Solar Panels

[cvick76]

Not quite familiar with solar panels. What can I expect a commonly used (large) solar panel to power? We would like to power:

a medium sized refrigerator
small freezer
Navigation Equip
radio/speakers
Lights interior and running
Laptop
Small Tv/DVD at night

It would be rare to run all items at once, however, just interested to know how far you can stretch a panel and what we can expect.

I know there is a calculation that can be done to know exactly but just curious what cruisers are running and what size panels are getting the job done for a ballpark idea.

What about wind generators? Do they power anything significant?


Thanks,
Vick

[Sailmonkey]

You need to figure out how many amp hours you'll consume in a 24 hour period, then size the panels to replace it all in 6-8 hours.

We've got 130 watts of panel and a 200 watt wind gen. On average the panels provided much more power than the wind. We're running a 2 cubic foot fridge and basic electronics. I'll be adding more solar soon.

[sailorboy1]

my 290W panel does it (boat on a mooring with the frig/freezer always on)

but you need to definite better what you you need as to the solar panel powering those things. If you are talking sailing over the weekend and then having the batteries recharged when you come back, a 100W will probably do it.

[Celestialsailor]

I have 300 watts and does fine without the auto pilot on all the time. I could use another 100-200 though.

[cvick76]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I have 300 watts and does fine without the auto pilot on all the time. I could use another 100-200 though.

So what I gather if I installed 2 x 200w panels and a wind generator I would probably be reasonably powered for the items listed. Again, just trying to get a ballpark idea, not exact.

Thank You,

Vick

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by cvick76

So what I gather if I installed 2 x 200w panels and a wind generator I would probably be reasonably powered for the items listed. Again, just trying to get a ballpark idea, not exact.

Thank You,

Vick

No problem the way you're going about it and I would say, yes, 400 watts and a windgen would be good. Do yourself a favor...get a quiet one. My air-x I had on my Ingrid 38 turned me off WG's forever. Sounded like the boat had a ghost onboard. boooooo,ooooo,oooo. Also, I find as a loose rule of thumb, your watts in roughly equal batteries in amps. Eg: I have 300 watts of solar and 330 amps of house batteries, plus a #24 starting battery.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by cvick76

So what I gather if I installed 2 x 200w panels and a wind generator I would probably be reasonably powered for the items listed. Again, just trying to get a ballpark idea, not exact.

Thank You,

Vick

You can run everything on your list with just the 400 watts of solar panels.

Scrap the wind generator, unless you like a spinning winning noise vibrating through your boat and like to do extra maintenance.

I have 460 watts of panels and have run everything on your list with power to spare

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

You can run everything on your list with just the 400 watts of solar panels.

Scrap the wind generator, unless you like a spinning winning noise vibrating through your boat and like to do extra maintenance.

I have 460 watts of panels and have run everything on your list with power to spare

Well, he did not say autopilot but I would imagine he'll have one. I use mine mostly at night and watch the power go down...down...down.

[cvick76]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Well, he did not say autopilot but I would imagine he'll have one. I use mine mostly at night and watch the power go down...down...down.

Yes, I will be using autopilot, however, I would prob have less other equipment running when in use. In addition, I may also be running engines during these times which would charge the batts. Thanks for the insight on the wind generator. In my research I have found they are basically a supplement to other power sources. I had not realized, however, that they created so much noise. I assumed they ran fairly silent. Is it not possible to easily run them sporadically as needed (at night when running auto pilot?)

[Cotemar]

This lady absolutely loves a wind generator. Only problem is that you can barely hear her talk about it.
Just a must see video.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1304237

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

This lady absolutely loves a wind generator. Only problem is that you can barely hear her talk about it.
Just a must see video.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1304237

Thanx for posting that. That was exactly my point earlier with my Air-X being too loud. You could stand 50 ft. away from it, close your eyes and you would think it's 5 ft. away from you. In the boat was a pain. I installed a switch to stop it's rotating.

[RainDog]

Ouch. That would not last 5 minutes on my boat. I would rather listen to a generator.

[DumnMad]

If I upgrade I'm thinking of putting the money into LiFePO4 batteries instead of wind generator. Can run same AH batteries 2 or 3 times longer without sun.
At this stage it seems changing to LifePO4 only economic if you save yourself a wind gen.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by DumnMad

If I upgrade I'm thinking of putting the money into LiFePO4 batteries instead of wind generator. Can run same AH batteries 2 or 3 times longer without sun.
At this stage it seems changing to LifePO4 only economic if you save yourself a wind gen.

Changing to LifePO4 batteries in the end will save you money as they last much much longer.
LifePO4 batteries will save you space as a 400 Ah bank = 800 Ah lead acid bank.
LifePO4 batteries are much lighter, so will save you a lot of weight.
LifePO4 batteries are silent, not like that wind generator.

[Celestialsailor]

A few guys in Ensenada here have windgens. Ones a Rurland 913 and the other a KISS. Both seem to be dead silent. In another thread someone bought a chinese windgen from ebay and immediately broke down as I remember, so you definitely do not want to go that route.