Solar Panels?

[Seaventure]

Anyone have solar panels installed on their boat? If so where did you put them?

We’ve been running the fridge systems off and on and can see that they each draw at least 5 amps when running. We’ve got our generator but we really want to augment that with a solar system.

We’re holding off as long as we can on actually buying the panels as we keep hoping for some major breakthroughs in the field. Not sure if any of you have heard of a company called Nanosolar. Very interesting to read what they are working on. See this: http://www.nanosolar.com/

[rpenderg]

It may be too late for this info to be useful... but, I thought that I'd provide it just in case.

We installed our solar panels on the Dingy davits. When the sun is shining, the two 50 watt solar panels stay even with the refrigeration during the day... and run off of the batteries at night. Beware of the solar regulators. We went through 3 regulators in a 2 year period... 2 burned out and 1 just stopped functioning. I finally replaced them with simple diodes. When cruising, there is no risk of overcharging the batteries. When we are at the dock, I just remove them... which involves unplugging and loosening a thumbscrew.

The solar panels have survived through many tropical storms, but they have never been tested by a hurricane. I always removed them for hurricanes (we've been tested by 6 hurricanes).

[Seaventure]

Thanks for the reply. Actually we haven't done anything yet about the solar panels.

We've discussed using the davits. We're kind of spoiled with using a removable ladder that we hang off the back of the boat to get in/out of the dinghy and are concerned that the solar panels would be in the way. Most people we see with Krogens get in/out from the side and we do have that ladder also, but the other is sooooooo easy...it slips into a slot...

Guess we'll have to think about this some more.

[Seaventure]

Meant to mention that we enjoy your blog...very interesting

[rpenderg]

We board our dinghy from the stern. When the anchorage is bumpy, I find that boarding from the side isn't much fun.

Nicki and I are relatively young so we have no problems lifting ourselves in or out of the dinghy using the stern rail. But, we recently built this platform, which makes things much easier. I suspect that your 1st thought when looking at the picture is that the platform is unstable, and will rock as soon as you step on it. It is a lot more stable than you think even in a rough anchorage. Of course, you can force it to rock if you desire. But, we've found it to be as stable as any removable ladder.

The angles of the ropes and the dimensions of the platform give it its stability. When weight is put on it, the legs hold tight against the hull. We have since added padding to the legs that touch the boat. We just cut a piece of swim noodle and attached it to each of the legs. It looks good.

When we are under way... we simply lift it up and lash it vertically to the stern rail. Then unlash and let it go down into its horizontal position once we anchor again... it takes about 15 seconds... less time than it takes to raise and lower the dinghy.

[Seaventure]

Hmmmm, like your platform...we had one on our previous boat and LOVED it...it had no davits though. We've talked about one on Seaventure but weren't sure how it would look. Yours looks great.

Were at a marine flea market today and met someone who has mounted solar planels on their lifelines (they can swivel). Burt has always been rather negative on that as he's concerned about unfortunate events when docking, etc. He's also not sure how they would look....but this person has 2 130 watt panels (one for each side) and is very happy with them and the setup. We think we may go look at it.

[rpenderg]

If you take a picture of that guy's lifeline solar panel setup, I would appreciate seeing it. Like Burt, I'm a little skeptical. I've seen trawlers with solar panels mounted on their rails, and I never thought that they looked practical. But, I've never actually spoken to anyone who has mounted them on lifelines or rails to get their perspective.

Thanks.

[Seaventure]

We are often a couple of turtles at doing things, but definitely will take pictures if/when we go to see the panels.

Burt is currently deep into a dodger...his first and most likely last one. Even with the old one to look at, it's complicated. Also having to look at the generator...simply wouldn't work on our summer trip....it's completely in pieces in the garage right now.

[Seaventure]

Just an update.

We have purchased 2 solar panels for the boat (135 Kyocera's) and finally decided to figure out how to put them on top of the bimini. Will post pictures as that happens.

Also, Hello Texas really caused us some work . Burt saw his platform and wouldn't rest until he could have a platform too. We've always had a platform on our boats and really missed not having one on Seaventure. So ours isn't as beautiful looking, but it'll be functional. Pictures to follow at some point.

[GREYLAG]

Hi Seaventure,
We just installed 2 KC85 panels mounted on a rack attached to the davits and a MPPT Blue sky Controller. This augmented a 32 W. Unisolar panel and the 202 Watts now run Frig, freezer inverter for tv or computer, or DVD player, or stereo system as well as charging the batteries. Currently the panels are mounted fixed horizontally, but a movable system is on the drawing board. Works great unless you have four or five days of heavy rain. Whether it will run the auto pilot remains to be seen.
Capt. Mark Truscott, SV Greylag

[Seaventure]

Solar Panels have been added (2 135 watt kyoceras). Project went quite well. The worst problem came when we flipped the switch to test them out working and nothing happened. After various amounts of testing (and recovering from being completely sure we had done something stupid), we discovered that while amps were coming into the MPPT Blue Sky Solar Controller nothing was then being sent to the batteries. We ended up calling Blue Sky and discovered that our controller unit hadn't been calibrated and tested. They fixed it and reimbursed us for mailing since it was brand new. Everything works perfectly. We've had both the wind generator and the solar panels doing their thing at the same time and have no idea which controller is primary....but it works.

Burt wanted to be able to control both units so we have a switch on the electrical panel which turns the solar system on/off and can flip the breaker on the wind generator setup (from the starboard lazarette). He put the controller boxes inside 2 gallery cabinets.

Solar/wind setup done

IMG_0483Solar & Wind_1.JPG (42.59 KB) Viewed 40 times