Solar Panels: What I can tell you about

[FLYSolartech-GiocoSolutions]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Thank you. I had emailed to Sunrise but got no reply. So to have the distributer on hand is really good.

I also looked at these:
Solara S640P36

They look perfect, but are rather pricey. Do you happen to know if there is something comparable at a lower price around (from Sunrise or others?)

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I wish more people would do that!

Similar to Solara you go to semi-flexible panels (in that case yes there are many) but they are not as cheap as a standard panel as Sunrise or any other producer.


So If your goal was a cheap good plant, forget Solara and similars -

[FLYSolartech-GiocoSolutions]

Originally Posted by Paul L

How are these mounted on a boat to take advantage of the biface and still be secure?





The bifacial solar semi-flexible panels are finally ready!

[/QUOTE]
The panel is designed to try to get to the maximum producible on a face, technically the second face is a compensating face, so if a face is in the sun and produces 60% of the peak power, the other face to the 'shadow absorbs the scattered light ensuring a "compensation" by increasing the output of the panel. If the boat rotates the rear face will become the predominant one and the front face will be the one to compensate. Without having to orient the panels or without losing performance depending on the orientation of the sun.

So in this perspective, the installation on the lifelines of sailing boats, for example, is one of the possible installations. Placed vertically while navigating, they produce the boat in any direction, instead, when you're at anchor, it can be placed horizontally, allowing it to be produced for the direct sunlight or by the refraction of water (a transparent alveolar polycarbonate support kit is supplied in case of this installation).

Another solution is on arches for horizontal installation.

Obviously, we shouldn't forget, that even if the panel is installed like any other panel (for example horizontal on the bimini) thanks to the high efficiency of the cells and to the low-temperature coefficient it is surely more performant than any other traditional panel.

[Franziska]

Aktually these are riggid ones and we only want riggid ones on our arch.
We are unlikely to get Solara due to the price.
They would be our ideal, but we will not be able to get those. So I'm hunting for something cheaper with good specs, but would make concessions in terms of longevity and warranty.

Originally Posted by FLYSolartech-GiocoSolutions

Similar to Solara you go to semi-flexible panels (in that case yes there are many) but they are not as cheap as a standard panel as Sunrise or any other producer.


So If your goal was a cheap good plant, forget Solara and similars -

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by Paul L

How are these mounted on a boat to take advantage of the biface and still be secure?

The bifacial solar semi-flexible panels are finally ready!

It looks to me like to get the best of these they shouldn't be mounted on a bimini, hardtop or coach roof but instead on an arch, davits, or on railings.

To make best use of these I would have to reconfigure my setup, but I think it's worth it to get the rear side to compensate for any losses.

I bet they would even be mounted on a flip-out frame that sits on the hard top/bimini when under way, but can flip out or slide out to extend over the edge of the mounting surface when at anchor.

One thing that concerns me is that they are quite low voltage. The 115w panels are 13,36v v Pmax and 15,33 VoC. Even the 130w modules are 15,26v Pmax and 17,52v Voc.

For those that run their panels in parallel rather than series, if that a worry, when charging at set of Trojan or similar FLA batteries?

EDIT:
I suppose the MPPT will take care of that by reducing the amps to up the voltage.

[cj88]

Or on a bimini frame without the canvas.

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by cj88

Or on a bimini frame without the canvas.

Yes, but it looks like you'll get wet there

[FLYSolartech-GiocoSolutions]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Aktually these are riggid ones and we only want riggid ones on our arch.
We are unlikely to get Solara due to the price.
They would be our ideal, but we will not be able to get those. So I'm hunting for something cheaper with good specs, but would make concessions in terms of longevity and warranty.

The Solara panels are actually normal semi-flexible panels incorporated in epoxy. But as I said if it you want to install them on an arch and you want to save money, it's not the right choice.

[FLYSolartech-GiocoSolutions]

Originally Posted by cj88

Or on a bimini frame without the canvas.

Yes exactly!

[FLYSolartech-GiocoSolutions]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

It looks to me like to get the best of these they shouldn't be mounted on a bimini, hardtop or coach roof but instead on an arch, davits, or on railings.

To make best use of these I would have to reconfigure my setup, but I think it's worth it to get the rear side to compensate for any losses.

I bet they would even be mounted on a flip-out frame that sits on the hard top/bimini when under way, but can flip out or slide out to extend over the edge of the mounting surface when at anchor.

One thing that concerns me is that they are quite low voltage. The 115w panels are 13,36v v Pmax and 15,33 VoC. Even the 130w modules are 15,26v Pmax and 17,52v Voc.

For those that run their panels in parallel rather than series, if that a worry, when charging at set of Trojan or similar FLA batteries?

EDIT:
I suppose the MPPT will take care of that by reducing the amps to up the voltage.

In case of a single panel setup for example, with the 115 we suggest using the WMARINE 10 from Western Co. It's a step/up - step/down solar charger. Which means that when the output (V) of the panel is higher than the recharging voltage of the battery it goes on step/down,

decreasing the voltage and increasing the amperage, vice versa, in the case in which the panel develops a lower voltage than the charging voltage, it transforms the amperage into a higher voltage.

Instead, the 130W works perfectly with a PWM with no shades, or in case of shades, we suggest the use of the WMARINE.



Then instead in case of solar plant made by more than just one panel the choice of the regulator depends on the type of plant (12 or 24V) and on which of the panels three you are going to use . But in this case there are too many variables and different answers, if you have a specific case write us and one of our technicians will answer you to all your concerns.