Just finished rebuilding my battery charging panel for my Oday 22 after my last set of batteries died, maybe from old age, maybe from faulty wiring in the solar charger circuit. The panel gets mounted in the cockpit locker next to the battery tray. Considering this boat is DC only and with lights, radio, and auto tiller only draws a max of 3.5 amps I would say I over-engineered it a bit. The wires running to the cabin fuse panel attach to the 3 large 30A bus bars to provide 2 battery leads and a common ground. I added a light to the panel because I had the solar charger remote meter mounted in the center of the board and even in the daytime it was hard to read the unlight led display down in the locker. So I found these USB chargers that had a built in voltage indicator when turned on. Now with an easy way to read the voltage of my two batteries at the panel I decided to mount the remote meter in the cabin where it probably belongs anyway. Now the light will help at night if I need to see the panel or other stuff stowed in the locker. Since I used top quality marine parts in most places it was surprisingly pricey project.
Here it is powered up using a small battery to test the USB ports and light.
Shopping list:
Morningstar SunSaverDuo2 dual battery solar charge controller
Morningstar RM-1 remote meter(not shown)
2 Bass Pro Shops Pro Series Deep-Cycle AGM Group 22 55AmpHr Marine Batteries (not shown)
2 30 amp battery terminal fuse blocks (not shown)
1 20 amp solar panel (not shown)
2 sets of 4 AWG 18" battery terminal wires (non marine grade welding wire)
3 marine grade 30A battery terminal blocks with color coded protective covers
1 30A connector block for solar panel wires (runs to solar panel outlet mounted in cockpit)
Marine grade 12 AWG tinned copper wire using red-positive/yellow-ground color scheme
2 fused and switched USB ports with build in battery voltage indicator
USB light for inspecting panel at night
All wires crimped and heat shrunk with ring connectors or ferrules
Here it is powered up using a small battery to test the USB ports and light.
Shopping list:
Morningstar SunSaverDuo2 dual battery solar charge controller
Morningstar RM-1 remote meter(not shown)
2 Bass Pro Shops Pro Series Deep-Cycle AGM Group 22 55AmpHr Marine Batteries (not shown)
2 30 amp battery terminal fuse blocks (not shown)
1 20 amp solar panel (not shown)
2 sets of 4 AWG 18" battery terminal wires (non marine grade welding wire)
3 marine grade 30A battery terminal blocks with color coded protective covers
1 30A connector block for solar panel wires (runs to solar panel outlet mounted in cockpit)
Marine grade 12 AWG tinned copper wire using red-positive/yellow-ground color scheme
2 fused and switched USB ports with build in battery voltage indicator
USB light for inspecting panel at night
All wires crimped and heat shrunk with ring connectors or ferrules
