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**newhaul** · 27-04-2019, 17:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adelie

So if an FLA bank was at 99% at a sunrise of 0700, it couldn’t get to 100% by 0900?

you specified at no closer to full charge than 90%

At 99% you may as well say full charged .

Razoo · 29-04-2019, 10:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by newhaul

you specified at no closer to full charge than 90%

At 99% you may as well say full charged .

I would agree with that.

Hotspur0621 · 02-05-2019, 05:45

On my Sabre 362, I have 600 watts solar with 300 ah lithium which is more than adequate for my needs. If fact, I believe I have capacity for a water maker and windlass.
Dave
SV Hotspur

Van Der Beek · 03-05-2019, 04:59

Quote:

maximize the solar wattage you can reasonably manage,

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyEss

Microwaves suck a lot of power. If your boat already has propane, use that when you aren't hooked up to shore power.
Someplace in the thread, a poster mentioned turning on their inverter to grind coffee. Go to a second hand store and pick up a couple of old German hand coffee grinders. They last nearly forever and do a great job grinding. Their sound is also far more pleasant than the high pitched whine of electric grinders,

+1
Hand coffee grinder FTW.

But to each his own.

I had around 900 W on my sailboat, I reckon you could have even more on say a Catamaran or trimaran....however...

Worth pointing out here is that I had enough batteries to make this work.

Razoo · 06-05-2019, 11:05

Ok I have bought my solar system for the boat. The total cost including tax was $3,276.58 canadian and includes the following:

2-320 Watt Monocrystalline Solar Panels
1-150 Volts 50 Amps DC Circuit Breaker
1-150 Volts 15 Amps DC Circuit Breaker
1-50 Amps MPPT Solar Charge Controller
1-10 amp Dual battery charge controller with temperature sensor
8-220Ah 6V AGM Batterys
1-pile of cables, connectors, lock nuts and other assorted goodies

Now I just have to figure out where to put the panels. I have no arch, so maybe I should buy one. Now I'm thinking a hard top Bimini might be a better choice?

KP44 · 06-05-2019, 11:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razoo

Now I just have to figure out where to put the panels. I have no arch, so maybe I should buy one. Now I'm thinking a hard top Bimini might be a better choice?

Hi Razoo,

Many of us have found that we have no rigging shadows on a stern arch. I had an arch built with high davits. The dingy is lifted high enough that it is not attractive to thieves.
I experimented for 2 years with panels on the bimini top and on the rails. I was continually either moving and adjusting panels or accepting lower output because of shadows.

skipgundlach · 06-05-2019, 12:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by KP44

Hi Razoo,

Many of us have found that we have no rigging shadows on a stern arch. I had an arch built with high davits. The dingy is lifted high enough that it is not attractive to thieves.
I experimented for 2 years with panels on the bimini top and on the rails. I was continually either moving and adjusting panels or accepting lower output because of shadows.

What he said. Our arch design and construction is detailed elsewhere in the thread, but it's particularly high. We were alone when we started but we are now finding tall arches to be much more common...

**newhaul** · 06-05-2019, 13:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razoo

Ok I have bought my solar system for the boat. The total cost including tax was $3,276.58 canadian and includes the following:

2-320 Watt Monocrystalline Solar Panels
1-150 Volts 50 Amps DC Circuit Breaker
1-150 Volts 15 Amps DC Circuit Breaker
1-50 Amps MPPT Solar Charge Controller
1-10 amp Dual battery charge controller with temperature sensor
8-220Ah 6V AGM Batterys
1-pile of cables, connectors, lock nuts and other assorted goodies

Now I just have to figure out where to put the panels. I have no arch, so maybe I should buy one. Now I'm thinking a hard top Bimini might be a better choice?

hard to beat a well designed hard dodger. A panel on each side through its own mppt controller. More asteticly pleasing but will see some shading from time to time .

john007 · 06-05-2019, 14:35

I should have said 'within the hour or so ' I have been watching the instruments this week and it does recover quite quickly.

Razoo · 06-05-2019, 16:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by KP44

Hi Razoo,

Many of us have found that we have no rigging shadows on a stern arch. I had an arch built with high davits. The dingy is lifted high enough that it is not attractive to thieves.
I experimented for 2 years with panels on the bimini top and on the rails. I was continually either moving and adjusting panels or accepting lower output because of shadows.

My first thought was to get an arch. I appreciate the few good points you threw in there, thanks.

Razoo · 06-05-2019, 16:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

What he said. Our arch design and construction is detailed elsewhere in the thread, but it's particularly high. We were alone when we started but we are now finding tall arches to be much more common...

I look for your design and construction. Thanks.

skipgundlach · 06-05-2019, 17:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razoo

I look for your design and construction. Thanks.

nelly · 06-05-2019, 18:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Post #7

The OP ended up here and you guys are still arguing BS theory. Nothing on a boat follows theory and all you can do is plan around the experienced usage. My 640W doesn't ALWAYS cover my usage, but I bet overall would take care of it 90+% of the time. Yes sometimes it is real for cloudy for 3 plus days, but no energy survey is going to help with that. If I'm not on the boat and all that is running is my LED anchor light and refrigeration I bet there still isn't any problem (haven't tried it with the 640W as in past I only had 290W and after a week I came back to the boat once only to have 97% SOC)

I only have 300w but I always leave my fridge on. Battery is basically always at 100% (450ah). Tiny Dometic fridge set to 37' and it has been fairly cold out (we'll see how it is in the summer) but it has also been pretty cloudy most days.