SOLAR

[tonyiiiafl]

WHO has solar panels on their boat? I have a 400 Watt system of 4 100 watt panels. They are hooked 2 sets of 2 panels each wired in series, and then both sets are going to the charge controller in parallel. That makes it so if one set of panels goes down or shaded, one set will produce. At rest for the day, electrical usage is a Virtrifigo 9 cu ft fridge.freezer, Bouge RV electric/battery cooler/freezer, toilet pumps, lights and fans running. Solar kept batteries at 100% all day until nightfall. Then there were still the refrigeration running and lights and toilet use. After 10 hours, batteries were down to 90%, and when sun came up they were being brought back up.. RENOGY system with ROVER controller, one of the best things I ever installed. now if it could shoo away the bugs…..

[KyleR]

What size and type battery bank do you have? Just trying to gauge how many amps the 10% usage at night represents. Thanks!

[tonyiiiafl]

I have 2 6v GC AGM as a house bank. 230 AH

[KyleR]

Thanks! We're experimenting with solar currently but went with a Jackery 3000Pro and two 200 watt panels (400 watts total). We wanted the convenience of being able to take it with us if we go camping or have to leave the boat for some reason. A permanent system is being planned but probably a year off until we fully understand our needs.

So it sounds like you are only using approx. 23amps over a 10 hour period at night which seems amazing considering running two refrigerators/freezers, not to mention the fans/toilet/lights which I realize are.pretty low draw. My one refrigerator (NovaCool RFU8000) pulls 5amps per hour, nearly 24hrs/day here in the warmer southern climate which means I draw out 50+ amps over the same period (10 hours) you draw out only 23 amps.

Am I doing the math right that your TWO refrigerator/freezers are pulling that little load? If so, I'm thinking I might need to rethink my current refrigerator!

Thanks for your posts!!

[Alanna Mo Cree]

We also have a BougeRV fridge/freezer and it uses very little power. I run it off the 100w inverter in my truck on the way to the boat, so it must draw less than 1A. I can't even run my Dewalt battery charger off the truck's inverter. We've been very happy with the portable fridge/freezer purchase.

[tonyiiiafl]

Love hearing that. Mine is also a winner