Solar Systems

[krush]

Pascal, what voltage is your bank?

Power = V*current

12v you doing about 1800w
24, 3600w
36, 5400w

Need to throw in some extra power for innefficiencies of course.

Obviously, I know nothing about your bank size etc, but if you can figure out the max charge rate the bank can take and get close, you can run your generator closer to max capacity and run it less overall hours.


The only reason solar panels actually sell is because of subsidies.

[Pascal]

dont' get me wrong, i'd love teh idea of a big solar array /hardtop... it's jsut too expensive at this time and doens't make much sense.

my inverter bank is 8 golf cart batteries, about 880 amp/hrs. the inverter recharges at 150amps which is probalby as big as you can get.. most chargers are 50 to 60amps max...

i forgot the "rule" about charger, I think you dont' want to exceed 30% of the bank or something ? but even if i coudl put a second charger (splitting the bank) it's not worth it... $1500 to save 1 1/2 hrs.. $4.5 a days... 300 days/overnight to make it up ?

[Boatsb]

Don't forget the additional loads of cooking and hot water. If you need to run the generator for them anyway it makes the solar charger a moot point.

[q240z]

I would argue that solar is the way to go if you're looking toward the future. Sure, solar is subsidized. Then again, those wars we fight recently aren't about controlling the market for silicon chips. Define subsidy...

Anyway, I've got two web pages open, one on an Onan dealer site and another on a Panda site. The Onan 8k is 11 boat bucks, the Panda is 22. That'll get you enough solar to power pretty much everything except your 30ton AC units. And with 32v solar, you get more bang for your buck than 12v. As an old 32v Chris Craft owner, Outback's solar controllers look like the way to go. And as diesel passes $3/gallon on its way to the global price point, solar just keeps looking better all the time. Sunshine isn't getting any more expensive and the solar systems are dramatically dropping in price.

Finally, when I'm on the hook the last thing I want is to have the noisemaker rattling away. It could be that for $22k the Panda is so quiet you hardly notice it. But I doubt that was the model the guy used who said that noisemakers are cheaper.

my $0.02

[neosin]

A covered slip is GOLDEN!

I would give my left knut for one. That alone saves you tons of money on exterior maintenance and repairs.

As for the solar, anything is possible. It's only money.

Texas baby... we don't mess around. Covered slip very nice, 350 bux a month and it's in the hot spot of clear lake! lol All the vintage hatts have covered slips around here!! lol

[neosin]

I would argue that solar is the way to go if you're looking toward the future. Sure, solar is subsidized. Then again, those wars we fight recently aren't about controlling the market for silicon chips. Define subsidy...

Anyway, I've got two web pages open, one on an Onan dealer site and another on a Panda site. The Onan 8k is 11 boat bucks, the Panda is 22. That'll get you enough solar to power pretty much everything except your 30ton AC units. And with 32v solar, you get more bang for your buck than 12v. As an old 32v Chris Craft owner, Outback's solar controllers look like the way to go. And as diesel passes $3/gallon on its way to the global price point, solar just keeps looking better all the time. Sunshine isn't getting any more expensive and the solar systems are dramatically dropping in price.

Finally, when I'm on the hook the last thing I want is to have the noisemaker rattling away. It could be that for $22k the Panda is so quiet you hardly notice it. But I doubt that was the model the guy used who said that noisemakers are cheaper.

my $0.02

Mainly i was looking at saving fuel and getting the genny to shutup. If i could get it to shutup for 8 hours and run my a/c wouldn't that be cool. From everything i've looked at you can do it and not to bad on price compared to what new 12k gensets are running. I'm willing to pay more to get more, and this is just something we'll have to look long and hard over for the next few months and see what happens. I think a boat is one of the best ways to go in solar. On the hook you could be as geen as you want... I like the idea of saving fuel and no noise from the genset. Mine would be considered very quite by most people on this forum but still you hear it.

[krush]

You want to run A/C off solar? HAHAHAHHA. You're kidding.

That ain't gonna happen.

[Pascal]

well, here is a link to a 12kw norpro for 8k... :-)
http://www.gopower.com/products/582/...ine-Generators
i have an 18kw unit which is very reliable and pretty quiet. can barely hear it run from inside the boat and even 200' you barely hear the water splashing out the exhaust. at night the humming of the AC air handler covers the noise of the genny

anyway... it depends what you want to power... 10 sq ft of solar gives you 40 AH a day... even if you dont' look at the cost, 40AH is nothing, as mentioned earlier we use about 400ah a day without aircon or water heater.

so, if you live up north and never need air, you could fit 100sq of panels on a hardtop for the price of a genset... if you need AC, forget it...

if anyone has links to panels that are more efficient, pls post them... I hope my math is wrong but i dont' think it is...

[q240z]

You use 400AH/day??? Holy smokes. It takes me 4-5 days to use that much, but then I've got a propane galley stove and enjoy tepid showers when it's 100* and 65% humidity.

A buddy of mine has three 100W panels in a 12v system. He says he needs one more panel to balance out his normal loads, which of course do not include running the AC or water heater. He also places a high value on silence. "You can barely hear it" for him is synonymous with "what the hell is all that racket!?!?" lol

[Westfield 11]

High cost or not, the president of one of the solar panel companies, Bob Stempel (former president of GM), says their plant capacity is all sold out. Now the global issue is raw commodities from which to fabricate the panels...so what else is new?

I think that's more a function of gov't rebates and power company assistance than hard nosed logic on the part of the buyers. The technology is not yet mature enough to stand on it's own, it will be soon, but not today.