49’ Cruising Yacht

The aged and undersized AGM batteries, at only 300 A/hrs, were due for replacement. The undersized inverter and lack of proper battery monitoring further compounded the owner’s complaints of lack of power during extended anchoring sessions.

The vessel had also received equipment upgrades, including an induction cooktop and air conditioning, which could not operate without the generator running. The vessel also had increased refrigeration demands for storing food on longer voyages, including 4 x 100 L units which ran on 12V dc and could be set to freezer temperatures.

It was of utmost importance to prolong the amount of ‘silent running’ time available without compromising on available AC and DC power supply between generator run intervals.

Small spaces for housing the electrical equipment meant that choosing energy dense and compact Victron lithium batteries was a must.

The vessel is a 12V dc setup, however high capacity AC supply was desired for induction cooking and air conditioning via Victron 12V 5kw inverter charger.

The installation of a high-powered charger and lithium-ion battery bank now maximises the use of the generator whilst it is running, allowing rapid recharging from just 20% remaining capacity to 100% in under 4 hours.

The brief included designing and installing a solar array on the vessel which could withstand strong winds and rough seas.

Multiple energy supplies are now managed automatically, and remote monitoring provided via onboard Starlink satellite internet service, 5G service and Victron Cerbo with VRM access.