Subject: Alternative power sources Regarding Alternative Power sources. Has anyone tried the Whispergen? www.whispergen.com We are in discussion with a few clients who are interested in trying it. One for our new 46 Powercat (with aircon) and 1 for a new 56 monohull (no aircon) . Seems like it has advantages to replacing a generator if/when you don't need aircon. Almost silent, (sounds like a fridge apparently) can run 24/7, creates hot water and around 800w continuos charge from memory so in 24 hrs thats a lot of power for 90kg unit, can replace a few batteries to reduce weight. Around $15k so not cheap but nothing is these days to save weight and make power. Generating continuos 800w from solar and wind takes a few dollars and you still don't have hot water by-product for heating/showers etc. Also means you can drop a large charger and just have a trickle unit for long term shore connection top up. Keen to hear anyone who has tried it and their feedback and what shortcomings there may be. Regards, John Winter http://www.adventurebay.co.nz/powercats.htm Kind Regards, John Winter Managing Director Adventure Bay Motoryachts Cell +64 21 454 107 91 Peary Rd, Mt Eden, Auckland 1024, New Zealand. Ph +64 9 620 4620 Fax +64 9 629 6206 www.adventurebay.co.nz john@adventurebay.co.nz Skype johnwinter6204 ABM Final LOGO small 7.88.74/'7.8874/'7.88.74/'7.8 ><((((:> ...8874/'7.88.74/'7.8 ><((((:> [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type image/jpeg which had a name of image002.jpg]

----- Original Message ----- From: "John Winter" <john@adventurebay.co.nz> > Regarding Alternative Power sources. > Has anyone tried the Whispergen? www.whispergen.com > We are in discussion with a few clients who are interested in trying it. > One for our new 46 Powercat (with aircon) and 1 for a new 56 monohull (no > aircon). Seems like it has advantages to replacing a generator if/when > you don't need aircon. > Almost silent, (sounds like a fridge apparently) can run 24/7, creates hot > water and around 800w continuous charge from memory so in 24 hrs that's a > lot > of power for 90kg unit, can replace a few batteries to reduce weight. > Around $15k so not cheap but nothing is these days to save weight and make > power. Generating continuos 800w from solar and wind takes a few dollars > >> snip<< REPLY Hi John If your potential client is planning to roam far from home the whispergen may not be the ideal choice. Very hard to find service support far from home base. We had a whispergen running on display at IBEX 2003 and I was scheduled for factory training to do installs up her in PNW. Then the product was withdrawn from the North American market due to servicing issues. When I contacted the factory direct I was informed a newer and inproved version was being designed and field tested . Sales outside NZ was not contemplated until field trials were sucessfully concluded. Through the back channel grapevine I learned they had encountered some manufacturing quality control issues. Tech support overseas was proving an expensive proposition. Hence the redesign and new field testing program. The heat produced would be a bonus up here in the PNW but down south in Florida it simply represent waste heat which poses yet another technical problem requiring a cooling solution. The 800 watts is insufficient to drive the kind of air conditioning demanded by the Florida market. And as we all know in North America this is the trend setting market sector. I would think a similar situation prevails along the northern shores of Australia and likely as far south as Sydney in the summer months. Although Steve Dashew eschews full air conditioning in favor of cross ventilation in his designs; this approach does not seem to gain many adherents in North America or even with the Mediterranean boating crowd. My design calculations suggest a power source of at least 4 kW is needed to sustain the kind of air conditioning demanded by the market place. And that 4kW has to be supported by a surge capability of another 2 - 4 kW if the compressors or chiller pumps all start simultaneously. Very few air conditioner manufacturers incorporate soft start inside their products. All this is only applicable for under 20 meter vessels. Over that size the cubic volume of the interior spaces require much more capacity. A Stirling cycle engine is at the heart of the Whispergen and there are few standalone generators of this design in the smaller 2- 10 kW sizes. A Swiss design of 2 kW is now being field tested but the company flatly told me no immediate plans were made for sales outside their domestic market. Sweden has a submarine powered by a 5 MW Stirling engine but somehow I don't see it being adapted for cruising yacht application. <grin> At this time most Stirling engines are a DIY one of a kind. I have plans for how to machine such an engine but it does not look like an attractive venture at this time. An acquaintance in Denmark recently installed an Italian made fuel cell of 6 kw capacity for UPS application field trials by his company. This product may well prove to be the closest thing to an off the shelf power unit suitable for installation in a consumer application. Coleman reputedly has a 2kw fuel cell but I have never seen it on the market.

John, I looked at the Whispergen some years back. It has all of the advantages you identified, but if you look at its power output vs fuel consumption it's pretty poor. Here in SE Alaska we need heat almost year-around, so the 'waste heat' from the Whispergen was a valuable resource and I could make use of all of the energy the unit produces. As Arild states, if your clients are in a warm region, the waste heat will mostly be just that - waste. In those cases a small, well enclosed genset would seem to be a better solution. Bob Deering Juneau, Alaska On 11/16/09 10:50 AM, "John Winter" <john@adventurebay.co.nz> wrote: > Subject: Alternative power sources > > > > Regarding Alternative Power sources. > Has anyone tried the Whispergen? www.whispergen.com