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Post by dancolwell on Jul 4, 2021 2:07:32 GMT
I have a Sun Odyssey 409 without generator, looking for suggestions for charging batteries, since I mostly use moorings while cruising. I’m thinking solar. Is there a solar array that works easily with my battery system?
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Post by fakinx on Jul 4, 2021 4:23:58 GMT
Yes, there are many solutions and welcome to the forum. Unfortunately all solutions are custom made so no, you can’t just pick and buy complete product (in most cases). I suggest you do a search on the web for pictures how other people implemented arc on their boats or how they use space on top of bimini. It’s doable with flex panels on deck also but that is not very efficient. If you stay in marina every night why do you need solar?
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Post by sailingabe41ds on Jul 4, 2021 6:28:58 GMT
Hi.. I have 2015 Jeanneau 41DS which is similar in size to yours. First read alot about solar panels, controllers, and how to wire things together. It is not that complicated if you look at lots of videos and see how they set things up and how to calculate your needs. My house batteries are four AGM group 31 for a total of 420 amp/hrs house. I use about 180 amp/hrs a day. My goal was not to have my solar panels supply 100% of my needs but maybe 70-80% and maybe briefly use the Yanmar or a Honda 2000 to partially charge the batteries every other day and let the solar do the rest. I bought 4 Renogy 100Wt Monocrystalline panels....I went with rigid panels instead of flex for longevity. I added a Victron SmartSolar Bluetooth MPPT 100/50 charger. You need to read up on why an MPPT and why 100/50...that is where youtube and self education helps. Then you learn how to connect it all together, wire gauge, fuses, breakers. Again, read,read,read...you can do it. This is a pic of my final panels. I put it over the canvas covering and the frame appears to hold the wt without problems. A little reinforcement helped. The pics show how it looks without the canvas...and with the canvas with the panels over it. You can't even tell there are panels up there. Good Luck Abe
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Post by Charlie-Bravo on Jul 4, 2021 8:56:30 GMT
I have installed a few, and if you have talent enough to make a bulb glow with two wires and a battery, and drill a hole or two then it can be achieved.
The tricky bit in my opinion is establishing your power needs, its personal, some want full off grid independence , some just need cool beer. for me, it's cool beer and chilled pizza and to have the ability to sail with lots of gadgets radar etc and auto pilot all day, and still have enough battery power for anchor entertainment at the end of the day, plus keeping the fridge going over night, I do run my engine if the wind won't behave and when mooring and anchoring which also helps with the charging.
Start at the far end of the project, how you intend to use the boat and what you would ideally like to be powered. Then look at the space you have available for the panels, lots of options of deck , davits, bimini, stanchions, .... all of which can look good and work , but some things look and work better than others. Choice of panel flex or rigid will be down to their location and if you need to stand on them/ fit them to canvas etc. Then as above, read, google knows all .
I use Victron mppt bluetooth and with this it is very easy to monitor your battery and solar performance from a phone or tablet, and you can set the charging algorithm to your type of batteries, and I don't solar charge my engine battery as I use the boat frequently and it seems happy, always ready to work, if you intend charging your engine start battery as well as house batteries ...... read a fair bit more, I have the capability to jump start the engine battery from the house bank which covers potential disaster, and keeps the solar install simple.
My first install had 240W of panels and 3 120ah house batteries, I felt more than enough for my needs, the SO35 not having a gantry frame limited my space for panels a bit so I am down to one 115w panel and 2 120ah batteries, but still seem to be fine for a week away with no rushing around switching things off to keep the beer cool !
The only negative is that they don't work at night!
CB
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Post by zaphod on Jul 4, 2021 16:25:54 GMT
The first step is definitely your house bank. If you don't already have a good battery monitor, get one! It will tell you your power consumption and give you a good idea of the condition of your batteries. I have the Victron BMV712 which is acnice unit that gives you a lot of information. I started out with a single Renogy 160w ultra flexible panel temporarily mounted on my dodger last summer. I am using a Victron 30/100 charge controller which uses the same Bluetooth software as the BMV712. It did fairly well during our 2 week off grid trip, and it usually had the bank fully charged by mid afternoon. After a couple of cloudy days, however, we started to go into deficit. We also found that the location of the panel was a bit problematic, and required careful shade management, which gets even more difficult when you are swinging on the hook. Some more expensive panels have bypass diodes that bypass any shaded cells, but our panels will shut down if there is any shade on them. I decided to buy a second Renogy panel, and I just finished mounting them on our bimini, which keeps them out of the shade of the boom. I mounted the panels to a piece of Sunbrella, and that zippers onto the bimini. We only need the panels when we go on longer trips, because we have enough battery power to last us for a long weekend. I plan on removing the panels and storing them to save wear and tear. This weekend is our first test of the new setup. We have been off grid since Thursday, and so far I'm pretty happy. The battery bank is fully charged, and the charge controller switches to float mode by about noon every day. The batteries never go below 90%. I haven't seen what the max output of the panels is because they are always limited by the acceptance rate of the battery bank. Right now we have more power than we need. If all goes well I will add a second freezer for longer trips next season.
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Post by moonshadow on Jul 4, 2021 21:30:40 GMT
Everyone’s needs vary. For me, I use a lot of battery juice on my 469. And my trips tend to be a few months away from shore power. It does take a system to work well together. But not necessarily from a single source. I started with a good battery monitor. Then added a big bank of good batteries, For me this was firefly carbon foam batteries. Then a good voltage regulator since these batteries can cause a hot alternator while they suck up a lot of amps. Then I added solar. I had zippers sewn on flex panels and zipped to Bimini. Others places where I could. I used a few mppt controllers as appropriate for panel sizing. There are a lot of good sources online to read, learn, and eventually buy from. Learn all you can first. Then add once you know what you want to do.
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Post by rxc on Jul 9, 2021 23:38:42 GMT
I went thru this with my previous boat, starting with my wife's desire to reheat her cup of tea in the morning. This capability required the installation of a microwave oven, an inverter to power it, batteries of the appropriate size to feed the inverter, solar panels to keep the batteries charged, a solar cell controller to help charge the batteries efficiently, structural elements on the stern to hold up the solar panels, a high output alternator and voltage regulator on the main engine, and then, a windmill when we got stuck in a hurricane hole during a hurricane and the solar panels didn't do anything for 2 days so we had to run the engine to charge the batteries. I now have all that plus a stern arch, a genset for the aircon, and an electrical system that is VERY complex, on my current boat.
Oh, and all the associated wiring, fuses, and controls to make it work safely.
It is not too difficult if you are reasonably handy, and willing to buy a few tools and take the boat apart. These days, the options are MUCH wider than they were 20 years ago, and it is not difficult to find great batteries and solar controllers that work well to keep your system running. As others have said, you have to first decide what you want the system to do, and how comfortable you want to be. Beyond a certain point, you may decide you need a generator (e.g. for air conditioning), and that is another whole major project.
Go read all the various threads about this on this site, and everywhere else you can find a discussion, and then look at your boat and yourself, and think about what you want to accomplish. Then come back here and ask us questions. Think about what equipment you might need, and where it might go, and how much it will cost, and how it will fit. The people here have lots of experience and will help out. Talk to your spouse about this, if you have one or are thinking about it. Keeping the wife happy is part of the adventure.
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Post by Damen af Kungsholmen on Jul 10, 2021 6:39:27 GMT
Hello Dan Solar cells have really evolved recently. What I understand for you to get the most out of is that there should be one MMPT charger per panel! Now this is not necessary but if you want to squeeze out the last from the panels. Then if there is a risk that there may be partial shadow on one panel, it is better to have several panels instead of a large one. In the case of partial shade, the entire panel (dies) and generates significantly less current. Have done some tests on this by measuring the current. I have two 110 Watt panels that are special made internally connected to minimize the loss in case of partial shading, but still there is a reduced charging current when a rood comes and shadows.
When choosing a cable from the solar cell to the MMPT controller, they should not be too weak. Unfortunately, it is not possible to get 6 mm² in the connection to the controller. But it can be solved with a transition.
As mentioned, it does not require much tools and knowledge for you to succeed with good installation.
Later on you will notice that you want to have better quality of accumulating the solar energy like Lithium battery. Its a significant better accumulator. But that is another topic. Good luck namesake Dan
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Post by zaphod on Jul 12, 2021 2:31:48 GMT
I went thru this with my previous boat, starting with my wife's desire to reheat her cup of tea in the morning. This capability required the installation of a microwave oven, an inverter to power it, batteries of the appropriate size to feed the inverter, solar panels to keep the batteries charged, a solar cell controller to help charge the batteries efficiently, structural elements on the stern to hold up the solar panels, a high output alternator and voltage regulator on the main engine, and then, a windmill when we got stuck in a hurricane hole during a hurricane and the solar panels didn't do anything for 2 days so we had to run the engine to charge the batteries. I now have all that plus a stern arch, a genset for the aircon, and an electrical system that is VERY complex, on my current boat. Oh, and all the associated wiring, fuses, and controls to make it work safely. It is not too difficult if you are reasonably handy, and willing to buy a few tools and take the boat apart. These days, the options are MUCH wider than they were 20 years ago, and it is not difficult to find great batteries and solar controllers that work well to keep your system running. As others have said, you have to first decide what you want the system to do, and how comfortable you want to be. Beyond a certain point, you may decide you need a generator (e.g. for air conditioning), and that is another whole major project. Go read all the various threads about this on this site, and everywhere else you can find a discussion, and then look at your boat and yourself, and think about what you want to accomplish. Then come back here and ask us questions. Think about what equipment you might need, and where it might go, and how much it will cost, and how it will fit. The people here have lots of experience and will help out. Talk to your spouse about this, if you have one or are thinking about it. Keeping the wife happy is part of the adventure. It would have been much easier just to make your wife a fresh cup of tea!
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Post by rxc on Jul 12, 2021 12:18:06 GMT
Yeah, it would have been easier to make another cuppa. But as we get older, we start to want more of the creature comforts, Camping in a 25 ft pop-top boat is fine when you are 18, but you want something more civilized when you get to 30. And when you have to make our wife comfortable, as well, the costs get MUCH higher. I used to have a neighbor who had a T-top boat for fishing, and he asked me how difficult it was to learn to sail a boat like mine. I told him that if he could maneuver his T-Top around our canals and get it into his boat lift, he was well qualified to handle a sailboat. The sailing part he could learn in a few days. But as the boat gets bigger, the systems get bigger and more numerous and more complicated, and that is the real learning curve for a large sailboat. Unless, of course, you just want to write checks to get stuff done.
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