C-28 Solar Panel Controller/Battery Monitor Gauge…

[Bob/Bradenton]

Our 2019 C-28 has the original “EP Solar Duo Battery Solar Controller” and the “MeTer” remote meter display. The solar panel is the standard Kyocera 140 watt solar panel. The panel has a maximum amp output of about 7.5 amps, ideally, but since is is mounted flat, it’s probably in the 5 amp range. That’s enough to power the fridge during the day. I can turn it off at night.

I’d like to get a better and more understandable Controller/Monitor.

I don’t plan on adding any more solar panels, just the one. My main goal is for the solar panel to provide enough power into the battery bank to power the small fridge. Just measured it and it draws 3.5 to 4.0 amps.

The instructions for the existing Controller/Monitor are rather obscure.

Plus I’m not sure that the Controller is working. The two Green LED’s on the front never illuminate.

The monitor shows charging but I have no idea if it is really working. Just measured the Controller and the Panel wire pair reads, 21.41 volts. The Engine Start battery, 12.64 and the House, 12.66 volts. All the batteries are new, wet-cell G-31’s. Deep Cycle for the House and “Start” batteries for the Engine Start and Thruster. I suspect that the Controller paired wires leading to the Batteries are just reading the Battery voltages, not the actual output, if any, from the Panel/Controller.

So I need an easy to understand Controller for the single 140 watt panel, plus a Monitor, also easy to understand. (No Chinese writing/translation).

I’ll need a Shunt and I really don’t care about BlueTooth over to the iPhone, a simple gauge would be fine. Unless the iPhone info would be easy to read/understand. But I need a real gauge, and not reliant on just the BlueTooth iPhone app.

Did a search on the TG-BB and it looks like Victron is favored but please suggest a complete combo. Thanks, Bob/Bradenton

 

[scross]

I installed a solar system from scratch on our 2009 R-25 Classic. Solar wasn’t even a factory option back in 2009. Then a few years later I upgraded the panel when we bought a portable ice chest for the cockpit. The ice chest was a power hog.
My advice is to figure out how much room you have for the solar panel on the sports rack. That is probably the limiting factor for a single panel solar system. I started out with a smaller 180 watt panel then upgraded to the biggest possible panel for my roof - a 335 watt LG panel. Keep in mind you want the panel mounted in a way that keeps shading on the panel to a minimum.
Once you figure out the space you have available then look for the highest watt quality panel that will fit. I recommend getting a Victron Energy solar controller sized to handle the panels output. My Victron Energy MPPT 100/20 controller is able to capture almost all of the output from my 335 watt panel.
With the old 180 watt panel I was getting about 40 to 50 amp hours per day. With the new 335 watt panel I average about 80 to 90 amp hours of charging to the house bank each day during the summer. That’s more than enough to power the energy hungry cockpit freezer and run all the house DC devices for 8-10 days in a row while away from shore power. Either running the engine while cruising for 5+ hours or a night connected to shore power gets everything topped off again.

PS: In the real world, cruising a couple of hours every other day between anchorages means our DC house current lasts indefinitely. No generator needed. We never use the inverter at anchorage - again no need to do that. We do have about 440 amp hours of house battery capacity which helps too.
And be sure your sports rack is adequately braced to handle the wind loads of a larger panel.

 

[Submariner]

I don’t plan on adding any more solar panels, just the one. My main goal is for the solar panel to provide enough power into the battery bank to power the small fridge. Just measured it and it draws 3.5 to 4.0 amps.

The cabin refrigerator is actually one of the largest loads on the boat. It doesn't pull a lot of amps, but it runs all day and night. I'd guesstimate, based on my experience, the cabin refer to consume about 35amp-hours a day.

PWM solar controllers (which is what you have) are only about 75% efficient. An MPPT solar controller will output about 20% more, as they're up around 95% efficient.

Victron gets mentioned a lot because they've got a great reputation for their electronics. You could go with a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/10 (with bluetooth). If you were thinking about upgrading your panel to something bigger, maybe go with the 100/15.

The bluetooth to the phone gives you the stats so you know what you're getting. It keeps the past 30 days worth of stats. This is a nice to have, certainly not required. But helps me understand the sunny days from the cloudy days to the rainy days. Also lets me know solar is working.

The app is easy to read. Here's a screen shot from my phone. For amp-hours, just divide the watt-hours by 12 (volts).
These two screens are what you'd be looking at.

Solar History
https://www.letsgochannelsurfing.com/solar-power?pgid=kxcvhybj-4e6b9560-aec0-4bdd-ae84-0bbf09cf14de

Solar Real-time stats
https://www.letsgochannelsurfing.com/solar-power?pgid=kxcvhybj-e3b2d40a-5305-4797-b4fa-ab84c1c54656

For the shunt, again, Victron's BMV-712 (with the gauge) works well as a battery monitor. The gauge also broadcasts bluetooth, but the gauge is sufficient enough to run with. On my boat, I use the app and the gauge, my wife just looks at the gauge.

This is what you'd see on the bluetooth app with the Victron BMV712 battery monitor.

https://www.letsgochannelsurfing.co...kxcuijnc-c417ad83-f9e0-42d1-a5ba-baf1a31bc5aa

The advantage to going with Victron for both the battery monitor and the solar charger, you'd have one app on your phone to look at both. Note: All you'd see is the Solar and BMV712 on your display. I have other Victron stuff as well.

Victron App devices
https://www.letsgochannelsurfing.co...kwjuffsb-f9d9acbd-130d-4d49-b608-eab4dab90d9a

 

[Pandion]

You can find much better instructions for your existing Duo solar controller if you search the internet. Several US-based companies that sell those units have produced their own manuals that are much easier to comprehend than the poorly-written version that came with the controller. That may help you troubleshoot your unit until you can get your new controller installed.

I agree with Submariner that a Victron solar controller and a Victron battery monitor make a lot of sense in that you can use one phone app to view/program both units.

But since you've said that monitoring by phone is not a priority, take a look at the Balmar SG-200 battery monitor. I have both a Victron BMV-712 and a Balmar SG-200 on our boat. I much prefer the Balmar gauge for general monitoring. It does not display the level of detail that the Victron does, but it provides basic info (amps in/out, voltage for house and 2 aux batteries, house state-of-charge, time remaining) and for me, it's easier to read, especially from a distance. I have the Balmar gauge mounted at the helm and I intended to mount the Victron next to it. Right now, the Victron is temporarily mounted behind the dash and I'm not sure I'll move it. If I need the detailed info from the Victron, I use my phone. I can access the Balmar gauge from my phone but again, the info is basic and the Balmar requires a separate Bluetooth dongle to monitor it by app.

Both apps are free to download and both have demo modes, so you can play around with them to see the difference in the level of detail that the gauges will provide.

 

[Hamster]

Hopefully you have the manual for your existing controller to see how it’s working - or if it’s working. There is a button on mine that says “Next” that cycles between solar output and voltage in the two banks (house and start) that it is monitoring. Look at the solar numbers when in the sun and when you cover it to see if it is putting out amps. If not, check fuses at batteries. My solar wasn’t working at delivery due to a bad wire connection. (Ranger fixed it.)

If you look for new panels, I’d highly recommend Custom Marine Products. I just got a 200 watt panel from them and found their help and customer service to be the best I’ve ever received.

I’d also recommend the Balmar battery monitor. Mine has been great.

 

[Bob/Bradenton]

Thanks for all the great comments/ideas. I'll be taking a look at the Victron gizmos and I am sure, a few more questions to come...

And I did find a much better manual for the EP/Renogy controller and monitor:

https://www.renogy.com/template/files/M ... Manual.pdf

I'm going to do some troubleshooting on mine today. Bob/Bradenton...

PS: For the Victron round battery monitor, I'd sure like to mount it up on the helm. Any idea how to pull a cable from the starboard battery (House) compartment all the way up to the helm?

PPS: And just a few more of my "updates" to my boat:
-Removed the tiny Fusion speakers, both cabin and cockpit and replaced (cabin) with very large "Rockville" bookshelf speakers. And changed out the Fusion 4" cockpit speakers for 6" Sony's. Both made a huge difference in sound quality.

-I use a standard coaming boarding ladder (U-Shaped at the top to normally go over a boat's coaming) to get up on top of the cabin roof. The U-Shaped top of the ladder fits over the cabin roof railing but I do wire tie the ladder top ends to the railing before I climb up.

-I removed the latch metal flaps that are under the Battery compartment hatches. No need for them since the hatches are heavy enough to stay down. If I closed the hatch with the former flaps in the wrong position, they would bend and cause the hatch not to open.

-I added "golf cart" mirrors to the center windshield post for rear view vision when cruising. The golf cart mirrors are much larger than "boat" rear view mirrors.

-I moved the solar panel rack, forward. Just extended the cables. Now all the ceiling hatches can open all the way.

-And note my post about my NextGen generator not firing. A simple addition of a shot glass (3 but one at a time) of 30 wt oil, restored the compression and the gen started right up. You HAVE to use the generator and run it under a heavy load or the piston rings will carbon up.

Bob/Bradenton

 

[Submariner]

PS: For the Victron round battery monitor, I'd sure like to mount it up on the helm. Any idea how to pull a cable from the starboard battery (House) compartment all the way up to the helm?

The battery monitor is mostly used when not underway.
Personally, I'd recommend the battery monitor gauge be mounted in the galley instead of the helm.

Here's some pictures on how to do it on an RT27-OB to give you some ideas.
https://www.letsgochannelsurfing.com/battery-monitor