Hi,
I currently have a 10W solar panel (trickle charger) installed on my Motorsailer, mainly to keep the battery charged to start the engine. I only have the bilge pump on (24/7) and all other electronics are off unless using the boat.

I am looking for a good solution for weekend trips overnight that will run the following:

1. All lights including cabin, stern, mast, navigation (overnight)
2. Radio VHF
3. Radio AM/FM (car stereo) (5 hours)
4. Charge phone USB
5. Bilge Pump
6. MastLight (LED) (mooring overnight)
7. Start Diesel Engine 8hp the next day

No fridge or any other heavy appliances.

I had a look at these two solar panel kits (solar panel, cables and controller) 160W and 200W and was wondering if a) 160W or 200W is enough for a weekend trip and b) if a foldable solar blanket option can be used as a more permanent installation given the wear and tear of the material. Any thoughts or recommendations are welcome :)

160 Watt Ridget Panel
supercheapauto.com.au/p/ridge-ryder-ridge-ryder-solar-panel-kit---160-watt/610690.html#q=solar%2Bkit&lang=en_AU&start=10

200 Watt Solar Blanket
anacondastores.com/camping-hiking/power-cooling/solar/kt-cable-200-watt-solar-blanket-kit/BP90166368-black

(Sorry as I am new I can not post direct links)

cheers,
Yamaha24ft

For what it's worth, I have done multi-week trips including overnight sailing, running all those loads plus a tiller pilot, charging with a 60W panel and MPPT regulator (and of course the diesel), and about 100Ah of house battery capacity (was originally 150Ah but a few years old now). Battery voltage never a problem once I got things sorted.

So I'd say your 160 - 200W is very conservative. You don't mention your battery capacity, but I'd allow at least 80Ah to get you through cloudy weather.

Cheers, Graeme

Hi, 190 watts of panels here through a pwm controller to a somewhat large bank, fridge runs 24/7 and navigation and instruments along with lights and entertainment when using the boat, been this way for years, all good so far. Engine used when necessary however prefer the lack of noise.

I can most of the time get along very nicely with 300w solar and 140 ah battery, with no need for engine alternator input. I don't have a tv but run all you have listed & a fridge, charge battery tools etc. the trick is to go for led lights & other economic amp wise accessories. When cruising with the addition of vhf, nav gear & maybe a pilot, the above isn't enough, without engine charging as well. So perhaps your Diesel engine can help with the charge regime ?

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$ 500 Here we go.
You have a system that is keeping your engine start battery charged ( a 10 watt solar panel and your engine alternator) . Keep that and build on it.
You want to have enough power to do other tasks.
Re: I am looking for a good solution for weekend trips overnight that will run the following:

1. All lights including cabin, stern, mast, navigation (overnight)
2. Radio VHF
3. Radio AM/FM (car stereo) (5 hours)
4. Charge phone USB
5. Bilge Pump
6. MastLight (LED) (mooring overnight)
7. Start Diesel Engine 8hp the next day
No fridge or any other heavy appliances.

That not an especially large load

You can do it with one battery, but run the risk of flattening your engine's start battery.
You can do it with two batteries with a 1-2-both -off switch, but still run the risk of flattening your engines start battery.
Or you can do it with two independent systems. (which coincidentlay is what I have done)
For a simple fail safe two battery system to will need
1, An extra house battery. Shop around, but keep price in mind.
2. A 12V 140A Dual Battery Isolator Kitwww.jaycar.com.au/12v-140a-dual-battery-isolator-kit-with-wiring-cables/p/MB3880?pos=1&queryId=3a2a3823e40cfd75ef6dab2e9a0f277dThis will direct the charge from your alternator firstly to your start battery and then to your "house" battery. You will always have your engine battery charged.
3. To add to the charge of your house battery you will need a solar panel and charge controller.MPPT is the best, but you can get away with PWM.The solar panels that you mentioned (160 or 200 watts) will do the job, but you are left with the problem of size. Where are you going to fit them?
I have a 70 watt panel the I can easily move around that keeps me charged up.
Right, now you have a house sytem an engine start system that are independent as far as solar charging is concerned and cannot drain each other. They are linked by the battery isolator to allow the alternator to charge each but still be independent.The safest and easiest way to combine these two systems in the case of a flat start battery is with a simple cheap jumper lead.
So.Extra house battery
Solar panel and controller for house battery
Dual battery charge isolator.
Jumper leads.
Job done for about $500 or less.
This is how Kevin did it on his engineless boatThe Power Grid for a 31-foot Cruising Boat
mobile-webview.gmail.com/-2041927351/blockedThe Power Grid for a 31-foot Cruising Boat

Good luck
gary

Regarding the regulator, an MPPT will provide 30% more charge than a PWM from the same panel. Hence, given your boat is a small one, consider the weight and space benefits of being able to install 30% less panel capacity if you go with an MPPT.

The 30% figure is not just theory - I confirmed it when curiosity once got the better of me. I temporarily wired both on my boat with the ability to switch between them. Whether full sun or dull cloud, the MPPT consistently provided 30% more charging current.

Cheers, Graeme

There a so many YouTube s about solar.
Here is Kevin's pretty clear explanation of his engine less boat setup.

I've never had much luck with flexible panels. Despite being very careful, they have died after 6 months or so. My rigid panels have been fine.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I will update this post once I installed my new system and will leave some feedback here :) Thank you again!!

Mate, 300w of panels ( 150wX2) and a regulator for both batteries worked well on my boat to keep batteries full even I would often put my coffee mashine on. Coffee mashine was powered by 8000W inverter but alternator wasn't working. The best deal i Could find was at Jaycar.
Currently I have only 4Ah of charge on each batteries because I am not using inverter any more, and they are full as, always in floating state. Don't spend an enormous amount of money, I think that 5Ah on each battery = 10Ah x12 = 120W will be sufficient. So a solar panel of 120W and a regulator with dual exit ( 2 batteries) will do for you. A regulator is 39 bucks and solar is 140 in jaycar. Please don't buy nothing of internet or withworts ( claimed warranty 3 times on panels and regulators) till I left them there so they can have it. Honestly 180 bucks will charge your batteries and keep them full all the time. Alternator from your engine will also keep them sexy and panels will just keep them in floating state unless you are constantly using 10Ah and that is a lot for LED lights and bilge pump occasionally.

For your weekend trips on the Motorsailer, a 160W or 200W solar power system should suffice. Consider the 200W kit for a bit of extra capacity. While foldable solar blankets are convenient, a more permanent installation might be better for longevity one of the point I can sher is you can refer to agnisolar this will deffinately help you out with the working modukle of the system. Ensure the system meets your power needs for lights, radios, phone charging, bilge pump, mast light, and starting the 8hp diesel engine.

Use all the above info to buy a $410.00 system then use the other $90.00 to buy a lithium jump start battery. It's easier and quicker than push starting a boat!

I'm just getting to learning and understanding my setup (bought last year via broker without much hand over notes). I have a Steca 15amp MPPT controller. It's connected to a solar panel and wind generator. I have updated 3 x 120a/h house batteries (agm) and am struggling to understand if it's doing its thing.

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gazer10 said..
I'm just getting to learning and understanding my setup (bought last year via broker without much hand over notes). I have a Steca 15amp MPPT controller. It's connected to a solar panel and wind generator. I have updated 3 x 120a/h house batteries (agm) and am struggling to understand if it's doing its thing.

Put your numbers into this calculator to see if your 15a controller is suitable.

explorist.life/solar-charge-controller-calculator/

Just stay right away from flexible folding panels and get rigid ones. The internet is littered with tests of flexible panels that are lucky to make a third of what they claim and they die a very early death.

Also make sure your controller really is MPPT because lots of internet ones claim to be but aren't. Unless they have some bulk and weight they are not MPPT as MPPT requires a coil with lots of windings.

You don't say where you are located but that will obviously make a big difference as will the season. You also don't mention your battery.

You also don't say where you are going to mount them but the budget is adequate. The eBay sourced panels below are very good not too heavy and not too big depending upon where you're going to put them.

In a nut shell Gazer, power generation and storage is measured in amps. Your 3x 120ah batteries = 360 amp hours, and I would suggest a nice moderate battery bank. Now to charging, if your 15 amp controller was able to supply at consistent full charge, every hour I would but in 15 amp hours, so if on a theoretical 10 hour full charge you could put in 150 amp hours. Now you need to look at the solar panel and see its theoretical output then the wind genys output. It gets a bit messy here so stick with me, solar panels and other charging devices are usually described in watts, without getting into math a 120w 12v panel = 10 amps and in 1hour it's possible for that panel to produce 10 amp hours. The problem with solar and wind is it's hard to calculate because the stats are for Goldie locks and reality is often less. Another thing to note is big batteries need big charging otherwise under charged batteries will have a shorter lifespan. Hope some of that makes sense

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gazer10 said..
I'm just getting to learning and understanding my setup (bought last year via broker without much hand over notes). I have a Steca 15amp MPPT controller. It's connected to a solar panel and wind generator. I have updated 3 x 120a/h house batteries (agm) and am struggling to understand if it's doing its thing.

Do you have a battery monitor so you can see the state of your batteries

This is such a variable issue. Everyone who has a system will chime in and say it's the ducks nuts, but tbf, there has been some good info in the replies.
Here's my 2c worth having used 4 or 5 different solar setups over the last 15 years for camping and boating. 1. first thing is use LED globes or lights for everything; anchor light, steaming, nav, stern and cabin lights. Incandescent and flouro lights chew loads of juice.
2. Be wary of lithium on boats for two reasons. a) they don't have the CCA needed to start engines (but may be ok on smaller outboards) and b) the fire/explosion risk. I've used Lithium batteries for camping and they're great, but on a boat, I feel the risk is too much especially if you go offshore. I sell lithium powered skateboards and bikes and I have a healthy wariness of them from my experiences over the last 10 years +.without running a fridge, your biggest guzzlers of amps are VHF and Chartplotters. Mine pull about 1.3 amps each. 3. Batteries are important. Have enough capacity to not need top ups if you use all your loads for 5 odd hours over night. 4. When figuring out your load requirements, you need to assume the amps produced from your panels are at 90deg angle to the sun in the middle of the day on a clear day. Factor for low angles of sun on the panels, as well as cloud and part shade.
5. Use MPPT controller if you can afford it, they're just more efficient but cost way more than PWM controllers. Imho, they're still way worth it. 6. wire multiple smaller panels in parallel so if one panel gets shaded for any reason, the others continue to produce power. 7. Go with glass good quality panels, they maintain high performance and efficiency long after your third flexible panels have given up the ghost. I think flex panels are fine for emergency back up, but not as a primary use if they will remain on the boat out in the weather. I've just replaced lightweight cheap camping panels with quality glass ones. The lightweight cheapies last sbout 12 months before I had to spray them with a clear coat to make them translucent again. 8. search the Google for a solar calculator and be conservative in your estimations. Summer is a different beast to Winter in terms of solar power.
I have recently installed 390w of (3x 130w) high grade glass panels parallel wired through a 30amp MPPT controller feeding 2 x 105 AGM HD batteries. My boat is 28' and I can run tiller pilot, plotter/sounder, VHF with AIS, stereo fridge and nav lights on a partly cloudy day no problem and it is setup for weeks away from ext power.

FWIW hope this helps

DM

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julesmoto said..
Just stay right away from flexible folding panels and get rigid ones. The internet is littered with tests of flexible panels that are lucky to make a third of what they claim and they die a very early death.

Also make sure your controller really is MPPT because lots of internet ones claim to be but aren't. Unless they have some bulk and weight they are not MPPT as MPPT requires a coil with lots of windings.

You don't say where you are located but that will obviously make a big difference as will the season. You also don't mention your battery.

You also don't say where you are going to mount them but the budget is adequate. The eBay sourced panels below are very good not too heavy and not too big depending upon where you're going to put them.

Im in Kogarah Bay, south sydney on a swing mooring. The existing one is located on the top of the davit which if it's no good ill replace with a bigger/ better one.

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woko said..
In a nut shell Gazer, power generation and storage is measured in amps. Your 3x 120ah batteries = 360 amp hours, and I would suggest a nice moderate battery bank. Now to charging, if your 15 amp controller was able to supply at consistent full charge, every hour I would but in 15 amp hours, so if on a theoretical 10 hour full charge you could put in 150 amp hours. Now you need to look at the solar panel and see its theoretical output then the wind genys output. It gets a bit messy here so stick with me, solar panels and other charging devices are usually described in watts, without getting into math a 120w 12v panel = 10 amps and in 1hour it's possible for that panel to produce 10 amp hours. The problem with solar and wind is it's hard to calculate because the stats are for Goldie locks and reality is often less. Another thing to note is big batteries need big charging otherwise under charged batteries will have a shorter lifespan. Hope some of that makes sense

That makes perfect sense. I bought the 3 new batteries new cause it had the existing ones stripped out. I need to get a look at the solar panel for some info and the wind genny then I can start making sense of it. But thank you!

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cammd said..

gazer10 said..
I'm just getting to learning and understanding my setup (bought last year via broker without much hand over notes). I have a Steca 15amp MPPT controller. It's connected to a solar panel and wind generator. I have updated 3 x 120a/h house batteries (agm) and am struggling to understand if it's doing its thing.

Do you have a battery monitor so you can see the state of your batteries

The Steca shows the percentage but at times it would give different figures so I bought 3 new agm batteries for now.

Done some digging and my current Steca PR1515 is not an MPPT. So at this stage am looking at a Victron BMV-700 Battery Monitor and 30 -40a/h MPPT controller so i can visually see SOC & other options. When i fly home from work I'll find out about the solar panel/ wind genny & their capacity.

Have a look at the redarc dc to dc chargers they have in built mppt as well as the ability to engine charge your house batteries,