[Public-list] Solar Panel/ batteries

Sun Dec 4 08:13:43 PST 2005

I've had a lot of success with T-105 Trojan Golf cart batteries - 225 amp 6 
volt in series - on our A-37 we have two banks of them (4 total) running 
series/parallel 12 & 12 - gives 450 house amps on one circuit with I high 
capacity cranking battery (1200cold cranking amps) on the other circuit - 
upgraded the wiring on the house side to heavier wiring and sealed the 
ends - so far no problems (4 years). Sooooooooo much cheaper than Surrette 
batteries - about $105 Cdn each if you shop and negotiate.

In Winter I leave them in with the + terminal disconnected from the circuit 
and disconnect and isolate both 12s from each other so I can charge them 
with an automatic charger  about once every 6 weeks in the winter. They hold 
their charge beautifully.

Normally I only use about the first 20% of capacity during cruises so they 
charge up rapidly under the iron jib and have plenty of reserve capacity if 
needed. I am using the standard Motorola which I think is a 55 on the 37.

One day I plan to get the Motorola rewound for higher capacity - about 90 
amps which is much cheaper than buying a Balmar and install a 3 stage 
regulator - but so far so good.

I think Solar panels, particularly for boats on moorings are ideal if used 
as a top up charger - to try to uses them as a sole source would make your 
boat look like the MIR space station ; ). I have seen people use them aft of 
the winches like a lee cloth and they tilt them up when the boat is not 
under way to improve collecting ability.

I really hope that new IR solar panel technology they are working on at the 
University of Toronto and likely other places pays off, re Don Campbell's 
article a few months ago - huge potential there. Efficiencies approaching 
that of a diesel at 30 -40%. Will likely be several years, if ever, before 
they hit the market - imagine panels that will charge at night as well as 
the day time. IR over UV certainly holds promise.

Cheers,

John

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Lehman" <sail_505 at hotmail.com>
To: <public-list at alberg30.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 4:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Public-list] Solar Panel

>I have a 55 amp altenator on my Universal diesel. I too, find that running 
>the engine approx 20 minutes will top the batteries off. I always do one 
>battery at a time to prevent battery #1 trickling over to #2 or vise-versa. 
>Generally I get 5 years from my conventional batteries. They are deep 
>cycle, but not gel cell. I watch football games while at anchor on my 13" 
>color TV and usually 2 games in a row. No battery problems. OKAY - you can 
>give me shit now for having a TV on board - everyone else does.
>
>
>
> Mike Lehman
> ~~~_/)_/)~~_/)~~~
>
>
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Gordon Laco <mainstay at csolve.net>
> Reply-To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all <public-list at alberg30.org>
> To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all <public-list at alberg30.org>
> Subject: Re: [Public-list] Solar Panel
> Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2005 09:47:00 -0500
>
> Now there is an interesting subject - here is a thought to clutter the
> discussion up.
>
> Back in the 90's I ran a sail training establishment that delivered
> programmes aboard a pair of 50 ton brigantines.  When we came to do a 
> major
> refit to one of them, the engine supplier made the comment that if we set 
> up
> our charging system so that the main engine had to be run for an hour each
> day (instead of the traditional diesel gen set) we would cut our machinery
> maintenance costs to a fraction.  It turned out that they were correct.
>
> We built a tidy workshop in the space once occupied by the heavy gen set.
>
> We put two high capacity alternators on the main engine, and on long
> passages running it for an hour kept it lubricated and healthy while
> supplying all the power we needed.  At the same time we also installed two
> large solar collectors, but found that the amount of power they 
> contributed
> was not worth the space they took up, so they were later sold.
>
> Ok - let fly folks - I expect mine will not be a popular opinion!
>
> Gord #426 Surprise
>
>
>
>
>
> > Any of you have solar panels on your A30?  What size?
> > Where did you mount them?  How well did they work out?
> >
> > I expect that the motor often will only be run long
> > enough to get out of the marina.  Some other form of
> > charging is likely to be needed if I don't want to run
> > the diesel just to charge the batteries.  Solar seems
> > like the most inexpensive alternative if I want to
> > charge while on trips (being a cheapskate I pretty
> > much always anchor out).
> >
> > Comments on how you manage electrical consumption and
> > replenishment would be interesting to hear.
> >
> > Pete Staehling
> > #554
> > Aurora
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________
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