5.72 kWh in 8 days!

8 days of the new EPEver Tracer 3210A solar charge controller... and 5.72 kWh put into the batteries!

You can buy in from our website. More technical information: http://malumarine.com/renewable-energy/Solar/Tracer-3210A

PS, ignore the fact it implies only 3.19 kWh for the month... I reset the date in the middle of the week to make it correct!

MPPT Solar Controller

We installed the new EPEver Tracer 3210A solar charge controller today for testing in King Malu.

This is the first of the new MPPT charge controllers we will be selling as Malu Marine. You can buy it from our website.

We have been evaluating which MPPT controller to use and to sell and this seems the best compromise. Some are very expensive, this one comes in as a complete kit at €229.00.

I was keen to try it out, so installed it immediately. As soon as we had done so I began so see the benefits of MPPT controllers...

08:00 hours
Wind power providing 4 amps...

Silentwind controller showing 4 amps wind power

Sun still low providing 4 amps...

EPEver solar charge controller showing 4.2 amps sun power

13:00 hours

Sun is full, but a little overcast... providing 10.3 amps 

EPEver solar charge controller showing 10.3 amps sun power

Now this shows the power of an MPPT controller compared to a PWM controller: We are getting 8.1 amps at 17.4 volts from the solar cells, ie a total of 140.94 watts being converted into 10.3 amps at 13.5 volts, ie a total of 139.05 watts. This is an efficiency of 98.7%. If it were a PWM controller it would convert the 8.1 amps at 17.4 volts into 8.1 amps at 13.5 volts, which would be an efficiency of 77.6%. In other words the MPPT gives you about 20% more from your solar cells!

Cape Greco again... trying out the davits

Off to Cape Greco again for the night. This time with the inflatable dinghy on the new davits. It rolled somewhat, because we had a couple of fenders to stop it being damaged by the bathing platform. We were the only people in Cape Greco, which surprised us somewhat. When we got back we used the spinnaker pole as a derrick and lifted it easily onto the foredeck. So easy, that in the future we'll take it that way. In the past we had manhandled it on and off the foredeck hence why we were trying the davits. The davits will be useful for just lifting it out of the way, but not for sailing for a day or longer.

ברוך הבא - Welcome to Larnaca!

Overnight to Cape Greko

Long weekend, because it's Cyprus National Day and the weather is great and so it's time for a sail.












Out to Cape Greko for the night. Tim, myself and Jacko, a friend of Tim's from South Africa.












The wind is very low, so the Asymmetric is the order of the day...

















Jacko is taking all the photos, so there is the unusual occurrence of photos of both me and Tim in the the cockpit together!











Just past Cape Pyla there is a large fish farm. It's charted, but still not the place to get entangled with.

We set off about 14:00 so arrived at Cape Greko just as the sun was setting.

















The overnight wind was from the north so we decided to anchor in the south bay.  You enter by creeping round this rock and staying as well clear of the antennas as possible.











It's not an anchorage we have been into before and so Tim and I are peering out to check what it's like. The photo makes it look lighter than the twilight we had.











The antennas are something to avoid. Normally we stand off about 2 nautical miles. Too many boats have wrecked their navigation instruments on the HF transmitters. However, it's a beamed array, so it's only south of the beam that is dangerous. The bay in the north and the one to the south that is actually to the west of the transmitters is quite safe.








I did find that my trusty iSailor chart plotter was not quite accurate in this bay. No we didn't anchor on land... the chart is wrong! The depth is the same for both iSailor and RayMarine chart plotter, but the depth is wrong, it's about 2m more than chart datum.









The following morning we see what the bay is really like. The anchor dragged a little, when the wind turned from southerly to northerly, but dug in firmly after that. Our anchor alarm went of in the early hours, so Jacko and I got up to check while Tim, unusually, slept soundly!

So much mention of Jacko, so here's a photo early in the morning.  He looks more awake than I feel!

This is the rock on the west of the back from the bay side as we are leaving to return to Larnaca.













It's Asymmetric time...














Wind as predicted? Hmmm... if it had been as forecast we would have made the plotted chart line.












And finally back to Larnaca Marina.

All in all a very enjoyable sail.

Washdown and short sail

Well, it came to that time of the year, when we needed to wash down the main sail. Actually we hadn't done it for a couple of years and the stack pack stitching had deteriorated in the sun, so we took it and the mainsail off. We then restitched the stack pack and washed down the main sail.

We couldn't get all the dust off, so as we put it back up we rinsed it down and let the slurry run over the boat, which then needed cleaning!

It's amazing how much higher tall people like Tim can reach. Shorties like me climb to get some places and Tim just reaches up!

So, having done that, let's take King Malu out for a brief sail...

The weather has turned warmer at last, which means, not only is Tim in shorts and T shirt, but I am too! (Though I do have a sweatshirt on as well).

The wind is modest, 10 knots, but the sun out, so what do we get on the wind and solar?

11 Watts of wind and...

198 Watts of solar.










However, there is something significant about this: Silentwind have produced a new BOOST controller, so the modest 11.7 Watts of wind is actually coming from a wind generator that is only putting out 5.5 Volts. The BOOST controller takes this and converts it into energy that can charge your batteries.

Want to know more about this fantastic new controller? Contact us at Malu Marine.

Solar panels for boats

One of the biggest problems on sailing boats with solar panels is shading. There is so much gear that can shade the panel! These two photos illustrate it exactly. But note that we are developing flexible smaller panels... in each case there are two panels not one. Hence, in the first photo, one of the panels has 40% shaded (low output) and the other 5-10% shaded (close to full output). On the other side of the boat one of the panels is 100% shaded (almost no output) and the other 5% shaded (almost full output). If these were single large panels then they both would be significantly reduced output power.