I`m investigating Solar for a Hunter 466, seem everyone has a different opinion

[capi6289]

Hunter 466 has 4 AGM house batteries, One Start battery, Refrigeator, Frezzer, TV, AM/FM Ice machine maker when needed, interior lights and anchor at night at anchor, Coffe Machine when needed. My objective is to keep all the batteries fully charged with solar only, when not connected to shore power. any suggestion on brands, wattage per panel and inverter.
Thank you
Bill

 

[Maine Sail]

In order for us to help you we need a lot more information...

How many Ah's per day are you actually using? (actual measured Ah's consummed over a 24 hour period)
How many Ah's (20 hour rated capacity) is the battery bank?
What brand of AGM?
How is the start battery being charged?
How is the house bank physically wired one bank, or two combined banks via a switch?
What type of Sq. Ft. space do you have in order to devote to solar?
Do you have an alternator?
Do you have a generator?
Do you have an inverter/charger & if so how big is charger portion?

Based on your usage, without even having hard numbers, I am going to suggest it is simply not possible for solar to keep up with your demand, on a monohull, without some serious modifications to fit a massive PV array.. I have a similar Hunter I work on and he burns close to 170Ah's per day... To support a 170Ah per day use he would need an array capable of producing in excess of 900 watts (size is cruising location dependent)... This is huge... Instead he mixes PV and fossil fuel charge sources doing bulk charging with fossil fuels and absorption charging with solar...

 

[Head Sail]

It sounds as if keeping your batteries fully charged while using as much power as you like is more a function of how large an area on your boat you can utilize.

 

[capta]

We found that it really helps to have a windgen to keep the batteries up through the night, as we didn't want a massive battery bank. It doesn't take much, just a couple of amps an hour, to make a big difference. Our solar would normally cut back to trickle charge by noon, so the afternoon solar was mostly wasted. Most of our power usage is from dusk to 1AM.

 

[nautikaljeeper]

I read this post and felt a desire to post my results of a 2 1/2 week trip I just returned back from since installing panels on my Hunter 36. The PV system consist of 2 240w Panasonic Hit panels mounted above bimini and a Midnite Kid 30amp controller. The boat has a 630 amp/hr house bank with a Victron and Balmar battery monitors. My amp/hr usage per day exceeded 150 hrs every day and I could say it was closer to 200 amp/hrs a day and maybe more. The demand is from a refrig, freezer, 3-4 hrs of running underwater lights at night, stereo with amp that was running at least 12 to 14 hrs a day, 350 watt inverter to charge laptop used 2-3 hrs a day every couple of days, and a liberal usage of cabin lights(all LEDs) and other power accessories. From 6:00 pm to 7:00 am every day my consumed amp/hr usage was 117 to 120 amp The location of my trip was southern California and the weather was phenomenal. Mostly sunny days and some mornings had the usual marine layer in the mornings. 80 degree days. By 2:30-3:00 pm I was at 100% fully charged in float mode at 13.3 volts. Controller had gone through bulk and then absorption for 3hrs at 14.4 volts. I never needed to start the motor at any time to supplement charging during the trip.
This reply is not to debate what Maine Sail has posted but only to share my results. After all my results were from all that I had learned from his postings. So what am I missing? And by the way a wonderful trip was had.

 

[Benny17441]

So what am I missing?

Not much. You have a massive 630 Ah battery bank that supports electrical operations. Your 6:00 PM to 7:00 AM use of 120 Ah is only about 20% of the bank's capacity. Did some calculations and it is plausible that over the 8 hours of charge in favorable conditions you could have replenished the 185 Ah estimated to have been used overnight (120Ah) plus the added usage during the 8 charging hours (65Ah). The thing is the calculations indicated the panel's output was topping out at around 75% of their rated capacity in those favorable conditions. I hope you understand that when you hit a string of cloudy and rainy days you will have to significantly cut down usage. Most locations do not receive the amount of sunlight that Southern California does so a setup like yours is not likely to work as well in other parts of the country but may be adequate for what Capi is looking for.

 

[Gunni]

Wow, I pretty much run all those systems (less underwater lighting) with about 100 Ahs / day. Maybe 125 Ah's. What are you doing all night long?

 

[Don Lucas]

If I had a 466 I would be looking to install 2-3 panels of about 300 watts each. This allows them to be behind the boom using the traveler arch and the bimini frame to mount the panels and they can be installed to the side some to allow view of the main though the bimini if you have a clear window. On my smaller 410 I installed 1 290W panel and it has supplied enough power in the NE USA to recharge for refrigeration loads out on a mooring the past 3 years. I did size the system for 2 panels but may not install as I think I will end up running the generator often enough for other things to make up for only the single panel when I start full time cruising. But when I installed my system the solar panel was only $300 of the$1600 project cost and I wish I had just installed 2 panels in the beginning.

 

[nautikaljeeper]

Did some calculations and it is plausible that over the 8 hours of charge in favorable conditions you could have replenished the 185 Ah estimated to have been used overnight (120Ah) plus the added usage during the 8 charging hours (65Ah).

Yes it is and then some. I was very happy with the results I got.

The thing is the calculations indicated the panel's output was topping out at around 75% of their rated capacity in those favorable conditions.


I would be interested to see your calculations as to how you came up with 75% of their rated capacity.

I hope you understand that when you hit a string of cloudy and rainy days you will have to significantly cut down usage. Most locations do not receive the amount of sunlight that Southern California does so a setup like yours is not likely to work as well in other parts of the country but may be adequate for what Capi is looking for.

I am fully aware of this. That is why I posted what the weather was like. We were indeed blessed with favorable conditions. There was one day at our marina with 100% overcast and I was seeing 14 to 18 amps coming out of the controller starting at 10:00 am. I understand on a rainy day that could change that could even change more.