45-60 watt solar unit on my bimini

[Divecoz]

45-60 watt solar unit on my bimini This was said by DaveB and I hope he'll chime in here on a new topic thread...
Yes yes yes we've talked numerous times about adding solar electric cells on this board, but as this industry is changing by the minute... I am of hopes to come across some better answers than we had last year..
This one is Still too costly for this year but some good reading and interesting site links in the comments....
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/7497-new- ... -at-night/

[mastreb]

The "antennas" used on that solar collector are actually called "rectennas", and to solve the "billions of Hz AC" problem mentioned they will need to integrate a semiconducting diode into the middle of each of those zillions of conducting rectennas. It's possible, to be sure, but not in the copper that they're using to do it. Ultimately, they will have to switch to some kind of semi-conducting material substrate to get that to work.

So you won't be seeing that happen any time soon. But should they ever solve the solar collection using rectennas problem, it's going to be very efficient.

[Québec 1]

I am going to get 4 of these http://www.altestore.com/store/Flexible ... anel/p706/ within he next couple years. Fathers day, xmas, one for the admiral on mothers days instead of a weekend at the hotel etc.

I can get them locally for 275$ for the 21 Watt ones.
Q1

[Divecoz]

Those prices are in the ball park Q1 I keep looking for a better deal , a better price.. 60 watts seems to be a minimum.. and from what I find for size DaveB's Bimini idea is workable.. I saw 60 watts as minimal because I dont need it or even want it .. unless it will afford me the ability for something I want on board aka fridge or A/C or both..( both hahahahah!)
This isn't! Flexible however its a start an idea...
http://www.solarblvd.com

[mastreb]

Look to solar as a battery topper. It will _never_ run an A/C unit, a refrigerator, or your electric prop, unless 2X the deck area of a Mac is covered in solar cells. The purpose of solar is to top off your battery while your boat is waiting for you, not to run any constant loads. 20 Watts will do that just fine.

[Divecoz]

Hahahaha Mastreb....I have a PhD in the inability to explain myself in the written word
Yes I am only in hopes of charging/maintaining my batteries etc etc. I presntly have 3 batteries and I will be looking at changing a lot of what I have done in the past to what I now think, would work better.

Look to solar as a battery topper. It will _never_ run an A/C unit, a refrigerator, or your electric prop, unless 2X the deck area of a Mac is covered in solar cells. The purpose of solar is to top off your battery while your boat is waiting for you, not to run any constant loads. 20 Watts will do that just fine.

[Russ]

Look to solar as a battery topper. It will _never_ run an A/C unit, a refrigerator, or your electric prop, unless 2X the deck area of a Mac is covered in solar cells. The purpose of solar is to top off your battery while your boat is waiting for you, not to run any constant loads. 20 Watts will do that just fine.

I have an 80 watt panel that keeps my Engel fridge going quite well. All my lights are now LED so it can keep up. Of course we have few clouds and 17 hour days so that helps. But you are right about solar. It's inefficient and provides little power in general. They key is to make your power needs lower.
In that regard, motors like A/C use LOTS of power. Just look at your home electric bill when it's running.

[Crikey]

Yup, good panels are still killer expensive which is the reason I haven't jumped yet! LED's are the only way to go regardless, but other electronics or appliances usually push you into the corner of insufficient battery capacity, and running the alternator - unless you're in transit - is a poor choice. Windmills (don't stick your head into the blades!) are a hassle and present the same constant supply limitation as solar.
Could anyone add some input on this side of the equation as it seems to be the cheaper part of the problem. An imagined ideal would be a lightweight recycled Prius lithium pack, but cheap - not! Also lithium and water don't make for a good day....

Still banging about with two heavy lead acid anachronisms.

Ross

[Highlander]

I got one of these two yrs ago for half price still nether got around to installing it yet !!
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 0012-3.jpg

J

[c130king]

I just recently bought two of these: Sunforce 15-Watt Solar Panel. They each came with a charge controller.

My plan is to build a rack/mount that will sit on top of my hatch...my Dad is coming to visit this week as my daughter is graduating from High School and I always have to come up with a couple of projects to keep us busy.

I will only set them up when leaving the boat sitting on the trailer. They are for trickle charging the batteries. I will probably have to disconnect my Yandina Combiner and the plan is to just hook one panel to each battery. I will disconnect them and put them in the truck when sailing.

Do any of you have one solar panel for trickle charging hooked up to two batteries?

Thanks.

Cheers,
Jim
Sailing on König
Sailing on König YouTube Channel

[mastreb]

Yup, good panels are still killer expensive which is the reason I haven't jumped yet! LED's are the only way to go regardless, but other electronics or appliances usually push you into the corner of insufficient battery capacity, and running the alternator - unless you're in transit - is a poor choice. Windmills (don't stick your head into the blades!) are a hassle and present the same constant supply limitation as solar.
Could anyone add some input on this side of the equation as it seems to be the cheaper part of the problem. An imagined ideal would be a lightweight recycled Prius lithium pack, but cheap - not! Also lithium and water don't make for a good day....

Still banging about with two heavy lead acid anachronisms.

Ross

Ross, drop-in lithium-ion lead battery replacements are coming to market now. These are Li-Ion batteries with an integrated charge controller built into the battery designed as automotive batteries. They're about 1/4 the weight of lead acid for the same Ah. Also about 10X the cost, but they're supposed to last 4X longer. It'll be a few years before they're widely available--about the time my current battery dies.

I'm on a single battery with no issues. Haven't seen a need to go higher, even after camping on the boat for a week. The tricks are:

1) Install all LED lighting.
2) Use battery operated audio/video devices (we use iPads--perfect for onboard TV) and charge them from shore power.
3) Turn off the master switch off any time you're in port but aren't using the cabin lights so that you're not loosing battery to parasitic loads (like your chartplotter, sensors, and water system). You can also do a lot of panel switches but I find it's easiest just to turn on the master switch whenever we want to run something, and turn it off when done.
4) Check the voltimeter once during the day so you know if you're dropping below 12v, which means it's time to idle the motor for ten minutes.
5) Run all high current devices off of shore power or don't run them (no 12v fridge, AC, TV, Stereo, etc. Battery powered VHF with charger installed rather than 12v only.)
6) Use a shore-power battery charger. We use a 50-amp to regular 110 adapter and a standard extension cable coming into cabin through the companionway hatch. a few turns around the ladder and it plugs into a power strip inside the battery hatch, which has the battery charger and all the device chargers (VHF, iPads) plugged into it. So whenever we have shore power, everything is charging.

Saves a lot of weight and cost. Of course I can also rope-start my ETEC-60 if I ever kill the battery, which is why I'm fine with working this way, but haven't had to yet. In any case, I'm sticking with just the one deep cycle battery.

[TAW02]

Solar energy is a good non-moving parts kinda solution that will give 20+ years of reliable service (so long as you don't crush the panel someway as I have in the past).

But when it comes to the most net energy on the barrel-head (bang for the buck), I am drawn into wind generated energy. Works day and night as long as there is wind. And when you most need it ... at night when all power is being sucked out of the house batteries.

I have a Northern Tool supply house near me and I have check them out. Still haven't pulled the trigger on it yet, but that option (wind generated electricity) is quit intriquing to me. Will have to connect with folks who have them on their boats to get an idead of how well they are liked and how reliable they are here in Floridas winds.

Check them out here;

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... d-turbines

[Crikey]

Spot on as usual Mastreb! I'm running two deep cycles at present, and will break down fairly soon for about 80 watts of panels (when the admiral lets me). In spite of what I said earlier I would like a small wind generator eventually - as long as I can steampunk it myself- probably from a car alternator. They don't have a good reputation in marinas though, due to the noise they make, and they are very good at giving haircuts if the wind is high and you've got to shut it down!

I wonder what they do with the packs from totalled Prius's?

[TAW02]

Spot on as usual Mastreb! I'm running two deep cycles at present, and will break down fairly soon for about 80 watts of panels (when the admiral lets me). In spite of what I said earlier I would like a small wind generator eventually - as long as I can steampunk it myself- probably from a car alternator. They don't have a good reputation in marinas though, due to the noise they make, and they are very good at giving haircuts if the wind is high and you've got to shut it down!

I wonder what they do with the packs from totalled Prius's?

Met a young fellah who had purchased what looked like a ceiling fan armature complete with field windings and stator magnets et cetra. (not genius with these things ya know), never the less, he was playing with this thing and I was engaged in conversation about it pretty common to the above comment to Mr. Crikey.

This fellah repeated pretty much the same thing I gathered by reading the document and specifications info on the wind generator available at Norther Tool. In other words 'Yes there is a limiter' that cuts the generator output and provides excess to feedback thus creating a 'dynamic brake' effect, so as not to allow the wind turbine to 'Not overspeed' and burst a blood vessel

So yes ... it is a complicated thing after all. Probably best to buy the storebought windmill unless you are a rocket scientist!

Tom

[markh1f]

Here is my setup, it is only 20 watts but does great at keeping both my batteries topped up (using a combiner) when I'm not using the boat.


Jim, no need to disconnect your Yandina Combiner, just wire it the way you had planned and when one battery is charged the combiner will let both panels charge the second battery.

As far as wind generators goes, I had one along with 3 solar panels on my previous boat. I always said that if I had to do it over again I would only go with Solar. Between the noise, having to shut it down in a storm or anytime you are docking (a friend of mine swung the back end of his boat up to a fuel dock and tips of his wind generator caught the top of a piling - a real mess with bits of piling and wing tips flying everywhere). It also generated enough electrical noise that you had to shut it down to use the SSB or Ham radio. On top of all that it always seemed to cast a shadow on part of my solar panels and cut their output...

Mark