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  1. #11

    Re: New Generator (s)

    MER are the same group that build Bollard generator sets. I have no personal experience with them. They are said to be good; they have a commercial line for fishing boats, and a slightly fancier line for yachts.

    As far as "built to fail", I can only comment on NL, which I have two of.

    An identical generator set to mine, a NL 6.5kW set, was featured in a NL press release. It was used on the deck of a fishing boat in the Gulf of Alaska, I think, had a little lean-to around it, it was only shut off for oil and filter and impeller changes. I think it had run 20K hours without an overhaul.

    If that's built to fail, well, it's more than good enough for me.

  2. #12

    Re: New Generator (s)

    Our Phasor has a Kubota engine which makes for great parts availability.
    No fancy electronic boads etc.
    Also, Phasor's parts availability advice/questions has been spot on.
    When we changed the 15 yr old heat exchainger and exhaust elbow, just because they were 15 years old, there was no wait, arrived in the same Awlgrip as new, and the pricing was much less than we expected.
    I was convinced we had a bad injector or injector pump last year, they told me they doubted that, ended up being worn out isolators just like they suggested.
    CRICKET
    1966 HAT50C101
    Purchased 1985 12v71Ns
    Repowered 1989 with 8v92TI
    Repowered 2001 with 3406E

  3. #13

    Re: New Generator (s)

    Power and Motoryacht has an interesting article on gensets this month. They have a simple rule for sizing. Take your amp service and multiply it by 120, and then divide it by .50 to .75... so, in my case, I've got 100 amp service (twin 50's), times 120, equals 12kw, then divided by .75 (because you don't want to run at 100% capacity), equals 16kw.. and again in my case, I'll still capacity of another 9kw, and at night, just running the 9kw to quiet things down. Looking at removal of the mdl4, I noticed that it is screwed directly to the floor, no isolation mounts at all. The new gensets come with sobothane type isolation mounts.

  4. #14

    Re: New Generator (s)

    According to that formula, if I understand it correctly,I have much more generator power than needed. I have a 50amp service and I have a 12kw and a 20kw - both northern lights. The 20kw has only 500+ hours and the 12kw has 6500 hours. Obviously, the 20kw has had very little use.
    Bob Leland
    1980 58' Yachtfish Hull#473
    Seattle,Wa / Phoenix, Az

  5. #15

    Re: New Generator (s)

    I am surprised that gen + inverter/bank isn't a better solution than gen + gen. I guess you anchor out a lot? Most of our trips are dock to dock to dock... and an inverter bank would seem to handle that, as we generally don't use AC while the boat is moving, as the wind cools things down enough. We would need to power up the gen for meal times or when we are cruising overnight, or when we do anchor out. We do anchor out at times, but I never get good sleep then because I worry about dragging the anchor.
    Prometheus
    1978 53' MY Hull #529
    Viera, FL

  6. #16

    Re: New Generator (s)

    We have essentially the same boat as Dottieshusband. Two previous owners ago, one of the two old Kohlers was replaced with a 20KVA Phasor. We have added 1500 hours in 3.5 years and its now about 3500 hours in total. Bullet proof so far. Really well made.

    The other old Kohler died before we purchased the boat and now needs to be removed. I doubt we would replace it as the 20KVA Phasor is enough for all our needs even in summer. It uses 0.7 US gallons per hour (or 2.6 litres/hour) so the savings on running a smaller second genset would amount to only about 0.2 to 0.3 US gallons per hour. Then you have to service a second generator.

    Our boat is kept on a swing mooring, never goes to a marina, goes away for three week holidays on the anchor, and makes good use of a single 6amp@32 volts solar panel during a sunny summers day. Running the genset when cooking or when we want aircon tops up the batteries.

    That said when the old Kohler is taken out I'd like a big lithium house battery in its place to provide power for the inverter to supply the AC 220 volts for fridge/TVs etc. Boat is 32 volts and has 8 x 170amp hour x 8 volt lead batteries in series /parallel for port start/DC House & inverter. The maths is total 340 amps but only 170 amps usable at 32 volts.

    Unless custom made, lithium batteries are 12 or 24 volts, and can be cycled down to 10-15% without damage.

    So a 60 amp lithium could effectively replace a 100 amp lead acid battery. Or a 200 amp 24 volt lithium would only start to go flat when it was nearly depleted meaning you would have almost ALL of the 200amps @ 24 volts at your disposal. Lead acid go flat at 55% of full charge. Anyway that's how I have read it in all the brochures. Downside is the cost of lithium. Upside is reduced upkeep and/or continuing performance degradation with lead acid.

    In the case of my boat's existing house bank we would need 1 x 24 volt 225 amp hour lithium to replace all 8 of our 8 volt lead acid batteries. I would not be running the genset so often to recharge. The port engine starter bank could be reduced to 4 lead acid 8 volt batteries.

    Given my 32 volt boat, I need to work out a way to effectively charge a 24 volt lithium from the engines, genset and solar in a simple manner given we have this already in place for 32 volts.

    Very interested in all points of view. Happy to be corrected if my maths is incorrect.
    +++
    1984 61MY #353 with 9' cockpit extension.
    Sydney, Australia.

  7. #17

    Re: New Generator (s)

    Add a second alternator to one of your engines. Both if you want more charging. Its simple from there to go 24 even 48 volts. I use a bunch of the victron LiFePo batteries. I also like the integrated system victron makes. From solar to generator and everything in between.
    Scott
    41C117 "Hattatude"
    Port Canaveral Florida.


    Marine Electronics and Electrical Products Distributor.

  8. #18

    Re: New Generator (s)

    The other advantage of lithium battery is the rate at which they can be charged. they can be charged at a much higher rate than lead acid without damaging. If you want to reduce fuel consumption , inverters are the way to go. My old boat had two 4000 watt 24 volt inverters stacked to provide 240 to the panel, with (8) 8-D's Lifeline batteries we would run the generator two hours in the morning to make water and charge batteries and two hours in the evening to cook and charge the batteries. Load on the 20 KW NL was about 60-70%.This assumes no a/c use of course. I also had a SeaPower 10 KW system which ran off the stb main engine, so as long as we were moving there was never a need to run the generators. You can also "power share " with the inverter system to downsize the gen or if you are running off only one 50 amp cord. I had it set up that I could only draw 40 amps thru the 50 amp cord as a safety factor, if we'd draw more it would come from the inverter banks.......Pat

  9. #19

    Re: New Generator (s)

    The Seapower unit sounds like what used to be called a cruising alternator- a big alternator run off one of the mains for AC whilst running the boat. Very useful on long passages especially.

  10. #20

    Re: New Generator (s)

    Quote Originally Posted by doc g View Post
    I also had a SeaPower 10 KW system which ran off the stb main engine, so as long as we were moving there was never a need to run the generators. You can also "power share " with the inverter system to downsize the gen or if you are running off only one 50 amp cord. I had it set up that I could only draw 40 amps thru the 50 amp cord as a safety factor, if we'd draw more it would come from the inverter banks.......Pat
    I thought about in the future rigging up my own SeaPower like system...it's from these guys, right? https://www.meps.com

    How much was your setup? A cycloconverter could take in the variable frequency of an alternator converted into an AC generator...using higher voltages allows better efficiency and smaller wire.
    FTFD... i drive a slow 1968 41c381

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