Looking for Solar Panel Battery Charging Kits

anelso29

anelso29

.
Aug 10, 2022
23
Hunter 31 Rock Hall, MD
Hello All,

I'm looking for recommendations on all-in-one kits or a series of components to set up a trickle charge solar panel kit for my sailboat. I have two 12V batteries, and I want to find products or kits that will give me everything I need to connect the solar panels to my batteries to help them charge.

My goal is to keep the batteries fully charged when docked and to provide additional support during longer trips. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.
 
Tally Ho

Tally Ho

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Jan 7, 2011
5,066
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
We will need a little more info to help size the panels correctly...

Namely, what size are the batteries (single or 2 banks?) and what sort of load do you anticipate on a normal "long trip" (daily Ah usage).
With those, I think we can narrow down some options.

Greg
 
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jssailem

jssailem

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Oct 22, 2014
21,770
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
I’ve acquired several items.
Grape Solar 50Watt Panel $41
Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT Solar Charge Controller (Bluetooth) - Charge Controllers for Solar Panels - 75V, 15 amp, 12/24-Volt. $68
cables
 
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P

Project_Mayhem

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Sep 24, 2018
2,839
O'Day 25 Chicago
Like jsailem recommended, Most people will go with a cheap 50-100w solar panel and a decent charge controller from Victron or MorningStar. My 100w Renogy and basic, PWM MorningStar supply more than enough for my two batteries on my day sailor. Tally Ho, is right that you should evaluate your usage before purchasing
 
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E

east coaster

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Apr 10, 2010
75
Catalina 310 166 Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
I recommend Pacific Yacht systems in Vancouver Canada. They have a complete solar package for any size boat. They ship anywhere and with the Canadian dollar in the basement it's a good deal for those south of the border. I ordered and received the two 115 panels complete with mppt controllers, generous wiring etc. I am pleased with my package, it works great, products are very good it's a complete package one stop shop. At the very least its worth a Google look and no I get no remuneration or anything else from PYS. Just my experience to pass on a reliable and reputable company even if they are on the other coast.
 
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Joe

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
8,086
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
renology. Also........ Walmart.
 
D

dlochner

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Jan 11, 2014
11,986
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Undersizing the charging system is not good for your batteries. For any of us to give meaningful advice we need to know what your daily current draw is on longer trips and what a longer trip is.

All good solar controllers will have multi-stage charging which will include a float stage, which will keep fully charged batteries fully charged. Small wattage panels, often marketed as battery maintainers, will do the same but they won't charge a battery from a lower state of charge. Expecting any additional support from these devices on longer trips will be disappointing.

Do you have refrigeration? LED or Incandescent lights? Electronics? Figure out how many hours a day they are used and how much current each draws and total it. That will yield the daily consumption. From that you can figure out how much charging capacity will be needed which will drive the choice of panel size.

For reference we are medium consumers of electricity on our boat, about 80-90 amp hours per day. On sunny days our 300 watts of solar can keep up and then sum. On shorter days or cloudier days we don't do as well. With just the bare electrical needs, system monitors, propane monitors and the various little LED lights on the devices we draw about .8 amps per hour or 19 ah. That is about half the useable capacity of a Group 24 Lead Acid battery.
 
anelso29

anelso29

.
Aug 10, 2022
23
Hunter 31 Rock Hall, MD
Tally Ho said:
We will need a little more info to help size the panels correctly...

Namely, what size are the batteries (single or 2 banks?) and what sort of load do you anticipate on a normal "long trip" (daily Ah usage).
With those, I think we can narrow down some options.

Greg
Click to expand
Thank you, Greg and everyone else for your responses.

I'm not sure what my daily usage is. I am not an electrician and this area has been a large learning curve for me. I have one Dual Purpose 675 Group 24 and one Precision 24M-1000 Battery for starting. The only thing drawing power when I'm underway is my Radio and AIS system. Besides that, I keep my iPad plugged in, which I use for my plotter. I'm not sure what all of this adds up to, but it's everything I'm using. Overnight, I also run some fans for airflow.

I will take a look at some of the recommended products and do some additional research to find the best product for my setup. Thank you!
 
JoeWhite

JoeWhite

.
Mar 6, 2008
1,197
Catalina 1999 C36 MKII #1787 Coyote Point Marina, CA.
Do you have a battery monitor? If not install one. It will answer your questions on usage and you will know what size solar charging system you need.
 
BarryL

BarryL

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May 21, 2004
1,021
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409 Mt. Sinai, NY
Hello,

If you want something simple go here

Loading…

defender.com

Everything you need is included. It's really very easy to install. My boat is on a mooring. I just lay the panel in the cockpit. I can't leave my refrigerator on when on the mooring, but when I arrive at my boat the batteries are fully charged.

Barry


anelso29 said:
Hello All,

I'm looking for recommendations on all-in-one kits or a series of components to set up a trickle charge solar panel kit for my sailboat. I have two 12V batteries, and I want to find products or kits that will give me everything I need to connect the solar panels to my batteries to help them charge.

My goal is to keep the batteries fully charged when docked and to provide additional support during longer trips. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.
Click to expand
 
Tally Ho

Tally Ho

.
Jan 7, 2011
5,066
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
anelso29 said:
Thank you, Greg and everyone else for your responses.

I'm not sure what my daily usage is. I am not an electrician and this area has been a large learning curve for me. I have one Dual Purpose 675 Group 24 and one Precision 24M-1000 Battery for starting. The only thing drawing power when I'm underway is my Radio and AIS system. Besides that, I keep my iPad plugged in, which I use for my plotter. I'm not sure what all of this adds up to, but it's everything I'm using. Overnight, I also run some fans for airflow.

I will take a look at some of the recommended products and do some additional research to find the best product for my setup. Thank you!
Click to expand
It sounds like your power needs are very light then. No refrigerator, which is one of the biggest draws.

I started to make a chart of power consumers on my boat (I am not an electrician either, but I do have a cheap clamp meter and a Renogy battery monitor that help figure out how much power is being used). Again, for your needs, you don’t need too much.

IMG_3402.png


Lots of options out there. @BarryL gave a link that has a lot of different options for panel size.


Greg
 
Joe

Joe

.
Jun 1, 2004
8,086
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
Project_Mayhem said:
I own one of their panels but there have been reports of Renogy controllers catching on fire
Click to expand
Dude.......saying... "I heard".... regarding a product, person or event.... is just not cool. Either provide a viable reference...such quote from a fact checking organization, for instance, or don't comment. Unsubstantiated claims have been all over the news that can be misleading and downright untrue, even criminal Remember Rudy Guiliani's voting machine fiasco.. how much did that cost him, Yikes... I'm just suggesting that you have to be careful what you say. Especially in print.... we had a hearsay incident on this board a few years back that caused a lot of bad feelings.
 
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D

dlochner

.
Jan 11, 2014
11,986
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Joe said:
Dude.......saying... "I heard".... regarding a product, person or event.... is just not cool. Either provide a viable reference...such quote from a fact checking organization, for instance, or don't comment. Unsubstantiated claims have been all over the news that can be misleading and downright untrue, even criminal Remember Rudy Guiliani's voting machine fiasco.. how much did that cost him, Yikes... I'm just suggesting that you have to be careful what you say. Especially in print.... we had a hearsay incident on this board a few years back that caused a lot of bad feelings.
Click to expand
Regarding Renogy products, there are many who swear by them and those that swear at them. @mainesail who was in the business of installing and maintaining marine electrical systems is not a fan of Renogy, citing too many failures and quality control issues. I trust his opinion. However, I don't recall him ever saying a Renogy controller started a fire. Even if one did cause a fire, it might be difficult to separate the cause of the fire from the device or the installation.
 
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Captain Larry-DH

Captain Larry-DH

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Jun 14, 2010
2,179
Robertson & Caine 2017 Leopard 40 CT
I have owned more Renogy solar panels than I used - with a few returned due to quality issues. While they do work, and most work well, I don't think of them as a high quality brand.
 
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Project_Mayhem

.
Sep 24, 2018
2,839
O'Day 25 Chicago
Joe said:
Dude.......saying... "I heard".... regarding a product, person or event.... is just not cool. Either provide a viable reference...such quote from a fact checking organization, for instance, or don't comment. Unsubstantiated claims have been all over the news that can be misleading and downright untrue, even criminal Remember Rudy Guiliani's voting machine fiasco.. how much did that cost him, Yikes... I'm just suggesting that you have to be careful what you say. Especially in print.... we had a hearsay incident on this board a few years back that caused a lot of bad feelings.
Click to expand

Solar Voltage

I finally got around to connecting my solar panel. It charged a battery that was roughly 50% discharged to fully charged in 24 hours. But now the voltage is always showing 13-14 volts. Is this expected when it's maintaining? I'm a bit concerned that it's overcharging my brand new batteries.
forums.sailboatowners.com
 
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leo310

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Dec 15, 2006
641
Catalina 310 44 Campbell River BC
I have both renogy and eco worthy solar panels and renogy mppts and battery monitor, over the last 3 years no problems charging as we have not used the battery charger from Feb. to Nov.
 
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Joe

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
8,086
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
You guys do understand that my comment had nothing to do with the product mentioned in mayhem's thread. It's about using public forums to make unsubstantiated claims or distribute false information. Just be careful and think before you print. Okay?
 
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