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Installed Solar panels and charge controller

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Leslie Newman

Guest
Well, I went on to the next project and installed Solar panels, charge controller. Just finished yesterday. This didn't take too long...last weekend I installed the solar panels on top the bimini and then six hours yesterday saw the wires routed and charge controller installed. Tied the output from the charge controller to the same spot the marine battery charger connects, which is to a terminal on the back side of the battery switch. So with the battery switch off the house batteries are still getting charge from the charge controller (sun shining of course).

I found these brackets from Gemini Marine (purchased at Defender) that allowed me to construct a rack on top the bimini. First I added struts to give the bimini more stability, then constructed a rack to hold three solar panels. Feels fairly sturdy. Time will tell. Two tubes front to back, then two side to side where the panels attached.

There were two existing holes through the hull where old GPS antenna had been routed, so used those for the PV wires from the panels.
I ordered 1" O.D. stainless steel tube from Great Lakes Skipper. Renogy solar panels from Amazon. Epever charge controller from Amazon. 30' of PV wire from Amazon.
Tubing fittings from Sailrite and Defender. Various screws and circuit breaker from local hardware store.

The panels are wired in series, which allows me to use 10 AWG PV wire. The charge controller is a MPPT type, so it takes the high voltage from the panels and generates charge current.
View attachment 27038

View attachment 27039

I try to add things in a way that the boat can be put back to original later.
This is a small cabinet in the stern berth that we never use. I removed the cabinet door and then mounted a piece of star board to hold the charge controller.
I did drill a hole in the bottom of the cabinet to route the PV wires, wires to the batteries and temp sensor wire. This can be easily patched later.
It seemed to be charging yesterday, though by the time I had all wired up it was very late in the day and the sun was low in the sky.
Looking forward to playing around with the system this weekend.

View attachment 27040
 
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Filkee

Sustaining Member
More Solar

I did the same. The beer is cold, the bilge is pumping and the batteries are topped off. 320 watts of peace of mind. Hardest part was figuring out where to park the controller. It needed to be less than 20 feet from the panels and have enough airspace around it to breathe. I opted for a Bluetooth monitor (hence the hanging wire) so I wouldn’t have to get on my belly to read the display. Connected directly to battery bank for simplicity and it’s working well so far. D9BA02A3-EFEE-4953-AFA9-10A8CA39DE2E.jpgEF07334B-94CA-4D8A-B484-B599280A9499.jpgD1F59AE8-F66F-4282-A642-3C335BA0457C.jpg
 
L

Leslie Newman

Guest
I did the same. The beer is cold, the bilge is pumping and the batteries are topped off. 320 watts of peace of mind. Hardest part was figuring out where to park the controller. It needed to be less than 20 feet from the panels and have enough airspace around it to breathe. I opted for a Bluetooth monitor (hence the hanging wire) so I wouldn’t have to get on my belly to read the display. Connected directly to battery bank for simplicity and it’s working well so far.

Mine has a bluetooth module, I just didn't get around to installing that yet. It also came with a remote panel. I want to have both, so plan to route a 4 pair twisted shielded wire, then split off to the two devices. Have the remote panel at the chart table. I am hoping I have mounted the charge controller where it can breath enough. It really is hard picking the spot for that.

Let me bounce some questions off you....

1. My Epever unit has terminals for 'Load'. I have nothing connected there because I have an inverter directly off the batteries, so did not have any load to connect. Is your Rover unit connected to any 'Load', or just to the batteries to do the charging?

2. How many amps of charge do your panels produce during full sun?

3. Did you wire the panels in series?

4. In my research is seems more important to keep the run from the charger to the batteries as short as possible, more so than the PV wires. How far is it from your Rover to the batteries?

Thanks.
 
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Filkee

Sustaining Member
Panel of experts on panels

Picking the spot for the controller was the hardest part of the whole puzzle. I wanted to put it in one of the cubby’s next to my panel but I was afraid it would get too hot.

Let me bounce some questions off you....

1. My Epever unit has terminals for 'Load'. I have nothing connected there because I have an inverter directly off the batteries, so did not have any load to connect. Is your Rover unit connected to any 'Load', or just to the batteries to do the charging?

No load for me. A friend was talking recently about connecting a 12v hot water element as a way to drawing off some electrons.

2. How many amps of charge do your panels produce during full sun?

We haven’t had a day like that yet this year but even with the sketchy weather and the refrigerator running, I’m pretty close to topped off most of the time. I will report more on this when I’ve accumulated more data.

3. Did you wire the panels in series?

i went parallel. I think it was the recent article in Good Old boat that convinced me of parallel/MPPT because there is so much potential for shading from the rig.

4. In my research is seems more important to keep the run from the charger to the batteries as short as possible, more so than the PV wires. How far is it from your Rover to the batteries?

I think it’s less than 2 feet of cable between the Rover and the batteries. The controller is mounted on the side of the quarter berth and the battery box is under the quarter berth.

Thanks.[/QUOTE]
 
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Leslie Newman

Guest
I did more reading and it appears rare that anything gets connected to the Load of the charge controller. Many charge controllers don't even have load terminals as your loads are most always coming off the batteries and the charge controller is charging those.
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
My solar project is still in boxes in my workshop. :esad: A few more steps in the overhauling-the-deck project before we get to that.

My impression is that the "load" terminals on most controllers are for an application where the solar panel and battery are supplying power to one device, out on a mountaintop somewhere. A pump or a radio relay maybe. The controller might have nifty features to protect the system, such as automatically cutting off the "load" if battery voltage gets too low. The problem for boat applications is that the terminals usually aren't big enough for all of our loads. But it could be useful for keeping your fridge (or other "always on" devices) from killing your batteries on a cloudy week. Worth looking into exactly how that feature on your controller works.

Usually the controller ought to be as close to the batteries as possible. I think the math has to do in part with whether you wire in series or parallel. But the same general trend holds for both patterns. Panel to controller = higher voltage, lower amps, less feed-line loss, and you can use lighter or longer wires on that run. From the controller to the batteries, voltage is lower, amps higher, loss per meter greater. And most controllers don't have terminals big enough to use large-diameter wires that might alleviate those losses.

Also, there is some rule (ABYC? Or maybe a matter of ignition protection?) about not putting chargers directly in the battery compartment. (Oops...) It's possible that this depends on battery type, but I'm not sure.
On the E29, there is a large inviting panel below the quarterberth, dividing the battery compartment from the sail locker. Where my shorepower charger currently lives. But I may move them up to the same panel above the q-berth deck, where they would be exposed to view. Could build an enclosure (like I did for the mains, on that same panel) but might have to move exhaust hoses and the like on the other side of the panel to do so.
 

p.gazibara

Member III
Maybe I can chime in. We have been sailing around the world on 100% renewable energy for a while now. Solar makes 99% of our power.

We have 2x 345w SolarWorld panels installed above the cockpit that acts as a Bimini.

They are wired in series as I don't see much shading. That way you have smaller wire running to the controller and less loss due to the higher voltage. If shading is an issue (wind gennys and such) I'd opt to dedicate a controller to each panel or run them in series if the controller can handle it.

Remember it's amps that limit the controller, well actually, heat but amps = heat.

We have two controllers that the panels run through, and a switch to decide which system to charge with the panels.

The electric motor battery bank is at 48V so having the panels in series makes sure we can charge if the sun isn't directly overhead. I see about 10amps at 48V normally for the setup.

Our house battery system is at 12V like pretty much everyone's. Our panels regularly feed our charger over 30amps in direct sunlight. The controller can't handle more than 30 though, so we are missing 20% or so of what we can make.

The "load" circuit is where the controller can send the power after the batteries are topped off. Not everyone needs a load, but if you can think of a reason for it in your situation, go for it.

Hope that helps a bit,
-p
 
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