[C320-list] Subject change: Battery change. Almost there but....

[John Brennan]

Scott:

You will like the Renogy panels. I just bought a 160-watt semi-flexible Renogy panel that sits flat and comfortably on the rear of my bimini. 

Admittedly, I live in Florida, where we get 350-60 days of sunshine a year, but I have been impressed by the number of amps this panel produces with a Victron 75/15 MPPT controller.

I’ve been running my new refrigerator continuously for a month to make sure it doesn’t have any problems. The panel more than keeps up with it and various demands like playing the stereo, etc., at the dock.

I have three group 24s for house and one for start (the yacht broker bought them while the boat was for sale …). The solar panel strictly charges the house bank. The start battery gets topped up when I motor out to the Gulf of Mexico a couple of times a week.

I’ve put off any upgrades on the alternator and the 110-volt charger because, frankly, I don’t think I’ll need the extra amps. 

I didn’t mount the panel permanently because we get some nasty windstorms, (hurricanes, winter cold fronts, thunderstorms, etc.) and I want to be able to remove it quickly.

I cut four mounting holes in the edge of the panel. With two of them, I tie the panel to the backstays. The rear edge of the panel is slightly over the bimini, so I use strong cord through the other two holes to tie the panel to the stern pulpit.

The panel’s cord runs down a backstay. I installed a trolling motor plug at the aft end of the port locker. It connects to the Victron right next to the 110-volt charger. I used busses so connect both units to the cables running to the batteries.

Jack Brennan
Sonas, 1998 Catalina 320
Tierra Verde, Fl.
Dolphin Cruising Club of Tampa Bay









Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: Scott Westwood
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2018 1:02 PM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Subject change: Battery change. Almost there but....

I am gong with:
Renogy 100W Mono rigid panel (2 of them)  On Amazon right now for $127 ea
Bluesky Controller SB1524iX  about $165 ea  I am getting 2 so I have redundancy.  Bit of overkill.  One will do the trick.  I just wanted it redundant and some power considerations too (Diodes blocking etc...).
Bluesky  IPN ProRemote-S   about $210 (Has Shunt for Monitoring to allow more detailed monitoring)
Temp sensor.  About $30I still need to configure/purchase solar panel mounting system.  I wanted to have the panels in my hand before I built/bought the mounts.  I am going to see if I can set them up so I can tilt them a little.???  If too complicated they  get installed as flat as I can.
Where are you planning to mount your controllers?  I (so far) like the idea of the same locker and above the existing shore power charger.  I can install a protective panel so shade them.
Thanks,




Scott Westwood scottwestwood at bellsouth.net H (919)-362-8538    C (919)-618-7185
 

    On Wednesday, December 19, 2018, 12:18:25 PM EST, Christian <ccaper at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 Scott,
Apologies these questions steer away from the thread title, you just
mentioned some points in your response relevant to a current project I'm on.

I'm in the middle of going down the solar panel rabbit hole.  I currently
have all the struts and mounts for the davits installed (garhauer).  I have
ordered all the parts for the support structure for the panels that will
mount to the davits.  I'm days away from ordering my panels.  And couple of
weeks away from ordering my controllers.

I'm curious which controllers you went with (I'm looking at, and will
likely go with the Victron Energy).  And what monitor panel you will be
using.

The controllers I'm looking at take a max wire size of 10 AWG.  The wire
from one of the panels will be about 25'.  Not happy about running 10 AWG
that far, but the Victron's that take larger AWG nearly double in price.

Thanks,
Christian Caperton
1994 C320 "Canuck" #138
Chicago, IL Monroe Harbor