Lipari 41: Solar

[Cotemar]

Moderator's place keeper for Lipari 41 thread

[Oliver66]

Hi Lipari's,

here is my mounting solar system:
3 flexible panels of 100W each. 1 behind the helm station, the 2 others right on the other side:



With a Victron MPPT regulator, with nice sunny day I can rise 15A/h of charge...

On this third photo the entrance of the wires, going behind the oven, then on the port side cabin behind the shelf and wood piece and then right on the port engine room where is the regulator close to my batteries ( 3 x110A AGM VICTRON )

[cfarrar]

Nice. What brand panels are those? Solbian?

Do you know how they perform when it's hot and sunny? I've been wondering if mounting flexible panels flush like you've done - which presumably allows for less airflow than rigid panels mounted above the bimini - results in any performance loss. It sure looks slick.

[Oliver66]

Hi cfarrar,
made in China: SILICON SOLAR LENSUNHK monocristallin.
Solar Panels For Sale

well here in med in summer it can goes up to 35°celsius, so on sun as they are black I can imagine 40/45 celsius...
works nice, and are not to much affected buy a rope crossing the panel...they can deliver up to 5A/h even on big clouddy day...
you can walk on it, but they are really "slippy" when wet...

[cfarrar]

Thanks! I've been waiting for high performance, flexible, affordable solar panels. Prices keep coming down. The next time I replace my bimini fabric I will replace my rigid solar panel array with flexible panels, attached directly to the sunbrella cloth.

[Nasa]

Hey Oliver66
We are looking at flex panels for our FP Helia for the weight advantage and the efficiency of the panels. But price is prohibitive for the Solbian. I looked on the link you provided. Did you have the 100W panels custom made?

[Oliver66]

Originally Posted by Nasa

Hey Oliver66
We are looking at flex panels for our FP Helia for the weight advantage and the efficiency of the panels. But price is prohibitive for the Solbian. I looked on the link you provided. Did you have the 100W panels custom made?

yep!
they are custom made, I had them from a french dealer.
never trade directly with lensunhk.
here is the dealer:
BIENVENUE - LRsolaire

the panels mounted on the helia at the LR show were not interesting...
I don't like either that kind of mounting...

[careka]

Originally Posted by Oliver66

yep!

never trade directly with lensunhk.


:

Why ?

tell me a bit more why not trade with them ?

[Oliver66]

well,
actually never tried, as I have a dealer in france...

but why not...

[Oliver66]

hi Tim!
yes, mines are the 100W.
I'll give you a mail for details !
cheers !

[DtM]

On the Helia I wonder how far the panel will fly when/if the mainsheet gets around that raised corner during a gybe

[aclmck]

I have witnessed many panels mounted with out frames ,most are standard panels which are bent to the roof shape and set in a bed of silicone or polyurethane no screws are used to secure them just the glue.

i have seen this method used on most of the modern boats,Lipari,orana to name a couple, the standard panels come out of the frame easily and have the electrical junction box underneath as well which means that this is removed and the wires extended to go through the roof. it is a lot cheaper than the flexible panels although the warranty is possibly voided by this measure

Allan

[Oliver66]

trouble with "normal panel" is that you cannot walk on them.
and also you can make them "fly" on a gybe as Dtm said ...
definitely better flex ones if you want to put them on the roof.

Best place to put "normal panel" is between the hull on the davits...
imo of course...

[Gordon]

Hi Allan,
You are correct, the warranty is voided. We did just that with the glass pannels removed from the frames ( Catana have done this for years ) and removed the diode and junction box from the back then run the wiring to a common junction box and then to regulator. The pannels are 2.5mm thick, the glass is quite flexible and formed to the contours of the roof of the Orana when glued down. You can walk on them no problem but be very cautious when they are wet.
The panels we used were the Shell Solar SQ80's.

Gordon.

[Tootsie]

I live up north- in Norway, which means the sun is not very high most of the time. But we have long summer evenings when the sun is hanging low.
I am trying to figure out a smart way to position solar panels- flexibles or framed, so they can be tilted and at the same time not in the way for the crew.
Does anyone have som Pictures or good ideas for the Lipari 41?