Controller for Solar/Wind Gen setup? Help

[roetter]

Originally Posted by TheNomadTrip

My question wasn't worded correctly. I apologize, I'm a rookie.

What I should have said was: are my calculations correct? Is a 45A MPPT enough for 4x135W panels?

And/or is there any reason to go up to a 60A?

That is big enough.

4x135 = 540W

If your batteries are really low or you are drawing a large load you may be charging at 12V

540W/12V = 45A

Morningstar rates its 45A charger for up to 600W on 12V batteries.

Two things to consider:
1 - You only get the full 540W when the temperatures a quite low. The rated output is at 25 degC panel surface temperature. You will usually run much higher than that unless you go to colder climes. In full sun the panel surface is way north of 50 degC.
2 - Read the manual carefully, but most chargers limit themselves to the max amps. So shoud be more available from the solar panels for a short time, you will just not get that little bit extra power.

[chuckr]

We are just simple cruisers who do not live on land except to see the kids once a year for a couple of weeks and have been doing this for 7 years. We do not park the boat in the Bahamas but actually sail her and sail her a lot.
You did not say what you were going to do or where you intended to go. So first i will tell you what we have. We sail a Jeanneau DS40- and have sailed all the Bahamas 2x, from Fla to Mexico and down to Colombia then across to Jamaica and down to Trinidad and back up to Antigua and across the Atlantic and how in the Med for the 2nd year. We have 6 6v Trojan batteries and a seperate starter battery, 2 130w and 1 135w Kyocera panels. We have BlueSky 3024 controller. We have a small watermaker that we run off the solar panels and when in the carib ran it about 1-2 hours every other day or daily depending. We do not have a gen set or wind. We did a cost tradeoff analysis on wind vs diesel and diesel won hands down as we have a 150amp alternator on the engine. We have a cruising sailboat not an apartment on the water and we use her extensively and sail a lot.

I like the comment from the wind gen guy who said go out a year and see what you really need. We did just that and spent one year sailing the entire Bahamas, not sitting in one location for long periods, and really made a list of what we needed. We had 2 solar panels at the time and added a 3rd and should have added a 4th. We have room on the top of our bimini for a 4th and may still add it but finding a Kyocera in Europe is a bit of a challenge. The Kyocera panels are over 7 years old and still look new and function really well. Right now we are in Montenegro and at 1030 in the morning on a bit of an overcast day we are getting 13amps.

It really comes down to what you are want and are going to do with the boat. If you are a 6 month boat user and want an apartment on the water and not move a lot and all the electrical stuff that you have on dirt you can never have to much electrical.

But take the boat out for a year and really see what you really need.