solar panel mounting

[Paul D.]

Warren,

I use an Echo charger, a one hundred dollar device that charges the starter battery whenever the voltage is higher than 13.8 in the house battery and seperates them otherwise. I have had no trouble with it. So the wiring goes thus: Panel to regulator, regulator to house bank. Echo charger from house bank to starter battery. All 12-14 gauge. You just want to have the starter battery close to the house battery for this installation.

I really like this setup.

Paul

[Russell]

Multipule batteries in a single bank is no problem, you can connect the hot output from the charge controller to any one of the batteries hots and all will get charged. Though ideally your multi battery bank all the hots go to a bus bar before they head off elsewhere and in that case the hot output from the controller goes to the bus bar. One exception to this would be if your using multipule alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar going to the same bank, if the voltage sensing for both of these is too close to each other they could cancel each other out, like when solar is charging, wind generator regulator will sense a high voltage on the batteries and thus will shut off its charging, or vica versa, in this case you want to put the charging/sensing wires for both as far from each other as possible, like if you have a 4 battery bank solar charge would be placed on the battery farthest from the battery the wind generator is connected to. As for multipul bank charging, a combiner is needed.

I have 3 battery banks, and all 3 get charged from all 4 of my charging sources automaticly (sources are wind generator, solar panels, alternator and shore power charger). How its wired is all charging sources go directly to the house bank, no switches, my battery bank 1/2/both/off switch only controls which bank my loads draw off of, has no effect on charging added bonus is no risk of killing the alternator by accidentally switching to off while running. Then off of my house bank I run two battery combiners, one to the start bank and one to the windlass bank, they automaticly combine the batteries with the house bank (so its acting as a single large bank) when a charge voltage is sensed.

Its important to note there is two kinds of combiners out there. I cant remember the technical difference between them, but how they react to situations is important. One kind, like Xantrex makes, is much more expensive, typically handles higher amperages (100+ amps continuous) but if more then 100 amps are put through it, it will fry itsself. The other kind, such as what Bluesea makes, is less expensive but more limited on amperage (I use the 60 amp models) BUT if more then the limit is attempted to be pushed through it, the conbiner will act as a limiter and will not fry itsself. This can be handy, such as in my windlass battery is in the bow thus far from the house bank, in order not to use large expensive cables to run forward for charging, the 60 amp limited combiner ensures I wont run the risk of a fire. As my alternator is 150 amps and the Windlass peak draw around 90 amps, it could easily end up with 90 amps running forward at once, so with it limited to 60 I have less worry.

As for specific charge controllers for the panels, I use a 30 amp xantrex charge controller which I am very happy with.

[Nigel Noble]

Carter:

I see Morningstar has a large number of products. Which particular charge controller did you use on your CD?

Thanks,

Nigel

On Mary Ellen, I installed a 12-volt waterproof socket under the combing board to port, just aft of the companionway. It led to a Morningstar PWM charge controller screwed to the bulkhead over the battery. I attached the male plug to an 11 W Unisolar rigid solar panel which I simply left on the bridgedeck when I left the boat on the mooring. Connecting and disconnecting was as simple as unplugging a lamp, and I'd stow the panel on a settee under a shelf while underway.

Leaving the panel on deck, where it still got plenty of sun exposure during the day as the boat swung around at various angles, kept the battery charged up while keeping the panel out of sight of thieves. I suppose a hurricane could have dislodged it, but we don't get a lot of those around western Long Island Sound. Or at least fewer of those than hurricanes.

During the winter layup, the boat would always be on an East-West axis in the yard. I drilled holes in the aluminum frame of the panel to accept standard clothesline, and mounted it on the south upper side of the winter cover with a tautline hitch that led all the way around the boat. I left the wire from the panel long enough to snake in through the zippered flap to reach the socket. The battery never left the boat, and stayed charged up all winter.

Best regards,
Carter