Designing a Solar system for mini Houseboat

1. The solar diagram is correct- it is 2s2p (not 2c2p) it stands for 2 in series (the left side of the diagram) and 2in parallel (the left and right side together).

2. You do not need to fuse panels that have less than three in parallel. Three in parallel or more REQUIRES a fuse in each parallel section. You may (Will) want to have a solar disconnect so you can “turn the sun off” for maintenance and storage.

3. For the Victron stuff, it is sold by dealers that will provide support (if needed). My Victron dealer is

You may have a good dealer closer to you. Discuss your project with them, send them your plan, let them help you and make sure you haven’t forgotten something.

I will respond more later.

I sent you a couple of conversations…

Rocketman, I want to thank you for all of the time and efforts you have made to help me design a solar system for my "Tiny" houseboat. Working with you has taught me a very large amount about how a solar system functions and you have guided me to info that has taught me a very large amount. For that I am very grateful.

I have followed your advice using your favorite Victron components and decided that I am not knowledgeable enough to install, adjust, and monitor all of the electrical parameters required. Separate from that, when I reviewed the customer reviews for many of the Victron components, I found that, even though there must have been thousands of their components purchased, their reviews have been very low with only a few inputting reviews. Those reviews and the expected high cost of near $5k to install on my old houseboat, has lead me to a much simpler and much, less costly (around $2k) design employing a (although also low rated) All-in-One inverter design. I know you do not have much faith in, or experience with those AIO systems, I would appreciate it if you would look over my new design plan and critique it for things like wire gauges, circuit breakers, the 48v to 12v converter, etc.

Again, Thank you for taking the time to try to train a complete novice in solar design. Hillbilly2

Anyone else? If you see problems with my new design or want to offer suggestions, please do. All help will be appreciated.

Additionally, the distance between my solar pane bank and the inverter/controller is about 15 feet and the distance between the inverter and the battery(s) is about three feet for wire size calculations. Thanks.

That plan looks good - hopefully the Renogy inverter/charger works well for you… I don’t know anything about that AIO Inverter. From reading on this site Renogy brand seems to be either hit or miss. Some products are great others not-so-much.

On a boat I believe Triplex is recommended over romex.
The differences are triplex has:
Insulation around all three wires,
they are all stranded,
and if you get marine grade triplex I believe it is tin plated copper stranded wire.

Good luck

A friends house boat had a pretty ingenious cooling system that I’ve never seen before. He used a triple row radiator and pumped river water through it. It looked like it was aluminum. The automotive water pump and a home type HVAC blower both had DC motors on them. The pickup hose looked like the kind of hose that you would find on a pool vacuum. He said the end was out and about 20’ down because the water was much colder down there. I didn’t see the pickup but it was large with screen door material around it to keep stuff out. It was weighed down but had a plastic jug holding off the bottom. I asked if it clogged and he said when it cycled off the water in the radiator would backwash and clean the screen. Things I noticed; the water pump was below the water line so it would prime, a large thru hull fitting and valve the stern was used. The outlet was over the deck then just above the surface. The radiator filled from bottom up. I guess this would work if you have cold thermal layers in a lake or river. The only thing is, as efficient as these little mini split systems are today, they might beat his system because of the amount of energy used by the pump, it moved a lot of water. But 10 years ago I thought it was pretty cool.

Rocketman, Thanks for your review. I have also heard some bad things about the Renogy AIO, so I have been researching the, higher rated, SunGoldPower 5000W DC 48V Pure Sine Wave Solar Inverter,100A MPPT Solar Charger and the SungGoldPower 3000W/ 24v AIO. Because my 4 panel 2s2p pattern works at 24v, it would work with a 24v inverter and battery. Would I lose any advantages switching to a 24v system?

Skypower, Thanks for your idea on radiator cooling my boat. Is there a way to learn more about his design? An article or his contact info?

Hillbilly2 said:

Rocketman, Thanks for your review. I have also heard some bad things about the Renogy AIO, so I have been researching the, higher rated, SunGoldPower 5000W DC 48V Pure Sine Wave Solar Inverter,100A MPPT Solar Charger and the SungGoldPower 3000W/ 24v AIO. Because my 4 panel 2s2p pattern works at 24v, it would work with a 24v inverter and battery. Would I lose any advantages switching to a 24v system?

Skypower, Thanks for your idea on radiator cooling my boat. Is there a way to learn more about his design? An article or his contact info?

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I’ve lost contact with him, and he was in bad health back then. I don’t think that he’d be on a boat anymore. All I got is recollection and that’s foggy. Size and ratings of things I’d definitely at a loss for.

Skypower, Thanks. I will think through your description.

Everyone, attached is my FINAL solar system design diagram. Please, if you see any problems, let me know, as, I am about to order all of the components and install it on my Tiny Houseboat.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to my extensive learning process.