Here is my plan. I'm wondering if anyone has tried this.
I'm planning on putting together smaller
cheap 60W
solar panels.
My
budget dictates that I can't get all I want right away. I'm going to start with a
single panel to check out the quality of the panel I'm looking at and make sure it's
charging.
It will also give me
security in being able to leave the
boat in the moorings for a week without worrying about the
bilge pump or other issues sucking the
battery dry.
Given the
purchase of a 60W panel, and then the goal of upgrading to between 240W and 360W of
power over time in chunks of 60W.
What charge controller should I look at?
Should I skip the charge controller for the first panel, while evaluating the panel? I'm thinking that it won't explode the
battery without the
charger, but I've never done any
solar applications without a high-end
MPPT, which I'm not sure I can afford right now.
Does anyone have any suggestions on a good
MPPT that isn't too expensive, but will run up to about 240W or maybe to 360W of input with output for a 12v system (14.8 or so)?
I have a window of 5 days to
work on the
boat so need these purchases sorted out in the next few days. :-)
Thanks!