Solar panel wiring questions

[Zetta]

Hi everyone. I don’t know if and where this question may have been asked before but this group looked like a good place to start.

I don’t have 110v power at my boat lift so I would like to install a solar panel to recharge my single 12v deep cycle boat lift battery and my two 12v deep cycle trolling batteries which are wired in series to give me 24v.

Is there a way to wire a panel and controller so it is smart enough to charge all of the three batteries without risk of over charging any of them?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[mike_i]

Unless you install several high wattage panels and they're mounted perfectly you will unlikely need to be concerned about over charging. Sounds like you have a large amount of battery capacity. Read about solar charge controllers.

 

[ESGWheel]

As suggested, here is a recommended starting point for reading about controller’s link. And while mostly about need one vs. not, the author says he is an ABYC Certified Marine Electrical Systems Specialist. He may be open to answering questions such as yours. I have not (yet) had a reason to reach out to him so unsure if this is simply an old site or if he is still active.

 

[tpenfield]

Hi everyone. I don’t know if and where this question may have been asked before but this group looked like a good place to start.

I don’t have 110v power at my boat lift so I would like to install a solar panel to recharge my single 12v deep cycle boat lift battery and my two 12v deep cycle trolling batteries which are wired in series to give me 24v.

Is there a way to wire a panel and controller so it is smart enough to charge all of the three batteries without risk of over charging any of them?

Thanks in advance!!!

Did you ask this question on the DIY Solar Forum? Seems familiar.

 

[flashback]

@nola mike has done this

 

[KD4UPL]

It would be far simpler, easier, and likely cheaper to have a seperate panel and controller for each battery.
There are some controllers with a main output and a secondary output of lower capacity. I don't know of a 3 output controller or one that will output 2 different voltages at the same time.

 

[cyclops222]

A separate Photo Cell panel for each battery is most efficient and safer. Then recharging is faster. A correct sized fuse or circuit breaker is required for each Photo Cell.
Or a small quiet motor generator can be rigged up if you want / need every day, fully charged batteries.

 

[Zetta]

Thanks for the replies and sorry about not responding. I forgot to click the box to receive notice when anyone replied to my thread.

Looks like I have some reading to do and I will check out @nola mike.

Thanks again

 

[nola mike]

My setup was simple, and I'm far from an expert. I just used a separate panel/controller for each of my motors. If you just wanted one controller, I would install a battery switch in the boat that would switch the trolling motors from series-->parallel when I wanted to charge. I don't know enough about 24v charging, but think you'd need either a 24v panel or 2 12v panels in series, and then 2 separate controllers for the 2 banks of batteries. I like my first idea though.

 

[nola mike]

Wow, so I'm the wrong guy to take advice from. Got back from a ride this evening and couldn't get the lift up. Took me an embarrassingly long time to diagnose a dead battery. Ended up bringing out another battery and jumper cables. Sounds easier than it was . This has probably not been charging for a couple of weeks. Hooray, another project for tomorrow.