I have obtained a slow trickle solar panel and was wondering about the hook up. Do I run the wires from it directly to the battery (engine), that I want kept charged? Does the positive wire still run to the positive terminal on the battery? In a battery bank, the positives can run to the neg. sides, to make a series, so I was wondering which side of the panel goes to which terminal, for recharge? I am probably all wet on this, but I am new to solar panels! Of course the panel came without instructions! I guess they figure in every case, a person knows what they are doing! Or with all of this do I have to get a separate buzz box to run it through? Thanks for any info.
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Electrical Bible
I HIGHLY recommend buying Nigel Calder's Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual. It will tell you how to do what you want to do plus soooo much more! Anyway, it's my understanding that you don't need a regulator with a trickle charger since the amount of juice is so low, it can't possibly burn up your batteries. But I'm an electrical moron so take that for what it's worth!
LaDonna
I HIGHLY recommend buying Nigel Calder's Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual. It will tell you how to do what you want to do plus soooo much more! Anyway, it's my understanding that you don't need a regulator with a trickle charger since the amount of juice is so low, it can't possibly burn up your batteries. But I'm an electrical moron so take that for what it's worth!
LaDonnaYou can't do it wrong
The solar panels all have diodes in them so even if you wire them up in reverse no harm will come from it. But to charge a battery they need to be connected just like a battery charger + to + and - to - For high current panels it helps to have a charge regulator, but as long as the max current output of the panel is less than 1.5% of the battery's ampere-hour rating you don't need one. Tilting the panel so it is at the same angle as your latitude (+ 5-10 degrees) will increase the output.
The solar panels all have diodes in them so even if you wire them up in reverse no harm will come from it. But to charge a battery they need to be connected just like a battery charger + to + and - to - For high current panels it helps to have a charge regulator, but as long as the max current output of the panel is less than 1.5% of the battery's ampere-hour rating you don't need one. Tilting the panel so it is at the same angle as your latitude (+ 5-10 degrees) will increase the output.
Re: New Solar Panel
Hello Dennis, I just installed a 5 watt IPS on my Hunter 335 and split the positive (+) lead into 2 leads and hooked each one to positive (+) terminal of each battery, then negative (-) lead to one negative (-) terminal of either battery, since the negative side of both batteries are common. Everything is working great. Good Luck, Cap'n Brent S/V Elena Lua 1990 Hunter 335 http://www.elenalua.homestead.com
Hello Dennis, I just installed a 5 watt IPS on my Hunter 335 and split the positive (+) lead into 2 leads and hooked each one to positive (+) terminal of each battery, then negative (-) lead to one negative (-) terminal of either battery, since the negative side of both batteries are common. Everything is working great. Good Luck, Cap'n Brent S/V Elena Lua 1990 Hunter 335 http://www.elenalua.homestead.com
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