fuel cells

[Jerome]

Has anybody any opinions or experience with fuel cell power generators. I am toying with the idea of getting one to supplement my solar cells, and to avoid having to carry a Honda generator, since my boat has no inboard engine. You could actually purchase a sizeable diesel generator for the price of an EFOY fuel cell. BUt I cant carry the weight, so that isnt an option.
Jim

Jim,

glad you could put your hand on a fuel cell. I have used them offshore since 2011 and never looked back. I am planning another SHTP next summer and will also have one on the boat.
If you have any questions, feel free to call me. I will definitely be able to help (wiring for example, in the case that you have 2 batteries, the fuel cell is designed to only sense and charge one battery at a time so you will need to make a wiring harness - fairly simple, with a toggle switch).

Cheers

Jerome 310-500-6216

[jimb522]

Jerome,
Thank you for the response. What size fuel cell do you use and what real world rate of charge have you been able to get with it? Or put another way, what is the maximum rate of draw on the battery that the fuel cell can keep up with while maintaining a full charge? Thanks.
Jim

[ronnie simpson]

congrats jim, glad it all worked out.
cheers
ronnie

[Jerome]

Jim, I was using the smallest model, which has been discontinued. The output was (I believe) 900 Watts, therefore, on a 12 volts system about 3ampH. This was sufficient. Besides, the wiring harness was very short (small boat) so I can say that I was loosing much due to cable length. After working my power budget, the worse case scenario was about 4.5ampH (night, displays on, backlights, autopilot)...With a 2x105amp battery bank, at a rate of let's say 2ampH draw, I could run 3 days to run both batteries down (rough estimate, taken into account that you can never use an AGM to 100% of its capacity). At the end, you need to have a good understanding of your power consumption. That is easy: you can use the manuals of each device on your boat (including red/white cabin lights because the draw is different), or use a battery monitor (or an Amp reader) to test each instruments. Once you know what you will be using, compare it to the output of your fuel cell (not sure which model you purchased). The objective is to combine the fuel cell with a 100Watts (or 85 watts) solar panel, and you will definitely be covered for the race. In 2012, I never had to use battery # 2.

I remember about using 1.5 cartridge for the race, which is about 15 liters of methanol (15 liters = 15 kgs = 33lbs btw .
The fuel cell uses 1.1liter per 100Ah. The maths actually add up (although double check, I am not the best at maths):
That is basically 1,363 Amp used for 15 liters of fuel. Over 14 days, that is an average of 4AmpH.
This is an average. I am pretty sure I used 70% of the fuel during the first week (no sun). There was also times where I could have used more considering my autopilot draws a little more than 4amp alone sometimes.

Hope that helps. Not sure I was able to answer correctly.

Cheers

Jerome

[jimb522]

jerome,
Thank you so much. You told me exactly what I need to know, and more importantly gave me a real world idea of how much methanol I need to transport. Thanks again. If you are at the power management seminar on November 12th, I will look forward to meeting you in person.
Jim