SOLAR PANEL INSTALLATION

[Viper]

Nice

[tonyiiiafl]

I would have liked to have placed the controller inside the starboard “liquor” cabinet, next to the stairs to aft cabin, was concerned about ventilation. With the Bluetooth device I dont have to crawl down to see what is happening. Thank you.

[Viper]

You could always add ventilation with one or two decorative louvered vents on the sides of the cabinet if you really want to change the location of the controller.

[tonyiiiafl]

Lol. That controller is NOT going anywhere now!

[johnii]

There are several Solar Panel plants in the Mojave Desert that supply power to the electricity grid. Insolation (solar radiation) in the Mojave Desert is among the best available in the United States, and some significant population centers are located in the area.

[Torsson]

When you install shore power to boats in sweden they put a 30x30cm coper plate mounted with non conductive silicone/glue to the hull under the waterline and connect the earth to that. Could that be what they mean you should connect the frame earth to?

[km1125]

QR_BBPOST When you install shore power to boats in sweden they put a 30x30cm coper plate mounted with non conductive silicone/glue to the hull under the waterline and connect the earth to that. Could that be what they mean you should connect the frame earth to?

I'm wondering if that process is for some kind of legal requirements, or just a normal practice around there. In the USA, all underwater metal items are bonded together with a bonding circuit and this is tied to the engine blocks. These (together) serve as the "earth ground" for the vessel.

Back in the LORAN days, and on boats with SSB communication radios, they also install a separate "ground plate" under the hull. That used to be a copper plate like the ones you note, but then they went to a sintered bronze block. A small sintered bronze block is porous and is small but has the same effective area as many square feet (or over a square meter) of copper plate. These are used to help control noise on the incoming RF signals.

[yves386]

very useful information here. thank you

[Mikwallace]

QR_BBPOST Put it on line today. Very impressed. I shut shore power, and ran from batteries. ALL day, fridge was working, toilet and water pressure pump, inverter for coffee. Batteries stayed at 100%. Controller, went up, down, and kept up with the load. Next weekend a weekend away on the hook.

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Over a year old thread; but if you’re still around Tony, how did the weekend on the hook go? I like your install. What size is your inverter?

[tonyiiiafl]

Weekend went very well! I have a 3500 watt inverter with a 5000 watt surge. Never had an issue with batteries. To keep it honest, I ran the genset for 35 minutes each afternoon, but had the battery charger shut off. Batteries in AM were at 80%. I used a Kurig coffeemaker in the AM, after 3 cups of coffee on inverter, batteries were at 70%. before noon, they were back at 100%, where they stayed all day. The Admiral used the TV. For that I have a simple 100 watt inverter plugged into a 12V outlet. I consider the investment a total success as we can spend quite a few days away with minimal genset use.