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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

solar battery chargers

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dave holtgrave
Captain

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USA
427 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/23/2004 : 09:44:59

i know there has been lots of discussions about solar chargers, but i have a few questions.
what is a good cost effective solution to charge my house battery during the week? i prefer a flexible mat.
should it be 10 watts?
do i need a monitor to keep it from overcharging?
what kind are you using?
thanks in advance
dave holtgrave
5722 sk/tr
sailing carlyle lake in southern illinois

Edited by - on

Mark Loyacano
Navigator

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USA
247 Posts

Response Posted - 08/23/2004 : 11:03:02

Dave, I keep a 5 watt, flexible solar panel on top of my sliding hatch. It maintains my single group 24 battery charged without need of a regulator during the Summer months. There is a diode in this particular model to prevent discharge through the panel when the sun is absent.
The next step up would be an 11 watt solar panel. It would require a regulator.

Ours is a UNI-SOLAR model USF-5. They are available at most marine stores. Before I bought it, I called their customer service at(800) 843-3892 for advice. They helped me make the right decicion to meet my expectations.

I like solar so far. When we get a different boat (soon,I hope) for more extended use, I will go to a 32 watt, adjustable mount (to track the sun), regulated through a battery combiner. An inboard engine 60 amp alternator and a three phase charger while at a dock should be enough to pick up the slack.

Yesterday I hooked up my onboard electric charger just to be sure everything was going well ... it ran about thirty seconds then indicated a full charge was achieved. My boat doesn't use a lot of power though. Just the outboard motor starter (no alternator) and a cd/radio. We don't overnight on this boat so we rarely turn the lights on.

Hope this helps.

Mark L.

Edited by - Mark Loyacano on 08/23/2004 11:17:49

Ed Montague
Captain

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USA
499 Posts

Response Posted - 08/23/2004 : 14:20:17

I have the 10 watt Solarflex on my <b>two</b> group 24 house batteries. Four years of service, no need for a regulator. On just one battery you may need to regulate. For the cost of a regulator, I would just add another battery to have a total of 2 and get the most bang for the buck or boat units.

Edited by - on

aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 08/23/2004 : 15:40:23

This is the first year I've used my Siemans rigid 10w panel.It's charging my group 24 house batt.I also run Davis mini light as an anchor light. I haven't had a problem all summer. Batts remain fully charged. Siemans includes a regulator and all necessary wiring for the application. It's a nice setup.

Al
GALLIVANT #5801

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coach
Navigator

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USA
231 Posts

Response Posted - 08/23/2004 : 18:45:03

What do these type of solar charges cost?

The boat had a solar panel on it when I purchased it last year. But it is hooked up to the two batteries on the boat.

I spend quite a bit of time on her including weeknights and weekends. Since I do not have power to hook up to my boat, I purchased a seperate 3rd battery with a converter for my fan, tv and heater.

I am thinking about adding another solar panel for this battery alone. But I have not looked into the costs.

Edited by - coach on 08/23/2004 18:47:02

MattL
Admiral

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USA
990 Posts

Response Posted - 08/24/2004 : 01:43:11

Fan TV and Heater.... What A Life

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aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 08/24/2004 : 19:55:21

I'm not near my files at the moment but I believe my Siemans cost somewhere between $150 and $200. I thought it was very reasonable.

Al
GALLIVANT #5801

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Ben - FL
Admiral

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880 Posts

Response Posted - 08/27/2004 : 09:35:24

$134.36 is what I paid for mine at B/US during a sale and with a discount coupon last March. I am thinking it is an 11W. After running my two batteries down while in the Bimini Islands I decided next time they went on sale I would have to have one. It was not practical to charge the batteries with the motor as gasoline was also an expensive commodity over there, and I wanted to be sure I could get back to The States!

Here is some more info...

http://www.boatus.com/boattech/SolarPanels.htm

Edited by - on

Designwiz
1st Mate

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USA
59 Posts

Response Posted - 08/27/2004 : 10:27:14

I have two 10 watt flexible panels mounted on my sliding hatch (yes they will fit) and they keep my two group 24's fully charged to 13.8 volts. These two identical batteries are hooked up to act as one big 12 volt source (neg to neg and pos to pos) and work out great. I also have a starting battery way in the back of the rear quarter berth in a battery box and hard mounted to the floor. That starts the outboard, and gets charged back up by it. It is the second battery on the main switch. If need be I can use it as a backup for the two house batteries by putting the switch to both. I have not had to put a regulator on these panels, always check the fluids in all the batteries at least once a month during the sailing season. Never had to add any. I have found Boaters World to be the cheapest place to buy these panels, I paid $129 for each one (regular price, no sale). I HATE TO RECOMEND ANY ONE STORE. Good Luck

Edited by - on

lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 08/27/2004 : 11:17:13

I purchased a pair of Kyocera KC-50's for $420, a pretty good price for 50 watt panels. I use one of them on the boat and the other on my camper. These came from a solar energy supplier in Arizona. The Kyocera panels are monocrystalline silicon, encapsulated in an EVA backing and glass front with a typical aluminum frame. Being rigid panels, they can't be deck mounted like the flexible panels, but at only 24" x 24", they are half the size and half the price that a 50 watt flexible panel would be. I haven't quite figured out how to mount the panel on the boat, so it just sits in the cockpit during the week when I am not using the boat, and gets put up in the V-berth when I arrive at the boat to go sailing. I will probably rig some kind of semi-permanent mount off of the stern pulpit, but not sure how to configure the mounting in a way that it won't interfere with either the outboard motor or swim ladder.

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Ben - FL
Admiral

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880 Posts

Response Posted - 08/30/2004 : 17:03:42

My solar charger has this written on it:

Wp=15Watts Voc=24 Volts Isc=1002mAmps
Vspec=15Volts |@Vspec=966mAmps
System Voltage Maximum=50Volts

Is there any electical gurus out there that can tell me what all that means?

Edited by - on

Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 08/30/2004 : 20:51:49

Hi Ben,

I think what you're seeing there is:

"Wp=15Watts" might be rated power in watts

"Voc=24 Volts" might be Volts Open Circuit, the maximum voltage you should expect from the panel in bright sunlight and not connected to anything except the volt meter.

"Isc=1002mAmps" might be short circuit current, the maximum current you should expect from the panel in bright sunlight and not connected to anything except the leads short circuited by an amp meter. "1002mAmps" translates to one amp.

"Vspec=15Volts" might be the nominal, or rated battery voltage of the panel. That is, what voltage it is designed to charge to.

"|@Vspec=966mAmps" might be the nominal, or rated charging current of the panel. That is, how much current it is designed to deliver to a battery under normal circumstances.

"System Voltage Maximum=50Volts" might be the maximum back-voltage you should expect the panel to survive without permanent damage. That is, if you connect the panel leads to a source of up to 50VDC, it shouldn't hurt it.

-- Leon Sisson

Edited by - Leon Sisson on 08/30/2004 20:57:52

Ben - FL
Admiral

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880 Posts

Response Posted - 08/31/2004 : 06:15:37

So basicly it is a 12 volt, 15 Watt, 1 amp charger? Funny how when you combine batteries you up the voltage but when you combine chargers you up the Watts!

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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 08/31/2004 : 09:42:15

"when you combine batteries you up the voltage"

Depends on how you combine them...

Connect batteries (or solar panels) in parallel, you get more amps, delivered at the same voltage of a single battery.

Connect batteries (or panels) in series, you get more voltage, but with the amps of a single battery.

Edited by - on

glstout
Deckhand

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USA
23 Posts

Response Posted - 08/31/2004 : 11:20:52

About 12 years ago I purchased a 1.8/125mA rigid back solar panel intended to top off an auto battery from B/US; it cost $20. It was marginally effective on keeping boat battery charged to power autohelm tiller AP until I purchased a 50V, 1A diode from Radio Shack (that prevented current backflow during darkness). At that time was sailing C22 off mooring and it did what I ask of it. Now I use same panel on "O'My Nee" w/9.9 elec start for same service but do now have some supplement from OB alternator, never have found it necessary to use shore power to a charger in 4 years. The battery is left in boat in Winter and use solar charger intermittently during that layup time. This has to be the best boat investment I have ever made. The 4 yr old original battery supplied by Catalna always shows approx 12.8A charge when we return to boat.

I installed a trolling type recepticle aft of SB cockpit lazzerette that serves to accept the male plug in from OB; replaced cigar liter that came with solar panel with another trolling moter male plug making very easy to switch from panel to motor and visa versa.

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