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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

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

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

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

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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5368 Posts

Response Posted - 05/14/2011 : 19:43:55

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

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

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Voyager
 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"></blockquote id="quote">

Nice!
Looks like they had me in mind.

Thanks

Edited by - on

cks
Navigator

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126 Posts

Response Posted - 05/18/2011 : 15:43:27

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

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

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.

Edited by - Ryan L on 05/18/2011 19:48:38

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5368 Posts

Response Posted - 05/19/2011 : 18:43:20

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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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.