Solar system questions

[akopac]

I AM SOLAR INDEPENDENT
Solar is a great thing. Weather on a house or boat start with reducing power consumption before starting power calculation or power production.
That should start with refrigeration insulation, led lighting all around, and low power navigation system (opencpn on pi is great)
Refrigeration is the killer but only when the box leaks heat in. Insulation is cheap and no maintenance when done right compared to lots of panels and controllers.
I have been in Baja, and am currently in Tahiti.
38 fr. Ketch
400 amphr Firefly bank (could of been lipo)
400W adjustable angle panels
pi based Nav system
All led lighting
Spectra 200 Watermaker
I use minimum 32amphours over night at anchor
50 amphrs overnight underway
Usually charged by 10am
If I make water I might be charged by 2pm
Yes it’s a lot of time and labor to rebuild a fridge box, but we’ll worth it if and cheap.

[s/v Jedi]

"Everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." —Carl Sagan, 1990, Pale Blue Dot speech.

I’m currently crossing the Atlantic aboard the Queen Mary 2 and just had a lecture from an English professor who discussed this

[akopac]

It’s much easier and better to reduce consumption, than increase power and storage.

[akopac]

Never had a built in inverter. Just 200-300W plug into 12V Units. Get car adapters for laptops and USB receptacles. Sewing machine runs uff 200 W inverter have ryobi 12V charger foR tools. Honda EU1000 for backup, but rarely use it. Starlink can suck power. Only turn it on when you need it. Reinsulate the fridge. It’s a long term lifetime investment…

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by akopac

It’s much easier and better to reduce consumption, than increase power and storage.

Originally Posted by akopac

Never had a built in inverter. Just 200-300W plug into 12V Units. Get car adapters for laptops and USB receptacles. Sewing machine runs uff 200 W inverter have ryobi 12V charger foR tools. Honda EU1000 for backup, but rarely use it. Starlink can suck power. Only turn it on when you need it. Reinsulate the fridge. It’s a long term lifetime investment…

Electrical efficiency and reducing consumption is important, but high power AC appliances can be useful.

For example, electric cooking and water heating are worthwhile options if sufficient electrical energy is available.

Fortunately, these luxuries can be run via solar power in many cases.

[akopac]

Yep. Solar dump for water heater

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by George_SD

This.

You need to add up all of the draw and usage through the day. All electrical devices are feed by the batteries, solar is only meant to recharge the batteries.

You need a bat. bank that will support your needs and then enough solar to recharge the batteries. AC is a big draw. You may want to consider using fans more often.

and in order to do that you're going to have to develop a profile of your actual projected usage. That will include in addition to the power consumption "budget":

-Where you are going to be and when to determine average insolation, which can be obtained from many websites, the best include adjustments for things like humidity, dust, angle of inclination of the panels and so on

-What does "live-aboard" really mean? 100% at anchor? A night in a slip every week, a week every month, most of the time?

-How often you will move and how much you are likely to use the engine when moving?

-Can you live without running hot water or a microwave oven etc?

and probably a few other things that don't come to mind immediately.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Our solar system, located in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy, consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as Pluto; dozens of moons; and millions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.
More ➥ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-s...stem/in-depth/

and soon to be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass...

[Xavierp]

[QUOTE=FlyingScot;3800613]
I'm sure everyone will tell you to figure out how much power you use, blah blah blah.
[/QUOTEs]
Hahaha You’re right. I knew I’d get that answer.

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

Victron & Blue Sea are great brands to build a system. LG NeonR panels or NeonH BiFacials if you can still find them. It won't be cheap or easy.

Thx for the info

[Xavierp]

Great info!!!!!
Maruru

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

Victron & Blue Sea are great brands to build a system. LG NeonR panels or NeonH BiFacials if you can still find them. It won't be cheap or easy.

LG bi-facials all gone this side of the pond sadly after they pulled out of the market.

There are some others like Canadian Solar (who are Chinese btw) but not sure of the quality.

Hyundai shingle panels look interesting, as they are smaller for a given power output. Or half cut cells to help limit the shading problems. Decisions, decisions

How about a couple of these bad boys:

https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...lar+Module.pdf

[Xavierp]

Originally Posted by Damir36

I took everything from Victron, except the Batteries. .

even the solar panels? Do they have panels?
If not, what panels do you have?

And thx for the answer.

Seems like you have a great set up

Tell me more about the small washing machine... Seems like it's only in Europe that we can find one

[Xavierp]

Originally Posted by Pete7

LG bi-facials all gone this side of the pond sadly after they pulled out of the market.

There are some others like Canadian Solar (who are Chinese btw) but not sure of the quality.

Hyundai shingle panels look interesting, as they are smaller for a given power output. Or half cut cells to help limit the shading problems. Decisions, decisions

How about a couple of these bad boys:

https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...lar+Module.pdf

thx for the options, but they don't look encouraging.
It is so hard to find because the market is flooded with products, all from China, which can be ok but I'd like a reliable US customer service...

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by Xavierp

even the solar panels? Do they have panels?
If not, what panels do you have?

And thx for the answer.

Seems like you have a great set up

Tell me more about the small washing machine... Seems like it's only in Europe that we can find one

Victron definitely sells solar panels, although there are much better options available.

https://www.victronenergy.com/solar-...uesolar-panels

Bus bars on the top reduces output and makes them less attractive. Looks like older designs. Warranty is mediocre 90% @ 10 years and 80% at 25 years.

You can do much better than this.

[Xavierp]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

You can do much better than this.

thx for the link, but you are right this isn't really attractive.