Solar dilemma

[tunnelvision]

My 38 ft Maxim Cat has a large hard top and presently is equipped with 2 Kyocera solar panels. I have room to add 2 more flexible panels such as those offered by Renogy. If I remove the Kyocera's I have room for 800 watts of Renogy panels if they can be walked on occasionally. My battery bank is 6) 6v 225 ah Trojans. The goal is to not need engine charging regularly. The hard top is about 11.5' x 7' What would you do?

[newhaul]

More info what watt output are the current panels and what watt are the additional panels ( what would the total be) also what controller do you have?

[colemj]

Are you asking about how much solar you need? Or if the Renogy panels can be walked on? Or if you can mix the Renogy with the Kyocera?

Monitor how much electricity you use from the batteries on a daily average and match the real solar output to that plus 30%. That should keep you from needing to charge with the engines in all but extended cloudy days.

If the Kyocera are 17V nominal panels, they can be mixed with the Renogy in parallel. If you are using an MPPT controller, any panels can be mixed in series up to the limit of the controller.

I don't know how much walking force the Renogy can take, but I'm sure someone here does.

Mark

[tunnelvision]

The Renogy panels are 100 watts each. I have room for 8 of them with no major shading problems if I remove the Kyocera's. I will check on the size installed but they are pretty big.

[tunnelvision]

The Kyocera's are 130 watt and are producing 15amps peak combined. The controller is a 25 amp MPPT.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by tunnelvision

The Kyocera's are 130 watt and are producing 15amps peak combined. The controller is a 25 amp MPPT.

For that low of output vs the area of deck covered I would get the 2 new renogy panels installed then look for a buyer for the 130 watt panels then purchase the other 6 renogy panels putting them into 2 separate banks of 400 watts each on their own 30 amp controllers.