Hoping some of you engineering types can explain to us why more
power boats aren't taking advantage of
solar panels to recharge their house
batteries.
Been looking at some mid-80s Chris-craft Catalinas. Most seem to be running a
single group 27 house
battery. They typically have a full size, 110v house-style
refrigerator. Not 12v/110v dual voltage, just straight 110v. That means the
refrigerator would only be running when connected to
shore power or the
generator is running or on an
inverter.
Did some
research to figure out how many amps a typical full size 'frig would draw per hour. Assuming it only runs about 20 minutes out of each hour and it's running off of an
inverter connected to a typical group 27
battery, the battery will only last about three hours.
Looking around on the
internet, I found several kits designed for
marine or RV use that include
solar panels, inverters, and battery chargers similar to
this example. It outputs 320W/17.7A, which sounds like plenty to keep the battery charged so that the inverter can supply juice to whatever needs it. If so, the
generator wouldn't be needed until evening.
But none of the example boats we've seen online have
solar panels. Seems like a no-brainer. Any idea why more
power boaters aren't using
solar?
Thanks,
John