Solar - 400 watts

[Submariner]

Thanks for all the info Martin. For those of us like me, who are just trying to get our boats capability set to match our cruising needs in the easiest and most economical manor, it’s great to have someone well versed in a subject to turn to.

Thank you Al.
Also note, for the record, I am just like you. 🙂
My qualifications primarily include that I own a boat. I spend an enormous amount of time researching and educating myself before working on my boat. I enjoy it. Along with peaceful nights on the hook or at a marina. The boat is a great stress reliever.

 

[Submariner]

Great video on the conversion. Excellent workmanship also.

Thanks for sharing very helpful

Thank you!!

 

[Submariner]

We have several flexible panels. It is a sun power 110 watt panel. We also have two sun power 50 watt panels forward of the solar panels. We then added one very narrow zamp panel, 90 watts, All added panels are close in specs to the factory panel, not exact, but close enough. Altogether we have 440 watts. We keep the Morningstar duo controller and have a Balmer battery monitor system from the previous owner. We are still considering changing to a Victron controller, but that’s another years project.

The spec sheet on the morning star duo controller states that it can handle a max of 20 amps, up to 280 watts. Also, being a PWM style controller makes it about 75% efficient. Generally speaking, when you go above about 160 watts of solar, an MPPT style controller is best. They are about 95% efficient (meaning, more of the solar power makes it into your batteries).

I would definitely recommend upgrading to a Victron SmartSolar MPPT controller, as given what you wrote above, you'd most likely see a huge difference in solar energy.

This is, of course, assuming that all 440 watts of your solar panels are being ran through the Morning star duo controller.

 

[Submariner]

We just published this video on our youtube channel that details the specifics of our solar upgrade to 400 watts. We detail the specific panels, solar controller, and mounting brackets purchased, as well as the actual cost of the upgrade. I also show stat's of what we saw this past boating season with solar, how effective it can be.

Let's go channel surfing - Down at the Dock: Mod Edition: Do I need Solar?
https://youtu.be/1SNjryjxYds

 

[Ted Rathjen]

Jeff Cote at Pacific Yacht Systems talks of this formula all the time. I've researched the math the conventional way. You find a chart on the Internet that talks about what the average sun per day is in a particular region.

Here's an example:
http://www.bigfrogmountain.com/SunHoursPerDay.html

Seattle is 4.83 hours a day as a high, 3.57 hours a day as an average, and 1.6 hours a day for a low.
400 watts * 3.57 hours a day = 1,428 watts /day. Divide that by 14.6 volts (charge voltage) = 97 amps.
Hence, the 400 watts / 4 = 100amps a day easy formula.

This past week I was seeing between 2,090 and 2,680watts/day.
2,680 watts / 14.6 = 183 amp-hours.

I also noted that some of my solar stat's got skewed as it would enter into the absorption and float charging phase. There were times when I saw solar at 0 watts with gorgeous sunshine because the batteries were at full charge. By day two, I made sure I ran enough electrical to get below 80% SOC so solar always had a place to put those electrons in the bulk charging phase. (I wanted to measure actual effectiveness of solar).

In this picture, the stat's showing 4 days ago.. the two light shades of blue indicate absorption and float phase. The white indicates bulk charging phase.
http://www.tugnuts.com/gallery2.php?g2_itemId=80056

 

[Ted Rathjen]

Good morning from Mystic CT. I recently upgraded my solar with 2-220 watt bi-facial panels in parallel and victron 100/30 controller. Even on the sunniest days I’ve only seen 120 watts. My question is, does the controller limit the watts to the battery based on condition and need? I’m curious why I haven’t seen numbers approaching 400 watts. Before I installed the second panel I was seeing approximately the same numbers and by adding the second panel I’m not seeing a change. I’m attempting to rule out a problem or is this normal. My batteries are showing 13 plus volt while charging and 12.7 volts at dark and 12.2 in the morning with the refrigerator on cpap and device s charging. Thanks for everything.

 

[Rode Trip]

Good morning from Mystic CT. I recently upgraded my solar with 2-220 watt bi-facial panels in parallel and victron 100/30 controller. Even on the sunniest days I’ve only seen 120 watts. My question is, does the controller limit the watts to the battery based on condition and need? I’m curious why I haven’t seen numbers approaching 400 watts. Before I installed the second panel I was seeing approximately the same numbers and by adding the second panel I’m not seeing a change. I’m attempting to rule out a problem or is this normal. My batteries are showing 13 plus volt while charging and 12.7 volts at dark and 12.2 in the morning with the refrigerator on cpap and device s charging. Thanks for everything.

Possibly a bad connection or undersized wiring. I installed (2) 200 watt bifacial panels through a victron 100/50 mppt with 6 gauge wire from controller to battery and I’m putting in 165 watts at 8:45 in the FL Keys this morning.

 

[Submariner]

Good morning from Mystic CT. I recently upgraded my solar with 2-220 watt bi-facial panels in parallel and victron 100/30 controller. Even on the sunniest days I’ve only seen 120 watts. My question is, does the controller limit the watts to the battery based on condition and need? I’m curious why I haven’t seen numbers approaching 400 watts. Before I installed the second panel I was seeing approximately the same numbers and by adding the second panel I’m not seeing a change. I’m attempting to rule out a problem or is this normal. My batteries are showing 13 plus volt while charging and 12.7 volts at dark and 12.2 in the morning with the refrigerator on cpap and device s charging. Thanks for everything.

Get the batteries down to 80pct charge or less. Then see what Solar does. This is June. Probably the best month of the year for Solar. Summer Solstice is June 20th. I haven’t plugged my boat into shorepower since May 20. By 9 am, every day, my batteries are back to 100pct.

I have 420 watts of solar.

If solar had no where to send the electrons, it’ll slow down and will show minimal watts being generated as it has no place to put the energy.

 

[Full_O_Fish]

Good morning from Mystic CT. I recently upgraded my solar with 2-220 watt bi-facial panels in parallel and victron 100/30 controller. Even on the sunniest days I’ve only seen 120 watts. My question is, does the controller limit the watts to the battery based on condition and need? I’m curious why I haven’t seen numbers approaching 400 watts. Before I installed the second panel I was seeing approximately the same numbers and by adding the second panel I’m not seeing a change. I’m attempting to rule out a problem or is this normal. My batteries are showing 13 plus volt while charging and 12.7 volts at dark and 12.2 in the morning with the refrigerator on cpap and device s charging. Thanks for everything.

Another thing to consider would be putting the panels in the series versus parallel... With the victron controllers, you'll typically see higher overall yield assuming you don't have lots of shading. This is because you're sending much higher voltage with lower amperage down to the controller, which generates less heat, meaning less loss. The other side of this is the fact that mppt controllers have a higher voltage threshold to begin charging, with victron typically it's around 5 volts over baseline, meaning you need roughly 17.5 volts to start charging in the morning. If your panels are in series, you'll reach that voltage by 6:00 a.m. sometimes.

 

[Submariner]

Here's an illustration of solar. Channel Surfing is disconnected from shorepower, (has been for several weeks). 420 watts of solar which is two 210watt panels. The 210 watt panels are 24 volt panels, connected in series makes them 48 volts. Sunrise is 5:10am, and before 6am, I'm already seeing amps coming in from sunshine. Around noon yesterday, the batteries hit 100% and could take no more, amps drop. There wasn't any place to put the extra power.

Also note, while I haven't connected Channel Surfing to shorepower, I also didn't shut everything off. I still have the 24x7 fuse block powered, the cabin and cockpit refrigerator's running, my cellular Internet router, CerboGX and AIS are powered on.

The top chart is illustrating house battery voltage and charging amps (coming from solar). (13-14 volts)
The bottom chart illustrates the solar panel voltage (20-70 volts).