Solar Power Installation . . .

[JimS123]

Actually . . . I buy fish at the store. What trolling batteries ???

The system is for battery charge maintenance, not full charging. Although given enough time it probably could.

I'm also thinking the solar panel could maintain charge over the winter, if I put a 'window' of some sort in the boat cover.

Maybe an apples to oranges comparison, but I also have a 100W Renogy system, although its on an RV.

The system was installed 5 years ago on a 1 year old battery. I check water levels every 6 months, and I only have to add a couple ounces. In that time the battery has never dropped below 12.6 volts and the SpG has never dropped one iota.

With trees nearby I only see direct sunlight on the panel for about 3 hours per day. In Winter, its charging as long as the snow load is 1" or less.

I only have 1 battery, so I'm not familiar with a bank, but I can certainly say that as a maintainer the system works well.

 

[tpenfield]

Solar Panel System Installation Day 1 . . .
Score
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'One2Many" (Boat) = 1
Ted = 0
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The boat really had its way today. I thought to try to rough-in wiring for the solar panel in the arch as per typical installation for arch mounted electronics. I even found a chase wire inside the arch for that exact purpose . . . pulling additional wiring.

Only problem is that it seems that there is so much wiring already inside the arch that any additional wiring cannot get past a certain point. I tried everything that I could think of. For now, I have a set of thinner wires that I began pulling through with the chase that are impossibly stuck. At that point, I had a beer and went onto other parts of the installation.

So, tomorrow is Day 2 and I'm hoping to a make comeback and even things up. Stupid boat . . .

 

[froggy1150]

Did you try using wire pulling snot. I like the clear stuff cuz it dries clean. The yellow cakes up when dry. Make your transition from string to wire as smooth as possible, pour more than enough lube and pull downhill. I did a pull once with 15 cat6 in a 1". 260 feet with a transition from pipe to flex then back to pipe. It was an existing conduit and no way to repipe.The other sparky I work with swore it wouldn't go. I poured at least 1/2 gal of lube In pipe and layed the wires as straight and tight as possible with no wires twisted. It went thru.

 

[tpenfield]

Not sure I have any 'snot', but I'll bring whatever I can find out with me to the boat for Day 2.

I'm bringing my borescope to get a better look at the insides of the arch. My hopes are that there is an unused passageway that I can get a wire snake through.

Of course 'Job 1' will be to get the wires that are now stuck to break free.

 

[alldodge]

I've used the stuff a couple times and it does help, mostly trying to pull house wire thru conduit
https://www.lowes.com/pd/IDEAL-32-oz-Clear-Wire-Pulling-Lubricant/1017915

 

[Horigan]

Maybe a wire pulling snake would work better also.

 

[tpenfield]

I stopped off at the hardware store and got an Electrician's Snake, which is much more substantial than the measly pull wire that was in the arch. Still a no-go.

I did use my borescope to get a better look at the insides of the arch. It looks like there is a 1" x 2" hole at the section mating surfaces of the arch, so 2 holes to pass through. It looked like the pull wire was trying to take the 'inside track' through the holes and everything seemed to catch on the rough edges of the holes.

What actually worked was to hand feed each cable (since they are fairly stiff) along the outer areas of where the conduits were passing through the sections. This approach avoided the difficulties when pulling via the snake line and I was able to get the wires through . . . after a few attempts.
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Of course by then is was into the afternoon. I mounted the solar panel on the soft top portion of the arch and then went to work in the engine bay connecting the regulator and isolator.

At that point I realized that I don't have 3 battery banks . . . I have 4 banks !!!

1 Battery for Port Engine
1 Battery for Starboard Engine
1 Accessory Battery
4 Inverter Batteries.

The Accessory battery is actually labeled "Accessory Battery #2", but there is no sign of 'Accessory Battery #1'

Anyway, I'll search for another battery (that would make 8 batteries if I find another one), and figure out what to do about 4 banks of isolation instead of 3.

 

[alldodge]

Before going for another isolator, make sure the ALT's actually charge all of the banks. I'm thinking maybe they might not charge the inverter Bats

 

[Scott Danforth]

At that point I realized that I don't have 3 battery banks . . . I have 4 banks !!!

1 Battery for Port Engine
1 Battery for Starboard Engine
1 Accessory Battery
4 Inverter Batteries.

The Accessory battery is actually labeled "Accessory Battery #2", but there is no sign of 'Accessory Battery #1'

Anyway, I'll search for another battery (that would make 8 batteries if I find another one), and figure out what to do about 4 banks of isolation instead of 3.

maybe a second panel for the inverter batteries

 

[tpenfield]

Before going for another isolator, make sure the ALT's actually charge all of the banks. I'm thinking maybe they might not charge the inverter Bats

IIRC, there is a schematic in the engine bay that shows the Port engine charges the inverter bank. I'll double check though, and I'm thinking the Starboard engine probably charges the accessory battery.

 

[Scott Danforth]

IIRC, there is a schematic in the engine bay that shows the Port engine charges the inverter bank. I'll double check though, and I'm thinking the Starboard engine probably charges the accessory battery.

That sounds smart....

 

[tpenfield]

Quick update . . .

I ordered a power (rectifier) diode as a poor man's way of isolating a 4th battery bank. It should be delivered Friday. With 14.5 (+/-) volts at full sun, the net after the diode (~ 13.8v) is still plenty for a 12V battery.

Yesterday's progress (after getting the wires through the arch, which evened up the score ); pictures to follow later today.

1. I installed the 100 watt panel on the soft top portion of the arch.
2. I've mounted the Renogy Solar Panel Regulator and the FET Isolator in the engine bay.
3. Started hooking up the wiring . . . that's when I noticed the 4th battery bank.
4. Made a cutout in the arch's access plate for the wiring.
5. Fixed the dome light that I trashed trying remove it from the arch.

Today's agenda is to . . .

1. Make all the final connections and right-size some of the wiring lengths.
2. Put the access panels back on.
3. See if it all works.

 

[tpenfield]

All set . . .

I got everything hooked up today . . . AND IT WORKED !!!

The batteries had not seen charging in about 5 days, so they were sitting at their resting voltage, with some usage during that time (12.5 - 12.2 volts)

As soon as I hooked up the solar panel, it went up to 4.6 amps of charging and was sitting at about 12.7 volts as the batteries charged. I ran the engines for about 10 minutes to give the charging a helping hand.

After about a hour on its own the solar panel had the batteries at 13.0 volts, charging at about 4.2 amps.

Here are a few pictures. I still need to run some additional conduit for the finishing touches.
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I was going to take a picture of the solar panel (mounted to the soft top), but the sea gulls have already christened it.

Looks like the boat will need a good washing tomorrow and I should get a plastic owl to keep the gulls away.

 

[Scott Danforth]

All set . . .

Looks like the boat will need a good washing tomorrow and I should get a plastic owl to keep the gulls away.

I never had luck with the plastic owl, they would perch on its head. My buddy has luck with the cheap windmills and streamers zip-tied to his outriggers and antennae. However a good bird will do a dive bomb run from 200 feet up.

 

[JimS123]

My Renogy will provide about 14+ volts if the batteries are low. After a short time the voltage drops to about 13.4 and stays there.

If I turn off the solar cell, initially the battery shows about 13 volts, but drops to 12.7 after an hour or so (surface charge).

I'm not reporting the voltage recorded on the charge controller. My data is from a digital gauge plugged into the "cigarette" light plug, which shows the actual battery condition.

 

[tpenfield]

@JimS123 . . . Yes, I think 7 electron hungry batteries are keeping the voltage down, but I want to see how the system acts over time. I did go directly to the various batteries with my multimeter. It turns out that the volt gauge on the DC electrical panel is reading about 0.5 volts higher than it should.

I never had luck with the plastic owl, they would perch on its head. My buddy has luck with the cheap windmills and streamers zip-tied to his outriggers and antennae. However a good bird will do a dive bomb run from 200 feet up.

Yes, maybe a 'Gull Sweep' thingy, which I have used in the past. I did have an owl on my Formula 242, but a low-life gang of sea gulls beat the daylights out of it. I'm gonna make sure this owl is packing heat

 

[Scott Danforth]

they make biodegradable airsoft bbs

 

[tpenfield]

Here is a view of the 100 watt solar panel mounted to the soft top . . . after I cleaned it up. As you can see some bird have better aim than others . . .



I also received the power diodes today and hooked up the 4th battery bank. The charging was down to about 2.0 amps today. So, it is making progress.

We will be using the boat Sat & Sun so we shall see how the volts and amps look after usage.

In other news, I determined that there was a leak in the fresh water system and isolated it to the intake filter that is just before the pressure pump. It relies on a couple of o-rings for a tight seal. I would imagine it has been leaking for a while, since the o-rings did not seem adequate to make a seal.

 

[tpenfield]

One thing I am noticing is that the actual power (volts x amps) is about 60-65% of the panel rating. It might be the angle of the sun, but something to consider when choosing a panel (for anyone considering a similar application). Of course, you will not get 100%, due to efficiencies in the regulator, sun level, etc, but something to consider when choosing a panel - plan on 65%.

I'm going to see if the panel voltage rises as the batteries get up to full charge, so I can be sure to get charging into the accessory battery (which is isolated by a diode). It would be nice to see about 13.5 volts. Plan 'B' would be to get another FET isolator for that 4th bank.

Maybe I can just make something simple with an power rated FET ?

 

[Thirsty Endgrain]

It's gonna be a lot of cleaning to keep that little panel putting out the V's. You probably know, solar panels are very sensitive to shading or debris. Put a finger on a cell and watch the output plummet. Some panels have built in bypass diodes to help with this. I'd say that flat mounted, with poop smudges, 65% of rated output ain't actually that bad. It's amazing what even a couple of degrees of tilt will do for output.

I have 2 175W panels on my van, when I was messing around with them a while ago I watched the output as is tilted them (victron bluetooth app), lifting them like 2" from flat gave a huge increase in output, like 30W-50W or something. Of course, on my van or your boat flat is pretty much the only option, and since all you're going for is some maintenance charging, it's probably ok. You do have some real estate up there though, you could get a bigger panel on there. Looks like enough room for appx. 300W?