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Finally got the new solar panel and installed. It was hung up a few weeks in customs. Today was overcast but it was still making 1.2A at 3pm and had taken my 2 group 31s up 10% SOC in a day. So, very happy so far. Should be enough to keep the fridge mostly going without using the engine as long as there's sun.
It's a Soliban SR 85W with non-skid coating and factory adhesive that attaches to the deck. Can walk on it which is good because I had no other place to put one except on top of the dodger which would hurt the visibility forward. Unfortunately, they could only put the junction box on the narrow side which meant to port, but we always furl the sails on starboard so I think it won't be an issue.
Jeff
I use my boom vang, attached to one of the stanchion bases, to pull the boom over to one side. This will give you far less shading. Gotta love solar power.
Nice job. I really like that non-skid coating you've got. The solar panel on Arietta's companionway cover is smooth and I'm always concerned about slipping.
Thanks for the nice comments! Glad a I picked a good one. Hardware on this is really solid.
I started out on Wed evening after the install at 85% SOC (2x group 31 flooded). When I got to CC Sat morning they were at 95%.
We did a little shakedown last weekend ahead of the Maine cruise. Over 36 hours we ran fridge and all the nav stuff. Very little engine, just enough to get down our river and settle into a little cove near home, maybe 40 minutes total. Sunday at 10am, still at anchor, we were at 95% SOC. Sunday we ran the autopilot for about 2 hours. When we returned to the mooring we were at 99% SOC. I could prattle on about how many amps at what point, all the days were really sunny but I'm very happy with how this went.
Happy to share other details if anyone wants.
Jeff
Really happy with this after 3 weeks in Maine; the warmest we've had in the Penobscot Bay. The water temp was about 64F most of the time. I have two group 31's as the house bank, about 210Ah total, or 105 usable.
We never saw less than 12.0V in the morning, maybe 7:30am. That's about 50% state of charge (my Victron appears to have rearranged itself so that its SOC is very optimistic).
We only ever motored for propulsion, not electrical power. On the 24 hour trip from Beverly to Tenants Harbor we were using the fridge, radio, chart plotter, autohelm and incandescent running lights and I was a little unhappy with the SOC at around 12:30AM but the wind slacked a lot and we ran the engine anyway for the next 9 or so hours. We had 3 days where we ended up totally stationary but had at least mostly sunny skies; no problems on those days. We ran the engine on most days for about 20-40 minutes, just enough to get in and out of harbors and set and retrieve the anchor. On the return trip, about 3 days, we motored a lot as the wind was nil and the seas glassy.
Here's the fridge setup: http://capedory.org/board/viewtopic.php ... on#p216371
Jeff
