12v solar panels

[flatzie]

Hi all
Anyone recommend a good setup/brands for 12v Solar Panels? Just want to get a system that could power things like battery charging and Engel etc.
What type of wattage would I need?
saw a lot of stuff on Ebay but would like some advice from those in the know
Cheers
Flatzie

[FNQCairns]

+1

The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.

[Bros]

An 80 w panel and a 100Ah battery would just make it for 40l engel but there would not be much margin for cloud.

[hakuna]

Flatzie

that is an open ended question.
It depends on how big your fridge is, whether running on fridge or freezer, and where in Australia you intend to use it/ how long you expect to have it running.
I will explain in my situation.
Fraser in summer 35 deg average day
I run a 60 lt fridge that I know by experience used 20 amps per day fridge mode approx 2 deg, and in freezer mode it uses 35 amps per day at minus 18 deg
I have a 120 watt solar panel, which is suppose to give 10 amps per hour, you only get real power between 10am to about 2 pm, in se qld I get 40 amps of power per day if sunny and about 25 amps when cloudy, less if raining. I have my ins and outs on a little computer moniter so I know at any given time what comes in with power and what goes out.
I run a 230 amp AGM battery as when using an agm you can draw 80% of the power out of the battery where if you use a wet cell one you get 50% max draw, so I have 180 amps at my disposal plus what the solar tops up

Now the maths can be done a million ways and each answer will differ to what the weather is like when you are away etc.

I take a eu20i generator with me and a 25 amp ctec charger in case.

All I have interchangable with my boat so I get usage all year around

hope this helps

cheers

[hodges4]

Hakuna

"I have my ins and outs on a little computer moniter so I know at any given time what comes in with power and what goes out"

It would be very handy to be able to monitor charge and discharge currents to determine state of charge or at least if I am gaining or loosing battery state.

Can you tell me where I can get a device like this.

John

[hakuna]

john,

it is a PL20 from Plasmatronics

http://www.plasmatronics.com.au/common/pl204060.html

simple to wire up yourself


cheers

[Alchemy]

Similar experience to Hakuna, except I ran a 90 litre Evakool as a freezer. I had a 120 a/h AGM battery and a 123 watt Sharp panel. I also had the PL20 regulator. With full sun in summer I'd draw about 50 a/h a day and put that back in no probs, but a couple of days of rain would see us stuffed. I ended up making a lead with Anderson plugs so I could plug the AGM into the boats power system so I could get some charge in while running, but the generator/charger set up Hakuna has is the best bet.

The other thing that will greatly impact your fridges efficiency is the thickness and quality of insulation. The Evakool only had 40mm walls, but the new boat will have 100mm insulation, same battery/regulator set up and 2 x 130 watt Sharp panels.

I had my first Sharp panel for 5 yrs without fault, so decided against the cheap eBay panels from China.

Regards,
Dave.

[hakuna]

Dave,

I thought about solar panels on my boat but I run a 120amp AGM as the start battery, and have a 120 amp agm and the 230 amp agm linked together with an anderson plug so I can pull it out. The boat charges 80amps per hour from the twins.
I found after a week away I still had 13.5v in the batteries and normal fishing each day was enough to top the batteries up full each day. I was running all the boat electronics and 2 x 60lt , one fridge (engil) and one freezer (waeco). Lights all night etc GPS 24/7

My draw per day was about 80 - 100 amps, motor was running about 1.5 hrs per day

cheers

[griz066]

Do a search here

http://myswag.org/forum/index.php