Our Solar Installation is Done

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May 17, 2011
56
Argo Navis Mac 22 Key Largo
Hi Mary,

that looks really good and the panels are out of the way,, very eye pleasing.

how many batteries do you have onboard?

thanks for sharing.

fm
 
Dec 19, 2006
5,832
Hunter 36 Punta Gorda
Looking Good

You are going to love them when you see how much they save from running any egine or Gen for charging batteries.
I added 2-190 solar panels with one charge controller and added battery monitor,mine are just like you have over bimini but I have the hunter arch to mount on one side and another support off bimini fram and my wires run down in my arch tubing into under my nav station where the charge controller is and a remote controller battery monitor.
I don't even hook up to shore power except to run the dehumidifier system off myAC unit but no battery charger and have 3 or 4 fans running 24/7 while I am up north.
Good Luck and I like how nice the install was done.
Nick
 
May 17, 2011
56
Argo Navis Mac 22 Key Largo
That plenty of power it seems. I'm sure you have done the math of how much power you consume per typical day and how long to replace Bach with the solar panels?
 
Jan 22, 2008
1,483
Hunter 37 C sloop Punta Gorda FL
Thank You MainSail

That plenty of power it seems. I'm sure you have done the math of how much power you consume per typical day and how long to replace Bach with the solar panels?
Over and over Fernando. New Adler Barbour refer plus Engle freezer are in the neighborhood of 100 to 120 amp hours per day depending on beverage count. All else, led anchor lite, cabin lights, stereo, tv, pc and phone recharge etc is 30 ish AH. 420 watts at 5+ hours of strong sunlight should get us 125-150 AH. I am ecstatic today 'cause it is not a sunny day and the solar panels were into trickle charge by 2:00 pm. Trickle with the Genasun controllers is 13.6 v we are getting about 0.25 amps into 440 ah of golf cart batteries. Gonna stay off the grid for a while and see about long term.

Can't wait for sunny days
 
May 16, 2007
1,509
Boatless ! 26 Ottawa, Ontario
Great job on the install of the panels. That will our next big job. Was there a particular reason for separate charge controllers on each panel rather than have all panels in parallel and one larger controller ?
Let us know how this keeps up long term with your power consumption, we are still waffling on the panel sizes to use.
Bob
 
Jan 22, 2008
1,483
Hunter 37 C sloop Punta Gorda FL
Sorry, Fernando, I just noticed Mary said 6 batteries. Two are not currently hooked up 440 ah is the 4 in the keel. I had my helper pull two out of the bow, and put them under the Nav table. They will be wired in next week.
 
Jan 22, 2008
1,483
Hunter 37 C sloop Punta Gorda FL
Great job on the install of the panels. That will our next big job. Was there a particular reason for separate charge controllers on each panel rather than have all panels in parallel and one larger controller ?
Let us know how this keeps up long term with your power consumption, we are still waffling on the panel sizes to use.
Bob
The Genasun controllers that I used are sized for 140 watt panels. I like the redundance
of 3 separate charging units, and Mainsail wrote nice things about Genasun. they were about $170 each, so 3 were only a little more than the $500 or so for a QUALITY 30 amp MPPT unit.
 

DannyS

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May 27, 2004
933
Beneteau 393 Bayfield, Wi
Nice work! Your system Sounds similar to ours, ours is just not quite as large. We've had our system in place for just about a month now and abolutely love it. We're heading to the far reaches of northern Lake Superior for the next couple of weeks and feel really good about our ability to stay independant and self sufficient.
 

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Jan 22, 2008
1,483
Hunter 37 C sloop Punta Gorda FL
Nice work! Your system Sounds similar to ours, ours is just not quite as large. We've had our system in place for just about a month now and abolutely love it. We're heading to the far reaches of northern Lake Superior for the next couple of weeks and feel really good about our ability to stay independant and self sufficient.
We hope to spend months on a mooring ball . Will be great not to have to run the generator except to support Mary's vacuuming. Ours would be smaller if we were not supporting both a refer and freezer.
 
Jan 22, 2008
1,483
Hunter 37 C sloop Punta Gorda FL
We hope to spend months on a mooring ball . Will be great not to have to run the generator except to support Mary's vacuuming. Ours would be smaller if we were not supporting both a refer and freezer.
Great news! Grey day till noon. Batteries near full at1:00, floating at 3:30 when we got home from shopping. Dip inthe pool, then discussion over several glasses of wine about what appliances to add. I voted for an ice maker, Mary for an electric bread maker and a can opener. First time we have faced excess electrical generating power. Now worried about cubic storage on 37 foot boat.
 
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