Solbian Solar Panels

[OceanPlanet]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Wow thanks, breaking news! Can you say why the change?

What would be "the current best" voltage if longevity were the only priority?

Not entirely sure why the change. Firefly engineers are calling for it though. We think they slightly changed the electrolyte specific gravity, however they won't say for sure.

What they ARE fully clear on is that the very best thing to do is NOT float the Firefly at all. Simply charge them up, and cycle them. Or if no loads just turn off the charging.

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by OceanPlanet

Not entirely sure why the change. Firefly engineers are calling for it though. We think they slightly changed the electrolyte specific gravity, however they won't say for sure.

What they ARE fully clear on is that the very best thing to do is NOT float the Firefly at all. Simply charge them up, and cycle them. Or if no loads just turn off the charging.

Aha, excellent, thanks.

[SO49]

Originally Posted by gspeak

Jeff,
No the controller is fed direct to the house bank, the positive to the positive battery terminal & the negative (like all the other negative leads) to the battery monitor shunt.

I have then installed two Yandina Combiner 160 to combine the two starter batteries/alternators to the house bank. It has worked for the past 5 years to automatically charge all batteries via alternators, shore power charger & solar. In other words all charging sources charge all batteriy banks & then isolate them all automatically when no charge source is active.

See below how I have setup the completed system. This is the diagram that I sent to Yandina to get their approval of my intended system. Sorry if the diagram is not all that easy to follow.

HTH

Dave

Hi Dave - thanks - that's a wonderful wiring diagram. Thanks for sharing. I'll see if I can do something similar.

[gspeak]

Originally Posted by john61ct

No, she's a beaut!

(be gentle noobish Qs, sorry if hijack)


A single charger connection to House would suffice with the C160s right?

What is House negative switch about? Isn't ground shared across every circuit?

Would a Blue Seas (Dual) switch (NOT "Dual Plus!) be good to consolidate that, or would you ever need to isolate one polarity not the other?

You only need multiple C160's if you have multiple battery banks (more than 2). The combiners are for connecting & detaching banks automatically. In our case in the original setup, the starboard motor/alternator only charged the starboard start battery. Total waste when motoring only with the starboard motor. It also meant the starboard battery never got charged when motoring with the port motor or from the solar.

Now the setup means that all banks get charged no matter what charging source is active.

The negative battery switches came installed in the boat when we bought it. It may have been because of a requirement for commercial registration in Oz.

Dave

[arjand]

hmmm... somebody in this 4 yr old thread mentioned GIOCO panels.... Indeed significantly cheaper than either the GANZ or the SOLBION panels, does anybody have any experience here? Thanks!! Ari

[OceanPlanet]

Originally Posted by arjand

hmmm... somebody in this 4 yr old thread mentioned GIOCO panels.... Indeed significantly cheaper than either the GANZ or the SOLBION panels, does anybody have any experience here? Thanks!! Ari

We stocked and sold them for a few years. But they all seemed to eventually stop producing power for no apparent reason. Haven't been able to get an explanation from Gioco.

Just today we had to send out two new Solbian SR72Q's as replacements for Gioco GSC75's that died. We've lost a pile of $ on Giocos...:-(

[arjand]

I guess that if something seems too good to be true..... :-(
that is too bad...

[zboss]

Originally Posted by OceanPlanet

Not entirely sure why the change. Firefly engineers are calling for it though. We think they slightly changed the electrolyte specific gravity, however they won't say for sure.

What they ARE fully clear on is that the very best thing to do is NOT float the Firefly at all. Simply charge them up, and cycle them. Or if no loads just turn off the charging.

For those that cannot turn off float on solar or alt or wind, what is the next best setting for float?

[OceanPlanet]

Originally Posted by zboss

For those that cannot turn off float on solar or alt or wind, what is the next best setting for float?

13.4 to 13.5 tops. See attached manual....

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by zboss

For those that cannot turn off float on solar or alt or wind, what is the next best setting for float?

​From a recent email, the **acceptable** float voltage was raised to up to 13.5V maximum, but 13.2V is still recommended for longevity.

Note a SoC meter's relay can isolate a bank from the charge buss.

Just may need a cheap starter or something there to provide a continuing load dump if the charge source needs that.

[deluxe68]

We have had a Solbian 145 Watt SxP panel for about a year. Very happy with the quality, got it from Bruce.

[tgrimmett]

Hi. I am looking to install flexible solar panels on my Jeanneau 440, on top of the bimini. I have read through this thread, and I would be interested to hear back anyone's experience, good or bad, that is 3 or more years into their installation. The Solbian panels appear to be well made, but I am concerned that they, and most of the other manufacturers of flexible panels, only provide a 2-3 year warranty versus the 20+yr warranties of the rigid panels. I am attracted to the flexible panels due to their low weight, but don't want to be 3-5 years into the big investment and have micro-cracks, yellowing, delamination, or other maladies. On my previous boat I installed a stern arch with a couple rigid Kyocera panels and they were rock solid. It was a big deal to install the whole thing and I would rather do away with the bulk and weight, and poor aesthetics too. So if you have multi-year experience with the flexible panels, could you kindly share that experience and the brand/model you have? Thanks very much!

[Velanera]

Originally Posted by tgrimmett

Hi. I am looking to install flexible solar panels on my Jeanneau 440, on top of the bimini. I have read through this thread, and I would be interested to hear back anyone's experience, good or bad, that is 3 or more years into their installation. The Solbian panels appear to be well made, but I am concerned that they, and most of the other manufacturers of flexible panels, only provide a 2-3 year warranty versus the 20+yr warranties of the rigid panels. I am attracted to the flexible panels due to their low weight, but don't want to be 3-5 years into the big investment and have micro-cracks, yellowing, delamination, or other maladies. On my previous boat I installed a stern arch with a couple rigid Kyocera panels and they were rock solid. It was a big deal to install the whole thing and I would rather do away with the bulk and weight, and poor aesthetics too. So if you have multi-year experience with the flexible panels, could you kindly share that experience and the brand/model you have? Thanks very much!

Dear tgrimmett, if you check the kyocera warranty policy as almost all the totality of the rigid panels guarantees 20+ years of warranty only under certain conditions of use, which EXCLUDE marine or vehicle use. With that i'm not saying that you cannot use the rigid panel for marine use, just that in the unlikely event of malfunction of the panel they could not accept the warranty claim.

About the solar semi flexible panels in my experience of installers the
the life of the product depends on the manufacturer but also on how it is installed, if you install it so that it doesn't havemechanical stress it will last you a lot (I have panels installed with more than ten years).

As for the best brands for my experience are Solbian https://www.solbian.eu/en/ (expensive) and Fly Solartech Fly Solartech – Solar Panel Manufacturer, to avoid because I had a lot of problems Lensun and GiocoSolutions.

If you have enough room think about poli instead of the expensive sunpower.

[OceanPlanet]

Note the official Solbian warranty is now 5yrs, not 2-3....

[tartansail]

Our Solbian panels were installed in the Spring of 2013. I have seen no performance degradation. The boat is on the hard for the winter with the panels removed so the wear and tear is going to be less than five years in a warmer climate. I would make the same choice again in a heartbeat.