Solar set up, Catalina 22

[wtubbs]

Hello wonderful people of the cloth; sailcloth that is...

After fixing up and sailing my 28' Morgan, I decided to downsize and now have everyone's beginners boat a Catalina 22! Great for the Biscayne Bay and for me who just feels more at home on a smaller boat. I learned and instructed on lake sailboats in Germany.

I'll be keeping the Catalina on my mooring ball, so bottom is painted zinc and bilge pump installed.

What is the best way to keep the batteries charged? I have a west Marine 75 amp & a Everstart 101 amp in the boat.

It already has a ProSport 12 installed, but that is just for shorepower. I will not have access to power out in the mooring ball

Power usage: top light at night, bilge pump, recharging batteries after a weekend out cruising.

I've spent some time with the search function and found out:

Mount a panel or two to the stern railing
35 min. / 50 Watts recommended
Many use Renogy

The Catalina Direct page has a panel that is 14in. x 23in. Which is super small but only 20 watts, so I would need two.

Any options to installing something on the forward hatch?
Anyone found a small 50 Watts panel that will fit on the stern railing?

Thanks!

[Lake-Effect]

We have a 19' boat with one Group 24 deep-cycle FLA battery, and I can generally top up the battery between outings using a 18" x 18" portable solar panel. I just place it on a cockpit seat when we leave the boat. In fact, because it has no charge controller, it is possible to slightly overcharge the battery if I leave it for several days.

Try a portable panel (WITH a charge controller ) to see how long it takes to top up each battery. You might find that one or two portable panels would be sufficient to top up the batteries. Saves the effort and hassle of permanently mounted panels.

You could also get analytic about this, and using your shorepower charger, find out how many Amp-hours it takes to recharge your batteries after a typical weekend. That could help you select the panel size necessary to recharge your batteries in the desired interval.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by wtubbs

Hello wonderful people of the cloth; sailcloth that is...

After fixing up and sailing my 28' Morgan, I decided to downsize and now have everyone's beginners boat a Catalina 22! Great for the Biscayne Bay and for me who just feels more at home on a smaller boat. I learned and instructed on lake sailboats in Germany.

I'll be keeping the Catalina on my mooring ball, so bottom is painted zinc and bilge pump installed.

What is the best way to keep the batteries charged? I have a west Marine 75 amp & a Everstart 101 amp in the boat.

It already has a ProSport 12 installed, but that is just for shorepower. I will not have access to power out in the mooring ball

Power usage: top light at night, bilge pump, recharging batteries after a weekend out cruising.

I've spent some time with the search function and found out:

Mount a panel or two to the stern railing
35 min. / 50 Watts recommended
Many use Renogy

The Catalina Direct page has a panel that is 14in. x 23in. Which is super small but only 20 watts, so I would need two.

Any options to installing something on the forward hatch?
Anyone found a small 50 Watts panel that will fit on the stern railing?

Thanks!

I did an install on a San Juan 24 a couple years ago that would likely be just perfect for your situation.
Used bungies to hold it in place . So it could be removed when racing or when ever you wanted a clean deck

[newhaul]

Here is what the customer wanted untill he saw it . I recomended against it from the start but he thought he needed 100 Watts solar

[wtubbs]

@newhaul this looks perfect! - the first one of course - Can you please send me the brand and size of the panel you used? How many watts does the small panel produce?

Thanks!

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by newhaul

I did an install on a San Juan 24 a couple years ago that would likely be just perfect for your situation.
Used bungies to hold it in place . So it could be removed when racing or when ever you wanted a clean deck

The controller reads 14.7 volts!

What's that all about?

You didn't set a Float Voltage?

[Spot]

Originally Posted by thomm225

The controller reads 14.7 volts!

What's that all about?

You didn't set a Float Voltage?

I have a similar controller on one of my solar panel setups.
Battery type / charging curve is selected via menu as lithium, AGM, or FLA.
The one on my boat is even simpler, 50w panel + basic controller with DIP switches + lawn mower battery. It has been going strong for 3 years outdoors -30 to 100 F.
Both controllers can run a load as a 'nightlight' or security light function that starts when the panel drops off for the night. Mine are also bungeed, no specific hardware for boats from the vendor.

[SV_FlyingTigress]

For my C22 I just put the panel on the cockpit seat which allowed sufficient sun but kept it outofthe wind and away from pilfering eyes.itplugged in through a port I wired in the side cubbie where you can store excess jib sheet etc... stowed it for sailing. It was. A 45 degree stand so it didn't lay flat on the cockpit seat

[Stu Jackson]

https://marinehowto.com/do-i-need-a-solar-controller/

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Spot

I have a similar controller on one of my solar panel setups.
Battery type / charging curve is selected via menu as lithium, AGM, or FLA.
The one on my boat is even simpler, 50w panel + basic controller with DIP switches + lawn mower battery. It has been going strong for 3 years outdoors -30 to 100 F.
Both controllers can run a load as a 'nightlight' or security light function that starts when the panel drops off for the night. Mine are also bungeed, no specific hardware for boats from the vendor.

Nice so why is his set at 14.7 volts.

I've had maybe 4 of those type controllers and set Float to 13.2 Volts - 13.7 Volts depending on time of year.

I have a Victron now though with blue tooth.

Panels are one 65 watt and one 50 watt Renogy charging two 220 ah golf cart batteries

65 watt panel is flat on aft lazarette. 50 panel tied to stern railing.

Saw the boat with the huge panels in photo recently...

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by wtubbs

@newhaul this looks perfect! - the first one of course - Can you please send me the brand and size of the panel you used? How many watts does the small panel produce?

Thanks!

It was a 50 watt flex panel from HQST which is a sub company of renogy.
They don't have any in stock at the moment. Here's the renogy one .
https://www.renogy.com/50-watt-12-vo...e-solar-panel/
I recomend checking ebay for " HQST 50 watt flex panel " see what you can find . Don't need to pay for the renogy name .
As to the controller well that was the cheapest one you can get. I tried to get the customer to get one that is a bit better but he was emphatic that I use the one he provided. It works but not much you can set on them just battery type. Fla, AGM, or Lfp. It was to charge a u1 12 volt fla battery that was on the boat. The controller and battery are not what I would recomend but sometimes you can't convince the customer that hires you that you know better than they do.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by thomm225

The controller reads 14.7 volts!

What's that all about?

You didn't set a Float Voltage?

Customer provided not much settable .

See post above

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Spot

I have a similar controller on one of my solar panel setups.
Battery type / charging curve is selected via menu as lithium, AGM, or FLA.
The one on my boat is even simpler, 50w panel + basic controller with DIP switches + lawn mower battery. It has been going strong for 3 years outdoors -30 to 100 F.
Both controllers can run a load as a 'nightlight' or security light function that starts when the panel drops off for the night. Mine are also bungeed, no specific hardware for boats from the vendor.

One of the reasons they wanted the cheap controller. ( back in 2016 when I did the job that controller was under 5 bucks ) I do believe is the 2 USB outputs . Another reason for mounting above the dinette .

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

https://marinehowto.com/do-i-need-a-solar-controller/

great link.

In our situation, I've been mostly successful with the unregulated small panel because we're there often enough to disconnect the panel before the battery voltage exceeds 14 v. And also because the Group 24 FLA battery is over-specced and pretty tolerant for our typical use. Our first battery lasted 13 years. (with some babying and proper recharging over the winters)

But yeah, I'm thinking about either replacing the current uncontrolled panel with a slightly larger one PLUS controller, or maybe handrolling a simple controller that disconnects the solar panel when the voltage exceeds say 14.5v, and not re-connecting the panel til the voltage drops below 12.5v.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by newhaul

It was a 50 watt flex panel from HQST which is a sub company of renogy.
They don't have any in stock at the moment. Here's the renogy one .
https://www.renogy.com/50-watt-12-vo...e-solar-panel/
I recomend checking ebay for " HQST 50 watt flex panel " see what you can find . Don't need to pay for the renogy name .
As to the controller well that was the cheapest one you can get. I tried to get the customer to get one that is a bit better but he was emphatic that I use the one he provided. It works but not much you can set on them just battery type. Fla, AGM, or Lfp. It was to charge a u1 12 volt fla battery that was on the boat. The controller and battery are not what I would recomend but sometimes you can't convince the customer that hires you that you know better than they do.

Actually you can set the Float or the stop charging level on this type.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3utx0h3wjn...USB-6.pdf?dl=0

I've had a few of them with various names but same controller.

The Victrons are better though because they have a proper Adsorption Phase and a true Float

It took a full day of charging in Absorption Phase to get my two 6 volt 220 ah Batteries totally charged after they had been on the cheaper PWM's pictured for a year