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 Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums
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 5-10 Watt Solar Panels
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Peregrine
Admiral

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830 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/14/2011 :  14:23:06  Show Profile  Visit Peregrine's Homepage
<font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="2"><font color="navy">It seems ICP is either out business or I am not finding them.
I had a 5 watt panel but stepped on it one stormy night while tying things down.
I don't want a fixed panel but one that I can put away while sailing.
Suggestions?
TIA</font id="navy"></font id="size2"></font id="Comic Sans MS">


John Gisondi
Peregrine
#4762


*

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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5368 Posts

Response Posted - 05/14/2011 :  19:40:08  Show Profile
I bought both an 18 and a 20 watt unit on Amazon. West Marine still sells a small Sunforce panel.
I still use the 8 Watt unit to top off my rechargable AM/FM/Weather radio, my handheld VHF and my Coleman LED lantern.

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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5368 Posts

Response Posted - 05/14/2011 :  19:43:55  Show Profile
Whoa! Check this out ~ you'd never have to worry again:
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|328|49497|1471367&id=1648222

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redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3476 Posts

Response Posted - 05/16/2011 :  05:14:32  Show Profile
Sweet! Put um anywhere we want to now.

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Peregrine
Admiral

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830 Posts

Response Posted - 05/16/2011 :  10:13:30  Show Profile  Visit Peregrine's Homepage
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Voyager</i>
<br />Whoa! Check this out ~ you'd never have to worry again:
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|328|49497|1471367&id=1648222
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

<font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size="2"><font color="navy">Nice!
Looks like they had me in mind.
Thanks</font id="navy"></font id="size2"></font id="Comic Sans MS">

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cks
Navigator

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126 Posts

Response Posted - 05/18/2011 :  15:43:27  Show Profile
Would 5W be enough for a "light" user- just to start the motor, use radio, and running lights at dusk?

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 05/18/2011 :  15:53:09  Show Profile  Visit britinusa's Homepage
5w but not at the load of an outboard motor. Perhaps research the particulr engine to find it's starting amps.

Paul

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Ryan L
Navigator

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USA
230 Posts

Response Posted - 05/18/2011 :  19:47:51  Show Profile  Visit Ryan L's Homepage
We've had one of those panels for four of five months now (the 30w version). They work great. Mounted it on stern pulpit in a way that can be angled and/or rotated any direction but down. You can sort of see it in this pic.




<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Voyager</i>
<br />Whoa! Check this out ~ you'd never have to worry again:
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|328|49497|1471367&id=1648222
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Edited by - Ryan L on 05/18/2011 19:48:38
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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5368 Posts

Response Posted - 05/19/2011 :  18:43:20  Show Profile
A 5W solar panel is sufficient to keep your battery topped up if you have another charger like an AC plug-in charger or you run your engine frequently. In my case without an AC source, if I use Passage a few times a week and sail mostly rather than motor, I need about 35-40W of solar power to keep my Group 24 battery fully charged throughout the season.

If I were to charge my cell phone and iPod, run my laptop using an inverter for a few hours, run the stereo, run the navigation lights or stay overnight with my anchor light running, then I also need to run my engine for a few hours.

Looking at it another way, my group 24 battery can provide me with approx 40 amp hours before needing a charge. If my solar panels supply about 2 amps, I have to recharge the battery for 20 hours to replace all the power. If, however I run the engine that supplies 12 amps, I only need to run it for about 3.5 hours.

It's kind of like your bank account - you have to replace what you spend.

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