[Rhodes22-list] Solar Panels and Electrical Supply

[bill davidge]

 Hank
   I have spent most of the winter trying to find the answer to your question ( I'm a little slower than most of the people on the list)   and after reading 3 books, talking to a couple of  Electrical Engineers this is what I came up with .
   
   .  2 Solar panels, from  Stan, may keep up with your usage on a  good day, but they will not charge a deep cycle battery and once the charge goes below 10.5 volts it deed ..Not only that but if you drain the battery down to often you will have to replace it .
    
  What I'm going to do is to wire the 2 batteries parallel and use a 3 stage battery charger when  the batterys drops below 11  V   Some one on the list sent me  a link to Don Casey, one of his books may help you .It is Sailboat Electrics Simplified  and make sure you  ck. him out on the Internet just Google his name. He wrights for Boat US .O yes don't forget the Archives it is a good research tool and it can help .

  Good luck let Me know what you come up with .
  
   Bill  D .  Temperance,MI.
   

 

----- Original Message ----
From: michael meltzer <mjm at michaelmeltzer.com>
To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 11:44:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Solar Panels and Electrical Supply

 The  rule  of  thumb,  take  the  wattage  *  .25  =  the  number  of  amp  it  will  put
into  the  battery  each  day.  That   includes  rain/clouds/shading  from  rigging.
Figure  2.5  amps.  But  .....  on  real  sunny  days  a  10  watt  panel  will  do  8-10
amp's.  so......  your  bratty  has  about  50  amp  usable  range......  one  panel  is
close  but  should  work  for  you,  can  always  add  a  second..  and  keeping  a  plug
in  car  charger/100foot  powercord/30  amp  to  15  amp  marine  plug  adapter  on  the
boat  is  handily

That  say  from  a  man  who  had  2  10  watts  and  a  30  watt  on  the  pop-top

-mjm

-----Original  Message-----
From:  rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org]  On  Behalf  Of  Hank
Sent:  Tuesday,  February  19,  2008  5:17  PM
To:  The   Rhodes  22  mail  list
Subject:  [Rhodes22-list]  Solar  Panels  and  Electrical  Supply

Hello  Rhodies,

Want  to  get  your  feedback  on  Solar  panels.   I  am  looking  to  put  solar  panels
on  the  boat  and  I'm  wondering  if  I  need  2  or  if  I  can  get  by  with  one.   Here
is  the  electrical  usage  as  best  as  I  can  figure.

Fishfinder/Depth  gauge  -  1  amp
VHF  radio  -  .3  amps  on  standby
AM/FM  CD  Player  -  10amps?
Position  Lights
Anchor  light

We  generally  only  day  sail  and  seldom  two  days  in  a  row.   I  plan  to  have  one
battery  and  want  the  solar  panel  to  charge  the  battery  after  a  days  use.  I
figure  a  good  marine  deep  cycle  house  battery  can  run  what  I  have  for  a  day
sail.   I  do  not  currently  have  the  capability  to  connect  to  shore  power  for
charging  and  don't  want  to  add  it   if  I  can  avoid  it.

So  guys,  what  do  you  think?   Will  one  of  Stan's  solar  panels  do  the  trick?

Thanks  in  advance,

Hank
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