Hi everyone,
New member here. Have been reading through some of the threads here over the last few days and thought I’d introduce myself ?
My name is Will, based in the UK and am trying to design/plan a small solar system to charge leisure batteries for occasional use on a modest size 30ft boat (leisure use - mainly the odd evening/weekend maybe a little more often in the summer).
Currently the boat has three regular lead acid batteries - one for each engine starter and a 100Ah leisure battery, charged via a split charge system off the port (Left) engine. Also has a 230v AC hook up (shore power) when available.
The boat has a 12v electric system for the usual stuff - lighting and water pumps etc. There is also a warm blown-air diesel heater that is connected to the other engine starter battery (not the leisure one) - I assume as it is fitted on that side.
Moving on, I have a 2kW 230v pure sine wave inverter to install that seems to work well - runs an LCD TV and a microwave etc nicely, which are the main things we use when on the boat. Using a 100Ah leisure battery it seems to run the TV (c. 100W load) for several hours which seems enough for a typical evening’s use plus a few minute’s microwave etc. I think 200-300Ah would be a nice amount for the inverter to run off to allow for headroom and prevent discharging too much in normal use?
So I’m trying to plan a relatively simple/budget friendly solar system, along with a bit of extra battery capacity to run the inverter and keep the rest of the 12v batteries topped up whilst the boat is not in use.
My logic is that even a relatively small system may be enough to charge the batteries for a few hours a day over the course of a week to to replace what is used over an evening or two at the weekend? That’s without running the engines of course.
There is probably room for 4 extra batteries in the engine compartment and solar panel wise I have two ideas:
1) There is quite a large area under the wrap around windscreen that would fit one or two typical 100W panels or maybe one larger and one smaller panel? The glass is flat and not tinted. I know that the output is said to be greatly reduced through glass but could someone advise by approximately how much (ball park?) - 50%? The boat gets quite a good amount of sunlight so I was wondering if this was a reasonable consideration? Positives I can think of would be that it would be more discreet than mounting panels on the outside (security) and simpler to install (no holes to cut etc. Would also keep the panels clean and dry if that helps anything.
2) Second option is to mount some panels on the outside. Two or possibly three areas (roof tops and potentially rear deck/roof) would mean that I could add quite a few panels if needed. I would think 4x 100w panels wouldn’t be too difficult, maybe overkill for my needs though? I guess it could be handy though and if I’m able to store the energy efficiently could mean a few more options and better flexibility. Eg could help to run some ventilation or security whilst not in use, as well as charging quicker if using the boat more in the future.
3) Any advice on equipment most welcomed. I’m leaning towards maybe a few low cost lead acid leisure batteries just to begin with (£100 each, or £50 used), a reasonable quality (MPPT?) charge controller (£100-150?) and what about panels? Seems as though there’s quite a few cheap options on Amazon - ‘Renogy’ and ‘Eco Worthy’ or is it worth paying more and if so what would people recommend? 100w panels seem to be around £100 a piece. I would need cables and other bits like terminals and brackets etc I guess.
Are Victron the go-to brand for a charge controllers or any other suitable options? Seems like they have several different models and it’s confusing as to what to go for.
I’m not against buying used items, is there anything to be wary of here - panels or controllers?
I’d like to use Lithium batteries in future but just don’t think I’d have the budget for what I need right now, so a possible future upgrade here or keep an eye out for offers/deals locally in time. My thinking was to buy a good quality MPPT controller and sort the panels out for now and then go for better batteries when budget allows.
I also need to think about how to charge not only the planned additional batteries for the solar kit/inverter use but to connect to also charge the existing 12v leisure battery and ideally trickle charge the engine start batteries too.
Any advice would be welcomed, especially as I have a blank canvas at the moment.
Thanks again and kind regards ?
New member here. Have been reading through some of the threads here over the last few days and thought I’d introduce myself ?
My name is Will, based in the UK and am trying to design/plan a small solar system to charge leisure batteries for occasional use on a modest size 30ft boat (leisure use - mainly the odd evening/weekend maybe a little more often in the summer).
Currently the boat has three regular lead acid batteries - one for each engine starter and a 100Ah leisure battery, charged via a split charge system off the port (Left) engine. Also has a 230v AC hook up (shore power) when available.
The boat has a 12v electric system for the usual stuff - lighting and water pumps etc. There is also a warm blown-air diesel heater that is connected to the other engine starter battery (not the leisure one) - I assume as it is fitted on that side.
Moving on, I have a 2kW 230v pure sine wave inverter to install that seems to work well - runs an LCD TV and a microwave etc nicely, which are the main things we use when on the boat. Using a 100Ah leisure battery it seems to run the TV (c. 100W load) for several hours which seems enough for a typical evening’s use plus a few minute’s microwave etc. I think 200-300Ah would be a nice amount for the inverter to run off to allow for headroom and prevent discharging too much in normal use?
So I’m trying to plan a relatively simple/budget friendly solar system, along with a bit of extra battery capacity to run the inverter and keep the rest of the 12v batteries topped up whilst the boat is not in use.
My logic is that even a relatively small system may be enough to charge the batteries for a few hours a day over the course of a week to to replace what is used over an evening or two at the weekend? That’s without running the engines of course.
There is probably room for 4 extra batteries in the engine compartment and solar panel wise I have two ideas:
1) There is quite a large area under the wrap around windscreen that would fit one or two typical 100W panels or maybe one larger and one smaller panel? The glass is flat and not tinted. I know that the output is said to be greatly reduced through glass but could someone advise by approximately how much (ball park?) - 50%? The boat gets quite a good amount of sunlight so I was wondering if this was a reasonable consideration? Positives I can think of would be that it would be more discreet than mounting panels on the outside (security) and simpler to install (no holes to cut etc. Would also keep the panels clean and dry if that helps anything.
2) Second option is to mount some panels on the outside. Two or possibly three areas (roof tops and potentially rear deck/roof) would mean that I could add quite a few panels if needed. I would think 4x 100w panels wouldn’t be too difficult, maybe overkill for my needs though? I guess it could be handy though and if I’m able to store the energy efficiently could mean a few more options and better flexibility. Eg could help to run some ventilation or security whilst not in use, as well as charging quicker if using the boat more in the future.
3) Any advice on equipment most welcomed. I’m leaning towards maybe a few low cost lead acid leisure batteries just to begin with (£100 each, or £50 used), a reasonable quality (MPPT?) charge controller (£100-150?) and what about panels? Seems as though there’s quite a few cheap options on Amazon - ‘Renogy’ and ‘Eco Worthy’ or is it worth paying more and if so what would people recommend? 100w panels seem to be around £100 a piece. I would need cables and other bits like terminals and brackets etc I guess.
Are Victron the go-to brand for a charge controllers or any other suitable options? Seems like they have several different models and it’s confusing as to what to go for.
I’m not against buying used items, is there anything to be wary of here - panels or controllers?
I’d like to use Lithium batteries in future but just don’t think I’d have the budget for what I need right now, so a possible future upgrade here or keep an eye out for offers/deals locally in time. My thinking was to buy a good quality MPPT controller and sort the panels out for now and then go for better batteries when budget allows.
I also need to think about how to charge not only the planned additional batteries for the solar kit/inverter use but to connect to also charge the existing 12v leisure battery and ideally trickle charge the engine start batteries too.
Any advice would be welcomed, especially as I have a blank canvas at the moment.
Thanks again and kind regards ?