AN ENERGY EPIPHANY

When I bought my electric propulsion system for BIANKA back in 2008 I ordered with it a Sevcon 48 volt to 12 volt DC converter.

I never got around to installing it because there was no pressing need.  I have a separate 12 volt house bank on board that provides all the boats 12 volt needs. I forgot about the Sevcon converter.

When I turned my ENGEL cooler into a freezer there was addition drain on the 12 volt battery bank as should be expected.

But, the batteries and solar panels were able to keep up pretty good. But, when I also started to use my laptop too which draws about the same current as the ENGEL in freezer mode (about 2.7 amps) I began to get concerned about draining the batteries. I could run the Honda generator to charge things up. But, I try to minimize it's use as much as possible.
While riding out the gusts of Hurricane Earl I had an energy Epiphany. As the wind gusts from Earl were flowing passed the boat. I noticed that my 48 volt Marine Air-X wind generator was stopped. This was because my 48 volt battery bank for my electric propulsion system was already fully charged and had been for days. I thought what a shame all that wind energy flowing past the boat and I can not use it. Then I remembered the Sevcon converter I had bought.  Ah Ha! I can hook it up and use it to power the laptop from the 48 volt bank and let the regular house bank just handle the freezer and other 12 volt needs.  I took a little while to find Sevcon unit buried in a seldom used locker.

Originally, it was designed to plug into the ASMO Marine controller box via two Anderson Powerpole connectors. But, I was already using those jacks for the solar and wind inputs to the 48 volt battery bank.

What to do?  I really did not want to disconnect the solar and wind generator from the 48 volt bank every time I want to use the converter.  Then in another "Ah Ha" moment I remembered my 48 volt Morningstar Solar controller had a 48 volt tap available. So I took two Anderson Power pole connectors and attached them to the 48 volt output connectors of the Morningstar unit and plugged the Sevcon unit into those connectors.

Now I can run my laptop using the 48 volt solar panels and  wind generator for  energy without worrying about drawing down the 12 volt house bank.  Having more options is one of the added side benefits of electric propulsion that I am appreciating and using more and more as time goes on.