Solar Panels

You need to do the math... If you are up north in the 1000 islands how much power can you really generate? The problem with solar is that the cost just don't add up, no matter how much some elected officials want you to believe... Remember Solyndra?

so, what do you want to use solar panel for? If the boat is on a mooring then yes, you may be able to keep batteries charged but if your boat is kept dockside with shore power, I don't see the point.

If you are planing on using solar panels to keep the batteries charge while anchored out for a few days, again do the math and see how much solar panel you need then compare the costs vs a few gallons of fuel a day to recharge your batteries. I bet it will take years to recoup the costs.

But yeah, you could pat yourself on the back and brag about how green, sensitive etc you are... Most people quickly realize that if you pay for it, it s not worth it. Now if you can get tax dollars grant then it makes some sense...

Like the $70M wind farm the us governemnt is about to fund in... Jamaica man

What our friend above is trying to explain; It's hard for solar power on a boat with more power demand (than a timex watch) to make sense if you're really off the dock long (very long) term then (big then) if your returns will ever come around before maintenance issues (replacing panels, Batteries or power controllers) comes to past..

You probably have witnessed countless ships tied up with all kinds of solar panels rigged all over their ship.
And to hear them brag.
Just realize, you're talking to them, tied up on a dock, sucking up dock power..... Duha....

Power management is not easy or cheap. The first step is to realize the serious need for power management and find a pur$e that can afford it.

Not just for your fridge, count up all the Amp/hours your equipment needs per day, report thee numbers to us here. After the laughter and chatter, real numbers, cost, value will be commented on. it's not as free (or cheap) as the suckers that have already spent their bux$ on tend to lead you.

Please keep us up on your decisions. I luv it when proven wrong with real numbers and not some dock (powered) side dawg wash.
Even I have been proven wro,,, wr,,, w ,,,,,,,, Incorrect before (twice).

,rc

One of th big issues with solar on boats is that for solar to be somewhat efficient you need to have the panels angled toward the sun. Any number you will get from the manufacturer is based on that even though in the real world it s rarely the case

I have a small panel of our sailboat to keep the house battery charged on th mooring, it s about 30w if I remember correctly.it does its job of recharging the battery after we use the boat, running a water pump, some cabin lights, nav lights and phone/iPad chargers. When the panel is more or less facing the sun, the controller shows an average output of a about 1.5 amps for a few hours a day. Remember that is in south Florida. Now, when wind is blowing from the wrong direction on the panel is not facing the sun, output drops to a quarter of an amp...

In our case it s working because of low power requirement but it shows how critical orientation is.

We have an electric inboard on board and I have decided not to bother with solar panels because it just doesnt add up. Instead I bring the boat to the club dock or behind my own boat docked nearby and plug the charger in for a few hours. Cheaper and more practical.

If you look at cruising sailboats, not only do they use very little power but they also have large ugly solar arrays mounted on adjustable racks. They don't use DC fridges but cold plate systems which are cooled by running the engine for a short time daily.

In most locations, wind is probably more efficient and more practical than solar.

The question is how much power are you using and what you are powering.

You're not going to run AC on that setup... 3 x 245 amps panels will yield about 250AH on a good day (at 12v). This will probably not even be enough to run a full size fridge/freezer for a day. And you still need to keep your house batteries charged for lights, heads, bilge pumps, etc..

On the other hand, you can do all of that by running your generator for jsut 3 or 4 hours a day recharge the house and inverter bank and run everything for the next 20 hours or so. That's 3 gallons of fuel, under $10 a day...

You ll need $10k worth of panels to do that that s 1000 days on the hook. If you anchor out 100 days a year, you will need 10 years to make up the costs.

It's not to great of payback. A friend uses large solar panels powered with a small Air cooled Deutz diesel genset for backup. A pile of batteries. He uses a bilge pump in his cistern for potable water. Also some lights, modified inverter and DCv driven cold plate box under his house.
Gen-set still has to run for a few hours a week to bring his batteries up to full charge. Partial charged batteries do not last. During this time he can really deep freeze that cold plate.
This set up proved more reliable (not much) that waiting on the propane barge that used to visit weekley (not seen in over a year now). He saw the propane issue coming a few years ago and started building up his solar panels.
My friend has started buying up old skid'd gen-sets as he expands his quarters.
So, I have learned here, even camping out on land, solar still has some shortcomings.

Oh wind generated? Seems to have some issues there also and gave up long ago.

I guess you have to realize, if you need natural power, it comes in short spurts and anything is better than nothing. It's not cheap and usually not a good reliable answer. Payback may never happen. If you have to cruise independent, have lots of money, you will need wind and solar options and/or a power plant with a very good charging system. However, there is usually a dock to find every couple of days that make a good cold plate system look good.