Solar Watts : Daily AH Consumption

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by john61ct

And that may very well be within mfg spec for your bank, no one is saying that's high nor long for your setup.

Now if they were Lifeline, you'd get a shorter lifespan than if you adjusted V down.

But the Absorb Hold may be long or short, only you can tell, ammeter in hand when you drop to Float.

It’s right out of their specs. People should look up what their batteries call for and skip these long debates.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

It’s right out of their specs. People should look up what their batteries call for and skip these long debates.

Absolutely for voltages, but not for absorption time, cause that varies with charger size and depth of discharge.
I was surprised that Lifeline gives you a recommended Absorption time, but they did go on to explain that you may need to adjust it and want to look for to make that adjustment.

[glambx]

960W of panels spread fore and aft, all feeding a pair of Victron 100V/50A MPPT controllers (one fore, one aft). According to my VRM portal, I made 89.6kWh in August, almost every day of which was spent on the hook in various spots around Lake Ontario. This makes ~3kWh/day, right on par with the 1/3rd W->Ah rule of thumb.

House bank is 1400Ah. Recently discharged 968Ah, was still able to support a 600A load from the inverters at 10.6V for a few minutes. You know, when you absolutely must have coffee, toast, and scrambled eggs at the same time.

Consumption in August was 286.2kWh, which included hot water showers every day, electronics/computers, electric cooking (induction + microwave and oven), laundry (with dryer), etc. I had 2+ guests aboard for about half of the month. No watermaker. One hour of A/C before bed on really hot nights. Daily charging of my shore transportation (300Wh electric scooter).

Solar handled roughly 1/3 of my consumption, with the other 2/3 from a 4kW gasoline generator (still no diesel inboard) running for ~3-4 hours ~twice per week (usually while I was on shore), plus a couple nights at a slip for a full charge.

I hope to install an additional 600W above the dodger next year, as well as an inboard diesel genset.