I recently purchased a 2003 Hunter 420 that has a solar panel just aft of the Mast. It isn;t any good and was wondering if it was worth replacing, and if so, where would I find a replacement panel?
Solar Panel on a 420
- Thread starter captmaddog
- Start date
well that is a different question and the answer is yes
it nothing to do with that little tickle panel that only supplied the start battery
Was looking at putting the Nature Power 18-Watt Solar Battery Charger with 8-Amp Charge Controller Kit on to keep the batteries charged when I'm not on the boat.
How long you going to be off the boat? An 18W panel to me is a waste of money unless you are going to be away for months. It probably even wouldn't recharge the batteries in a week from a day sail where you ran the chartplotter, instruments, autopilot, and stereo.
18 watts at 14 ish volts is a wopping 1.28 amps in max sun and when the sun is 90 degrees to the panel (which is almost never BTW) so I'm thinking you would be seeing about one amp near noontime and a lot less before and after. Even less in the winter. i suspect that your 420 has something like 400 AH of house bank. I MIGHT maintain a full bank but it would take a very long time to charge them if discharge much. The OEM panels where only designed to maintain the banks not charge them.
That does sound like a waste. We keep the boat plugged in, but the solar panel just runs to the engine battery I think. But then I just bought it so haven't figured alot of things out yet. Thanks. I have a generator as well as the Yanmar engine so may not really nee the panels then.
By the way, has anyone just covered the solar panel up with something else? It looks like ..........
some people find some small panel to install in the spot, but I bet lots of nameless ones just ignore it
I have a 290W panel system and that maintains the batteries out on a mooring while the refrigerator works all week and recharges from the weekend.
If I was in a slip and plugged in and only doing mostly weekend sailing I would just forget about solar etc as a waste of money.
Depends
If you usually are plugging into shore power than forget about it
and it's so small it doesn't really do much.
If you cruise and stay out long periods of time and use your gen
than forget about it.
If like me cruise alot out on anchor alot away from shore power
than put a bigger panel at least 100 watt's off the back of the stainless arch to run ref with out running the Gen for long periods of time.
Solar is only good if using lots of 12volt and anchoring out alot,we like less noise when anchoring out and maybe only need the Gen for AC.
Nick
If you usually are plugging into shore power than forget about it
and it's so small it doesn't really do much.
If you cruise and stay out long periods of time and use your gen
than forget about it.
If like me cruise alot out on anchor alot away from shore power
than put a bigger panel at least 100 watt's off the back of the stainless arch to run ref with out running the Gen for long periods of time.
Solar is only good if using lots of 12volt and anchoring out alot,we like less noise when anchoring out and maybe only need the Gen for AC.
Nick
Seadaddler, right now we are just cruising the gulf area around Galveston down to Padre Island Texas. Next year, plan on heading to Florida Keys and Bahamas. After that, who knows. So will wait til next year to see about Solar panels. I like the quietness over the genset, but for now it will do. Thanks
Nick, Would you tell me a little more about the 100 watt panel you have installed? What brand and how do you have it attached? I'm thinking of doing something similar and don't want to install on the Bimini.
I wrote that over 3 years ago. I since have determined that mine is acturally still working enough for its function of tickle charge to the start battery. But I doubt I would spend money on replacing it if it died.
On my h410 the only way the starter batter is charged is through that little panal, nothing else. If it stops working the battery dies. I upgraded to a 50 watt panal with a controller. A kicker subwoofer now also powers off that battery. Panal was $90 with a controller delivered.
Have another 580 watts solar for the house banks.
Having solar is not a waste, ever.
Have another 580 watts solar for the house banks.
While I'm glad you found a way I'm confused. My 410 has the factory inverter option on it and every charge source charges the start battery as long as I have the start battery disconnect switch in the "on" position and the inverter switch selected to a battery position. I worked on a friends sister 410 that didn't have the factory inverter and had the factory standard alternator and battery charger, both of which still charged thestart battery.
Why doesn't your battery charger or alternator charge you start battery, have you changed something?
Nothing was changed until I upgraded.
The engine start battery is completely separated from the engine charge circuit. It does have its own on off battery switch with the solar circuits fuse holder. There is no way to connect house and start batteries. My experience includes needing jumper cables to connect the house to a dead start battery.
The factory inverter charger does not do anything for the starter battery.
In my opinion it works fine like that considering its only used to start a diesel which generally is not done very often. Never had a problem until the s battery was over 6 years old!
If you have this setup I always noticed the charge to the s battery with the sun up. But I also noticed voltage drop at the s battery in darkness. This, I'm pretty sure is because there is no controller to block the discharge.
My 410 is a '99
If a factory setup did charge the start battery why would hunter add a tiny panel to the start battery only?
The engine start battery is completely separated from the engine charge circuit. It does have its own on off battery switch with the solar circuits fuse holder. There is no way to connect house and start batteries. My experience includes needing jumper cables to connect the house to a dead start battery.
The factory inverter charger does not do anything for the starter battery.
In my opinion it works fine like that considering its only used to start a diesel which generally is not done very often. Never had a problem until the s battery was over 6 years old!
If you have this setup I always noticed the charge to the s battery with the sun up. But I also noticed voltage drop at the s battery in darkness. This, I'm pretty sure is because there is no controller to block the discharge.
My 410 is a '99
If a factory setup did charge the start battery why would hunter add a tiny panel to the start battery only?
In the "standard" 410 electrical the alternator goes to the start battery and with the engine key on it energizes a relay behind where the windlass breaker is that charges the house battery. I know this for fact as I took my friend out on his 1999 410 and the house batteries died even though we motored for 7 hours because the engine had been replaced and they didn't connect the relay wire, so only the start battery was being charged.
Also on the 1999 "standard" electrical the battery charger had 2 outputs, one to the house batteries and one to the start battery. I know this as a fact as I replaced my friends battery charger for him.
In the factory charger/inverter option the alternation and battery charger output feed into an isolator and the house battery input is on the same post. The charge sources feed across the diodes to the start battery and charges it as long as the disconnect switch in "on". This works great because as long as a battery is selected on the inverter selector switch it will also supply the start circuit. I know this as fact as I haven't turned "on" my start battery in a month and yet can still start my engine, generator and run the windlass off my house battery as it feeds into the start circuit (but the start will not feed the house circuit).
So one of us doesn't know the factory system wiring.
Also on the 1999 "standard" electrical the battery charger had 2 outputs, one to the house batteries and one to the start battery. I know this as a fact as I replaced my friends battery charger for him.
In the factory charger/inverter option the alternation and battery charger output feed into an isolator and the house battery input is on the same post. The charge sources feed across the diodes to the start battery and charges it as long as the disconnect switch in "on". This works great because as long as a battery is selected on the inverter selector switch it will also supply the start circuit. I know this as fact as I haven't turned "on" my start battery in a month and yet can still start my engine, generator and run the windlass off my house battery as it feeds into the start circuit (but the start will not feed the house circuit).
So one of us doesn't know the factory system wiring.
Interesting thread, I too am looking to add solar to my AC 41 this winter current thinking is 2X 295 W mono panels instead of 4X 100 W mono panels wired in parallel. Placement would be some kind of solar davit off the arch to minimize shading. But what is making me hesitant about this idea is the cost of the davit which seems to be more then the solar kit it self. Love to get some input, feedback, recommendations and pictures of solar setup, placement options and lessons learned. My use case is ~160A usage per day on the hook for 1-2 weeks and do not want to have to start up my gen every morning to top off the batteries, wife and I love to sip our tea in the quiet ocean breezes.