Wiring Solar Panel to Boat

[mustang5]

Hi all,

Got my new boat, and now installing all the goodies.

Basically, I want to install the 120W Solar panel in order to keep the twin 125Ah batteries topped up, and run the Waeco Fridge on long trips away.

The question I have is Wiring with regards to the battery Isolator for a twin setup. i.e. How do I wire it so that the Solar amps are being located to the battery selected on the Isolator? (e.g. If Battery 1 is selected, Solar charges Battery 1. If both selected, Solar charges both.. etc.).

Is it simply a case of wiring straight from the Solar regulator to the main wires running from the isolator??

Thank you

[myusernam]

yes.
BTW I just got a 20amp PWM regulator from ebay for under $20

[mustang5]

^^ Thanks mate. I currently am in Gladstone and have about 3 days to install it so cant wait for postage haha!

Apparently Battery world have a PWM for $80 which might be the goer.

What size panel have you got?

[morphias]

What brand panel did you go? Kyocera are the best one the market.

You will need to run the fridge off the batteries and charge the batteries from the panel - this ensures a 'clean' feed to the fridge and, depending on the size and model of fridge, compressor type, etc, a single 120w panel will not be enough to run it anyway. You will realistically see ~80-90w from a good quality 120w panel on a good day.

Ben.

[mustang5]

Hey mate,

Not sure on Brand but it works pretty well from what I gather. I know the panel wont support the waeco alone but I would like to set it so that when I am not using the boat, I keep the isolator on 1 battery and run the waeco off that 1 battery, whilst at the same time the solar Amps are channeled to that battery alone.

Hopefully on a good day I should get about 40-50amps charge from solar, and a bit on top from running around over at the island. Im expecting the fridge to draw about 40-50amps per day.

[morphias]

No worries

I have seen plenty of people go and buy a 60w or 80w panel from SuperCheap, go camping, hook the panels up to their fridge and wonder why their food is off the next day.

You're going about it the right way too by isolating the house battery. These are a great unit:

http://www.redarc.com.au/products/pr...-sbi_12v_100a/

Ben.

[mustang5]

Looks good cheers mate. I already have an isolator, just not sure what brand. Looking at the regulator, and Im thinking of just going a PWM from battery world. Will be able to give me readouts and a good idea on charge on the battery.

Test her out this arvo and see how we go!

Thanks mate

[truth stretcher]

Should be able to run the solar charge to the output terminal on the isolator switch.
The only problem I could see occuring would be if you isolate both batteries you will in fact open circuit the solar feed , this may damage the solar reg or the panels maybe?
Or cover the panel before you isolate both.

[Smithy]

I just set up a little independant system on my boat and so far so good but I get to plug into shore power every night. 120w ebay solar panel, ebay regulator, ebay battery charger, 33amp battery from an ebay battery mob here at maroochydore and a 100 litre evakool fridge freezer. Bait in the freezer and customer drinks and food in the fridge.

[cormorant]

I was surprised to see these so cheap on eprey as the original ones are expensive- probably for a reason

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/20A-Duo-B...item19cee02c4e

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Remote-Me...item1c25054a7c

Why not connect direct to battery terminals not the switch as that way both are charged independently and mantained. Good batteries are too expensive to screw around with cheap wire, cheap controllers and crap alternators.


original

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MorningStar-...-/200703829255


http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/25A-12-24...-/180963823060
A lot deends on what style batteries you have and how long you want them to last depending on how low you want to drawdown on them.

[shane450]

I just set my panel up on the boat for a trip up north after xmas

I have the panel120w on the hardtop connected to a CTEK D250S Dc-Dc charger , then straight from the charger to the ACC deep cycle battery .

Both my batteries are Optima , we are doing long runs on the trip so I ll start and run everything off the main battery when motor is running , the main battery will keep charge topped up by the motor ( ACC battery will be getting charged by the panel) then switch over to the ACC battery when stopped and at night .

[mustang5]

Thought I would check in!

Basically she is all hooked up and working a treat! Kept up with the 110L Waeco over christmas.

With the 120W ebay special teamed with a battery world regulator in use I was seeing up to 45Amps per day. Well in excess of what I was needing.

Was over on the island and the missus flattened the 4wd battery. Decided to see how quickly the solar panel would charge it and it started the car after about 45 minutes to an hour. Was very impressed.

Most assuring though is the ability to just hop in the boat for a trip, check your battery levels and see 12.6V all round.

Here is the install.

Thanks

457216_10151638861841164_436542900_o.jpg

[honda900]

Mustang,

An alternative way to achive what you wanted to do was to install a dual Voltage Sensitive Relay module (VSR). So while your boat is isolated and using battery1 when the charge level of battery1 reaches 13.8 volts it automatically swaps the charge output to battery2 until it either reaches 13.8v or Battery1's charge level reduces to 12.6v it then automatically switches the charge (alternator) output back to battery1.

So with your solar installation you would have only needed to connect it to one battery and the VSR module will automatically charge both batteries. (tried and tested). however it would charge the battery it was connected to first then then the VSR module would direct the charge to the second battery.

Just a thought for those with VSR modules already in their boats.

Regards
Honda.

[mustang5]

Thanks Honda.

Im getting a whole heap of new marine electronics installed so I will definately look into it. In the meantime I just flick the isolator every couple of days to charge each different battery. The 1 mistake I did make was wire the waeco directly to one battery which didnt leave my options open. Sounds like the VSR is perfect for my application.

All up the install cost me about $320. Im stoked with the results so far, but good to hear theres still improvements