SAIL

All-New Battery Tech, Part 2

When I started the lithium project on our 65-foot Farr, Falken, Mia and I were hell-bent on induction cooking. Cool factor, baby, plus it would rid us of the hassle of refilling propane tanks in exotic ports (and make galley cleanup easier with a flat, glass cooking surface).

Bruce Schwab of Ocean Planet Energy and I did a basic analysis of the boat’s energy needs, and Bruce specced out a Lithionics system like this:

• Three 315aH, 24V Lithionics batteries (that’s 945aH total at 24V, or 1,890aH at 12V, or 22,680 watts or 22 kW, depending on how your brain works);

• One APS 270-amp, 24V alternator;

• A second HPI 185-amp, 24V alternator (together that’s 455 amps at 24V, or 910 amps at 12V, or 10,920 watts, or 10.9 kW, again, depending on your brain).

In summary, that is a lot of juice, on the bank size and the recharge size. In fact, it’s plenty of juice to go with induction cooking. But in reality, all of that giant battery bank capacity is going to cooking, which you can also do

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