kWh per day. This past October it dropped to 1825 kWh with cooler weather which is about half of what we used in July. This was really interesting and informative. Thanks Brian & Brady!
Most technical information is still in books when it comes to sailing. The information that is online is usually entertainment and heresay. It’s no surprise that Delos nailed it, they always do. Best sailing vids around! Thanks guys!
Everyone does the high level info type videos... its great you are getting deep in the weeds and nerding out for the people who search for this kind of stuff. Good effort!
Delos system design and tech tips are great. I love the repair and maintenance videos as well. It’s the magic behind “the self sustaining life” you live and we admire.
Brian, I looked up my electric bill and I consume between 500-700KW per month, which is about 16-23kw per day. So I guess that is about 3-4 times what you use on the boat. I am single and live in an 1800 sq ft home in the USA (NC) with most of my electric being consumed by the Central AC/Heat I suspect. GREAT Video guys! Like the Brian Bits!
I looked also. my house is
@@seafever8644 Just for another comparison. In QLD Australia, House is around 2000sft. Have 2x Fridges, Freezer, Pool. Air conditioner gets used when needed, it's quite hot here. Average for us here would be around 15kwh a day average. We pay roughly 28c / kWh here. 2 Adults, 2 kids. Most of the bill goes towards the pool + electric stove/oven. And cooling when we use it.
We are a family of 4 in a detached home of about 3500 Sqft in Canada and run about 450KWh\month (13.3\d) with a low of 300 and a high of 600\m. Sorry Australia but our power rates are 6.8 cents\KWh. Much of our energy usage though is for heat which comes in the form of Natural gas which isn't included in these numbers.
1600 sq. Ft. Single family, 2 people with fridge, freezer, basic lights, computers, little TV, extra power WiFi, electric stove, our own well, propane hot water, ~300 kwh/mo. $0.115/kwh but more than 80% by solar. The 300kWh is before solar generation.
The descriptions are extremely clear, so electrical luddites find it easy to understand. You should have been a teacher, Brian. Oh wait, you've been teaching sailors for years. Cheers.
Just the very best sailing cruiser channel since the beginning. Great people, lots of good well explained information. Great adventures and a great boat. Life will be very different from the moment the baby will enter your lifes. It will determain the rithm of the days. Lot's of spontanious things will not work any more. But please do not get over protective. It is important to give the baby sort of rithm and a bit of comfort and rest. But when the baby is used to sounds it will not get disturbed by them. By that I mean that when it is going to bed do not try to stop making sounds. And start to whisper etc. Just play your music and have conversations etc. It will make life much easier and more enjoyable. Thanks for the effort of making these video's and welcome to the new chapter. Kids are hard work but at the same time the best there is.
Sing along the intro song:
”I’m dancing
I’m licking on Bolerom sause
I couldn’t see my leg
I couldn’t see my leg
My leg”
😂😂😂
Thank you guys for shareing your experiences and travels! it keeps our spirits high during this corona crisis and home lockdown. Lots of love from Finland! ❤️❤️❤️
Super content guys. I love hearing about the reasons behind why you have done what you did. Not to mention how it all worked out after the install. We have all wrestled with decisions like this whether on a sailboat or not and being part of the process (even from afar) is really helpful.
Brian and crew- we're really liking the tech video aspect combined with real world data from someone doing it. It doesn't get any more real than that. Thanks!
Two days in a row!!! Wow😆 never get tired of seeing y'all 😍
This series is awesome. I'm just getting started outfitting my boat with solar as an electrical neophyte. I was going to have it done for me but the quotes I got for solar, lithium batteries, and a new charge controller were in the $15K range -- more than I wanted to spend. Educating myself so I can do it on my own will not only save a lot of $$$, but I'll know how to troubleshoot it and continue to upgrade it as time goes on (i.e. bimini solar, wind, hydro, etc.) or for the next boat.
Finally a boater that knows the difference between power and energy! Kudos for educating the public too.
Future cruiser here.. love the info you pack into your video.. from Q&A like this to onboard repairs... Thank You..
These tech videos are valuable to me. I must admit, I haven't learnt much from them but what I believe to know has been confirmed. Brian does a great job explaining things, I think he was a teacher in a past life lol.
Brian, really liking these vids. It's both giving me ideas as well as verifying what I have planned. Cheers!
These videos are excellent info for people that are looking to get into sailing and need this type of info for future upgrades. Thanks and love e videos what a crazy awesome adventure of a life. Can't wait to meet the little one!
I love these videos! My education was in electrical engineering, but I've been out of that field for decades. So that makes these fun for me.
loved this one. i was very curious how your numbers looked compared to our cat. and i like that you drilled down in to the numbers and did not gloss over the details. and ya we got rid of both our wind generators. the noise and shadow on our big solar bank just made them annoying. much happier without them. and got a good price for them. dont miss them at all
3 years old and still relevant! Thanks Brian.
Brian, you are such a biscuit! I have learned so much from your channel - thank you! You are a legend!
Great information that you guys have passed on in this video. Delos may be an older vessel but she is state of the art when it comes to her electric systems. I'm glad to know that the Lithium ion battery experiment is working out well. I may go that way soon on my boat. On a different subject, since you guys are out cruising you probably don't drive cars too much, but fully electric cars are so cool. We've now had two of them and they are like magic. Best regards, John Fradkin, s/v Deerfoot
Been working on getting my Wife on board (no pun intended) about living on a boat part of the year, or full time if it was up to me. Anyway she is a very smart factual type. The more information I know, I can combat alot of her concerns. Anyway i said all that to say the last few episodes have help me tremendously. Thanks y'all
3,200 SF house in Maine, typical 2x6 walls with R-19 wall insulation and R-40 blown into attic. Two people with a 5KW solar array. In summer we use about 10kWh/day, heating months with almost exclusive electric heat pump heating it’s 40kWh/day. Propane domestic hot water. Average solar generation all year is 17kWh/day. What’s cool is in the spring and fall the panels run more efficiently at cooler temps and produce more power with less total day light.
If you do decide to try the thin flexible film solar route, videos of the install... and heck even the debate on how and where you decide to do the install would be of interest! The thought process you go though is quite educational.
Your boat is really dialed in nicely. The lithium batteries and electric stove/oven are probably the future for all boats. No more propane! You could almost get away with not needing a generator at all
ive watched a ton of these videos in no discernable order this is one of the most interesting ..much love to these dudes..Hey from PHX😎
I had no idea how much more efficient lithium batteries were. Than you for the in depth instruction.
Just wait till you see how much more expensive they are :)
Great information! My boat, SV MeiHua, gets nearly all its power from our solar panels and
Yesss!!! Moar tech vids!
Brian does a great job as boat nerd! This stuff is super interesting Brian, and you put it in terms that most people can understand! Great job!
Just recently discovered your channel, and I'm going back through the older episodes! Love the content!
These videos are great! I wish I had a Brian in my life as I tackle the electrical projects on my boat. I'll be sitting in the marina this weekend watching TH-cam and reading a book for Dummies.
Another great video on your power generation and consumption!
So excited to see this is going to be a 7-part series!!
Great presentation on keeping track of power in/power out. Excess charging=making more ice=more happy hours. All the systems and working knowledge is quite interesting.
Dude just watching you explain these things i can't help but think you are going to be such a good dad!!!
The electrical info is great and you're doing an excellent of making relatively understandable. I'm not sure why but I like your maintenance videos, but I do find them interesting. This is going back awhile, but your replacement of Delos's standing rigging was really interesting as well. I've enjoyed sailing vicariously through you guys! Be safe, be well and I hope all goes well in future events!
Thank you for the technology updates, these are great videos for us tech geek sailors. Having studied some energy engineering back in the 90's, this was interesting to see.
Boat owners should always have an up to date wiring diagram of their boat. 95 percent of boaters do not have one, but having done a few re-wiring and installation jobs, I can appreciate a diagram of the existing system.
in the 80's my father bought a beautiful wooden powerboat (36 ft traditional Finnish fishing boat, displacement hull, built 1976). The original owner was an electrical engineer by profession, and he did not have any wiring diagram, or any other documentation of the wiring. There were lots of weird electrical connections: when turning the engine room fan on, the navigation lights had a dim glow, etc.
I think you should try to make Delos 2.0 a carbon-neutral yacht, using only renewable energy (solar and wind) while at anchor. This should be possible with some optimization.
You might want to forget the diesel main engine altogether, and have an electric propulsion motor. It would allow motoring short distances without using diesel fuel at all. (Entering anchorages/marinas etc). When you need more power (or for a longer time) than what the solar/batteries can provide, two smaller diesel generators (probably one larger and one smaller for power reserve) would be far more effective than one large main diesel engine. Smaller generators could always be run at the most effective RPM, having much better power/fuel consumption ratio than running the main engine.
Great series and explanations in plain English. Helping to make decisions on my own boat.
For me , this format with the additional weekly vid....winner winner crayfish dinner....good stuff....l luv the mix....brilliant....cheers
I appreciate the mindset towards establishing a baseline of system performance before throwing more components in the mix. Do you maintain a spreadsheet for the purpose of doing so, recording data regularly?
Incidently, this mindset is just as helpful when it comes to troubleshooting faults within any onboard system. A lot of folks with more money than brains will start replacing components in shoot-from-the-hip scattergun fashion rather than taking the time to allow faults to fully develop, and their minds to fully comprehend. ”Retail Therapy” can easily be achieved in the first world, but it’s when you get off the beaten path that ”Repair Therapy” comes into its own. Patience and observation then become the backbone of shipboard systems management.
Diggin’ the tech discussion. 👍🏼 I’d like to hear your thoughts on Watt & Sea hydro generators and Solbian PV, as I expect you’ve considered both.
Brian and Brady, thank you for this EXCELLENT and informative video. It so much help knowing from someone that really uses their systems, how well they work. Yes, lithium ion batteries are expensive BUT, your user facts about how they have performed has sold me.
I hope you will share your thoughts about dive compressors in a future video. Being a scuba diving couple, I have been considering several options for adding a recharge system to our sailboat.
Thank you for all you do for all of us.
Charlie
A different boat, but it is interesting how far Uma has taken things. I really enjoy both your channels. You both put a lot of work into your boats. You both are so down to earth. You both also do a great job creating your videos.
These tech videos have really been interesting and a terrific asset to folks planning their boat purchases and upgrades. Thanks Captain.
I have to admit that I'm envious of your solar and wind generators. I have to run my generator at least 4-6 hours a day to keep my batteries charged right now.
Absolutely loving the technical reviews and operations of the Delos systems. Super information, keep these types of vids coming!! Thanks!
My first comment... I’m really glad you’re doing this series as I’m saving for a cat in the next 4 years and casting the lines. These are teaching me so much about how I want to set up my boat once I have her.
Thank you so much
Tim
Very good info! My take on this is that if you changed out the old wind generator, for 1 you can use you would gain 10% or about 1kwh a day, and if you could add about 1 more Solar panel maybe flexible ones over the cockpit you could gain about 15-20% 1-1.33 kWh Giving you a Total of 5 KWh you have now + 1KWh from wind + 1-1.3 KWh from Solar = 7-7.3 KWh and no need for the Generator = 100% Green Boat How cool is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another excellent video. I live for the technical videos. It really rounds out the channel giving a nice balance of sailing, touring, exploring and technical.
I know alot about alternate powers and I still find your entire system very interesting and amazing !!!!!! What an awesome set up !!!!!!.... I have no problem being off the grid !!!!!
I really like the technical videos. I have been thinking about solar for my house for a few years, but haven't gotten any real specs on if it will be worth it or not. Your videos really help. Oh and congratulations on being a Dad. Nuttin but love for you all.
Fantastic video, well explained and really helps the rest of us understand how having all three options (Solar, Wind, and Generator) help to keep power available and ready anytime of day or night.
Most excellent video. Thanks. I’m trying to size an electrical power system for my boat upgrade. Around 1000 watts to 1200 watts of solar power seems to be the consensus of those boaters who make TH-cam videos. Yours, at around 900 watts is very comparable. It’s really nice to know that about 70% of your power is made by solar.
Always appreciate the awesome advice and knowledge you share! Love the fact that you do your research and put alot of thought into your own setup and then share your knowledge of it! Please keep it up! Definitely on the right track!! Hope to see you guys out there someday soon! 😁
I received my Duke Energy bill this morning before watching this video. For October, when there wasn't much if any AC running in the house and we have gas heat. Our house is about 2300 ft^2, 2 stories and it is my wife and I and our newborn. We have an electric water heater, and mostly LED lights everywhere in the house. We used 796 kWh over the 29 days or 27 kWh/day. In July when the AC was pumping since we had one of our hottest month's ever, we used 78 kWh/day...
Awesome video. You’ve helped us yet again with how we should be doing our upgrades.
I really like the videos you are doing about the workings of Delos. Thanks for sharing!
Excellent guys. The only hypathetical Q? I have is, How much lees would you run the Generater if you had a 12V Watermaker and would that make enough water for daily living. If that was OK then you would only be running the Generator for the Dive Compressor charging tanks. You are really showing first hand how valuable it is and practicle it is to keep historical data for today’s anayisi and decisions.
Just a note on flexible solar panels, a fellow TH-camr did an interview where they discussed his use of the flexible panels and he had to mount them on a sheet of Lexan. Apparently the panels got very hot to the touch and it effected to the output. By mounting them on the Lexan sheets, air was allowed to flow under the panels. The panels remained cool to the touch and energy output was much better.
The fellow TH-camr's name was Nick O'Kelly and I think the title was "Top secret boat tour", or some such.
Safe sailing and stay well!
Grim
Great info guys ! Thanks for answering my question, looks like I’ll be going in that direction on my boat. As always love the tech videos
I really like these tech-videos. Please keep releasing them not only about electrics but also about other topics.
I'm surprised that your solar power would be more than sufficient for my whole electricity consumption as a single person in a 60m² appartment. But I also have central heating and warm water that is heated with oil. So I only use electricity for light, household appliances and things like computer, TV, etc. And I don't have AC because that is uncommon for houses in germany.
You are definitely on track with these videos. EXCELLENT. Thank you so much for sharing.
Keep going Brian your on the right track as far as I am concerned. Many thanks Clive
Amazing explanations of the systems. I love seeing how detailed Brian's knowledge is of the boat.
Thank you so much for sharing. I have done some similar Solar project with my land yacht (RV). I love comparing notes. Some of my biggest mistake have been calculating amps. This is because half of the RV is on 12v system and the other half is 120v. Let's just say my AC run time turned out to be a lot shorter than originally planned.
Helped me make a decision, thanks. I’m on a Lagoon 440 and was toying with wind but I think I’ll just put more solar on. Currently running 1400w of solar into 800ah of LiFePo4. Also have no propane on board. Great videos Delos crew.
Great update. And a very good standard to set for cruising power. Thanks for sharing your results!
Have always loved your videos. Soon to be living onboard a cruising sailboat, these are great lessons learned in a simple way.
Great vid! I have a very similar setup for solar (same controler, same battery monitor, but still on lead-acid batteries). A small correction on what you said about efficiency, regarding the amount of energy you get from the solar to the batteries. Yes the lithium are more efficient in the sense that you can get out a bigger portion of what you put in, in terms of energy, but the real reason you panels are producing more is related to 2 things: Lithium will always accept full current from your solar up to 99.99% SoC (its "only" about 40A max to 400ah of battery) while the lead acids would start to "reject" some of this power when you are at more than 80-90% SoC. So you loose quite a few, potential, Watt-hours in that. The second one is actually "the same", but, with lithium, you are not worried to top up every day, so stay more "in the middle" of the SoC range, and basically what ever the solar produces in that day, your batteries will pick up.
Yes i like the content. One or two questions at a time and covering each topic thoroughly.
All these electrical videos were very educational! Thank you
Love the tech talk about solar, wind and your set up. Thanks a bunch!
I thought the first video on schematic overview was fantastic, but this one had seriously good info on the reliance on the various generation sources. Interesting that wind gen is so low a source of power and potentially so noisy. This is great work Brian
Another awesome technical sailing video by the Delos crew!
Great topic as I had seen before but looking for a wind generator now and wanted go back and find this one for reference. Mainly looking for quite one lol. Thanks and you guys stay safe out there...
Super informative. Thanks for giving us the real info. I was surprised at the difference in battery efficiency from Lead/Acid to Lithium batteries, and their huge benefits in practical use.
Brian, your passion for tech almost reignites my own interest, ... almost. 😊 although I enjoy watching others getting passionate about it all.
This is great info - we’re doing a refit and just changed to lithium batteries. We really find these “tech” episodes very helpful (some of us “crave” the details, e.g. what brand and model was that controller you showed for your wind generators and are you happy with the it) - but do enjoy the non-tech ones as we prepare for our departure.
Thanks for the clear response on noisy wind generators.
Great analysis of power usage onboard. My boat, Shindig (Oyster 485), is also a 24 volt DC system with generator/wind /solar. Similar usage profile and charging sources. Solar does most of the work and wind helps about 10%. Generator makes up the balance and used to make water. My experience with flexible solar has been terrible. After 1 year the efficiency dropped to 40% of rating then 25% in year 2. I upgraded to 2 X 300 watt hard panels won't go back. I still use AGM battery technology but will look into lithium when they are EOL.