[Rhodes22-list] Solar panels, regulator revisited

[John Tonjes]

Jay,
In theory, what Michael said holds true. Unfortunately, the reality for
several owners has been that they fried their batteries when the sun really
is bright.
What we did with Bob Keller's boat was to have two custom battery cables
made to tie the two batteries together. They were around forty bucks for
the two six foot cables. We also installed an ICP battery charge controller
($30.00) between the solar panels and the batteries. Since doing this, both
batteries have the same charge/discharge rate and no problems with
overcharging. Based on this experience, this is a good ounce of prevention
for those that charge only with solar panels. It also prevents discharge on
cloudy days.

Rummy


> [Original Message]
> From: Michael Meltzer <mjm at michaelmeltzer.com>
> To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Date: 6/24/2003 10:08:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Solar panels, regulator revisited
>
> Jay, you have 2x10 watts panels(I assume), at battery voltage that's 1.47
amps, assuming two #27 batteries 100-115 amp-hours
> each(depend on type) wired in parallel mean 200-230 amp-hours, or the
solar charging is 1.47/200=.75% to 1.47/230=.639%, the rule of
> thumb is if the panels are below 1%-2% of the batteries they is no need
for regulation. Now a diode to stop overnight discharge is
> useful.
>
> Does that help.
>
>
> MJM
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jay Friedland" <a.jayf at verizon.net>
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 9:50 PM
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Solar panels, regulator revisited
>
>
> > Rummy, Bob Keller, et al,
> >
> > Last discussion I found wasn't conclusive-one ICP regulator per panel,
> > where to tap in etc. I have a 2 battery, 2 panel set-up and wondering
> > where to place it. As it is factory, I think it is parallel between
> > batteries, both sharing the panels.
> >
> > With no sun, cooking the batteries was no problem, but now we have back
> > to back sunny days. Any resolution??
> > Jay
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
>
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