My next door neighbour has a RV/Marine Deep discharge battery in his Fifth Wheel trailer. He just bought a small (5 inch by 14 inch) solar panel trickle charger that the package says is for a mororcycle, persoanl water craft or snowmobile battery. While I wait for him to return from his camping trip (to find out if it worked) I thought I would pose a question to the Forum. P.S. His cost $30 Cdn and he got it at Canadian Tire. They also have larger ones, but they run $150 plus. Is there a small (inexpensive) solar battery charger that works well on deep discharge marine batteries? Brand and retailer info would be much appreciated as well as comments on the workings, etc. Best regards, Richard
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Solar
Richard, time to think SYSTEM, not just piece of equipment. If you have one house battery (not a bank, just a battery), you can get by with a small trickle charger. All it does is offset the inherent daily discharge of the wet cell battery. If you have a huge house bank, like 450 AH from four 6 volt golf carts, that little trickle thing won't even tickle. It's useless. I recommend that you read the West Marine Adviser on solar and on batteries to learn how to match the solar output with batteries. Since you don't say what batteries you have on your boat, I can't begin to answer your specific question. And "works well on..." - I don't understand. What are you trying to do? Just offset discharge or actually add amps? Small solar won't add amps of any meaningful quantity. You need to match the pieces to make any system work. Stu
Richard, time to think SYSTEM, not just piece of equipment. If you have one house battery (not a bank, just a battery), you can get by with a small trickle charger. All it does is offset the inherent daily discharge of the wet cell battery. If you have a huge house bank, like 450 AH from four 6 volt golf carts, that little trickle thing won't even tickle. It's useless. I recommend that you read the West Marine Adviser on solar and on batteries to learn how to match the solar output with batteries. Since you don't say what batteries you have on your boat, I can't begin to answer your specific question. And "works well on..." - I don't understand. What are you trying to do? Just offset discharge or actually add amps? Small solar won't add amps of any meaningful quantity. You need to match the pieces to make any system work. Stu
They work very well but,...
...the size and cost of what you buy depends on how much energy you need. In my case I keep my boat in a mooring and I used to have to run the engine during the weekend to recharge my 410 ampH house batteries. Since I installed this summer a 32 Watt UNI-solar flexible panel (see link) I find my battery bank fully charged when I return to the boat on Friday. I also have a 5 Watt rigid panel that I connect during the winter while the boat is off the water. This panel was enough to keep the batteries charged during the winter (I checked them several times last winter) and thus avoided the chore of removing four 100 ampH monsters from the boat. Also remember that, depending on the size panel you buy, you may need to buy a regulator to avoid frying your batteries. This site was the cheapest that I found in my search then. Good luck
...the size and cost of what you buy depends on how much energy you need. In my case I keep my boat in a mooring and I used to have to run the engine during the weekend to recharge my 410 ampH house batteries. Since I installed this summer a 32 Watt UNI-solar flexible panel (see link) I find my battery bank fully charged when I return to the boat on Friday. I also have a 5 Watt rigid panel that I connect during the winter while the boat is off the water. This panel was enough to keep the batteries charged during the winter (I checked them several times last winter) and thus avoided the chore of removing four 100 ampH monsters from the boat. Also remember that, depending on the size panel you buy, you may need to buy a regulator to avoid frying your batteries. This site was the cheapest that I found in my search then. Good luck
Harbor Freight
Hello, When I had a Catalina 22 on a mooring I used this to keep the battery charged: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41144 I didn't use the battery for much, just the VHF and nav lights for the occasional night sail. I would connect the charger when I left the boat, and stow it below when I got on the boat. The battery was always charged when I needed it. This would be fine if you don't have an alternator to charge the battery, and use the boat 1-2 days a week. My new boat (1986 Newport) has two batteries, diesel inboard, etc, so I don't use the charger anymore. Barry
Hello, When I had a Catalina 22 on a mooring I used this to keep the battery charged: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41144 I didn't use the battery for much, just the VHF and nav lights for the occasional night sail. I would connect the charger when I left the boat, and stow it below when I got on the boat. The battery was always charged when I needed it. This would be fine if you don't have an alternator to charge the battery, and use the boat 1-2 days a week. My new boat (1986 Newport) has two batteries, diesel inboard, etc, so I don't use the charger anymore. Barry
Well said Stu
An solar panel that is too small for your electrical system will actually destroy your batteries if you have no other means of charging. If you draw the batteries down too far, the panel won't be able to recharge them fast enough and the plates will sulfate, an irreversible chemical change that renders the batteries useless. Bear in mind also that a solar panel's rated (advertised) output is based on continuous bright sunlight perpendicular to a clean panel. This won't happen on your boat because of clouds, dust, your latitude and the changing angle of the sun to boat as they both move around. As Stu said, a lot depends on your usage. Check the West Advisor, then figure out how much electricity you use and need to restore each day, select an efficiency based on your local conditions (50 to 60% is probably not a bad place to start) and add a regulator so the batteries don't cook that first real bright day when you arrive in The Bahamas. Good luck! Peter H23 "Raven"
An solar panel that is too small for your electrical system will actually destroy your batteries if you have no other means of charging. If you draw the batteries down too far, the panel won't be able to recharge them fast enough and the plates will sulfate, an irreversible chemical change that renders the batteries useless. Bear in mind also that a solar panel's rated (advertised) output is based on continuous bright sunlight perpendicular to a clean panel. This won't happen on your boat because of clouds, dust, your latitude and the changing angle of the sun to boat as they both move around. As Stu said, a lot depends on your usage. Check the West Advisor, then figure out how much electricity you use and need to restore each day, select an efficiency based on your local conditions (50 to 60% is probably not a bad place to start) and add a regulator so the batteries don't cook that first real bright day when you arrive in The Bahamas. Good luck! Peter H23 "Raven"
Thanks, Peter
I'd go for that Bahamas trip anytime except now with Frances comin' up. Richard, here's the URL to a Forum Archives on SOLAR. You may choose to go through some of it, and maybe check the ones I've written which, somewhere in there, explain when you need a regulator and how you intend to use it. Good luck, Stu PS Here's one of those: http://www.batterystuff.com/battery/solar-tutorial.htm
I'd go for that Bahamas trip anytime except now with Frances comin' up. Richard, here's the URL to a Forum Archives on SOLAR. You may choose to go through some of it, and maybe check the ones I've written which, somewhere in there, explain when you need a regulator and how you intend to use it. Good luck, Stu PS Here's one of those: http://www.batterystuff.com/battery/solar-tutorial.htm
How Much Solar?
Just to give you an idea how much solar power is needed, my boat has 2 Kyocera KC-80 panels connected to the batteries by a Solar Boost 2000E controller. The battery bank is 980 Amp/Hr. I use approximately 45 AH per day while at anchor. We don't really conserve, we freely use the stereo & lights and run the reefer. It takes my 160 watts of solar from dawn to about 1530 to replace the 45 AH and fully charge the battery bank on a clear day. In full sunlight on a cool day, the solar array will put out about 9.5 Amps. Rodney, C-42 Sashay
Just to give you an idea how much solar power is needed, my boat has 2 Kyocera KC-80 panels connected to the batteries by a Solar Boost 2000E controller. The battery bank is 980 Amp/Hr. I use approximately 45 AH per day while at anchor. We don't really conserve, we freely use the stereo & lights and run the reefer. It takes my 160 watts of solar from dawn to about 1530 to replace the 45 AH and fully charge the battery bank on a clear day. In full sunlight on a cool day, the solar array will put out about 9.5 Amps. Rodney, C-42 Sashay
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