Solar power

[Cadeco]

I have a GW w/ a hard T top and don't have where to connect a extension to charge my batteries ( I meant no place outside). I was thinking of buying a solar panel to charge the batteries (2). Does anyone have it done? What brand/size and cost ? Does it works as expected?.
Thanks for reading and if possible answering the questions>

 

[seasick]

Solar is possible to trickle charge and keep charged batteries fully charged, but you don't have enough roof space to add panels that can actually charge discharged batteries in a reasonable time frame.

 

[dogdoc]

Yup a maintainer is all you get. I have several 50 watt panels with a small charge controller epoxied to the back and wired with ring leads or alligator clips to maintain tractor batteries, generator batteries and the like at my farm when not there for extended periods of time. I have a set up like that to maintain the starting battery on my Carolina skiff. If I was to do it for the Grady would probably rig up something to go in a rod holder when not using the boat and put away when in use. Secret is make sure the bats are fully charged before hooking up solar maintainer.

 

[Cadeco]

Seasick and dogdoc . Thanks for the answers. Now. let me be clear: My boat stays in a place where there is not a chance of having an extension to connect to the factory supplied charger, my idea is to have a solar keeping/ maintaining the batteries charged as well as if I'm on the water (w/ the motor off) and using the stereo i won't have a problem when would be time to start up the motors. (my main goal is to keep those batteries charged when the boat is in storage).
Thanks again.

PS: Install on a rod holder would be good if the storage location was safe!

 

[dogdoc]

Hate to tell you but if you want to charge batteries on the water with engines off, you will most likely have to tow a barge for the panels

 

[Chessie246G]

Way easier and probably cheaper to add a battery with an ACR, one house battery, one engine battery. If the house battery dies (radio, charts, ect) then just fire up the engine and let it recharge.

I do keep a 24v solar charger on my bass boat for the trolling motor batteries. Only as a maintainer

 

[doug228]

I fit a 100 watt panel on my seafarer roof, could easily fit a second. Not sure how much room you have.

10-30 watts would be enough to maintain A battery. 50 watts would start to extend your stereo run time but not cover it completely (100-200 watts for a basic stereo).

Solar is great, helps with light loads and maintaining batteries. Once you get to 100 watts your getting 5-7 amps and the charge rate is respectable. Renogy makes some affordable kits that aren't junk or premium pricing.

No barge required for this usage...

 

[dogdoc]

my bad as usual i was to focused on the charge part of the charge/maintain question. the boat stereo use/power consumption piqued my interest and when looking of that type of info i tend to go ask the sailboat folks. they seem to have an innate sense of what happens in and around their boats. sure enough there was a nice conversation concerning the use of the boats stereo on their sailing vessels. it seems that by measurement, not calculation most boat stereos will consume less than 2 amps power while in use. that level would easily allow a moderate panel on the hardtop to replace the consumed electrons. so i started looking at my boat on the lift out back and saw plenty of room on the hardtop for panel, room in the radio box for the charge controller then reality hit me as i wondered how i would get the required wire back to the transom as my hardtop supports are already chock full. project halted as this is a solution to a problem i do not have.
mea culpa cadeco

 

[Sdfish]

1 keep my batteries maintained in the storage lot using 2 - 10 watt panels with controllers, one for each battery. I have been doing this for over 10 years.
I also have the ACR set up mentioned above, that is so I ensure both batteries are getting charged when run, and only 1 is isolated for electronics (not sure if I explained that correctly).

 

[Cadeco]

Thanks Guys.
I guess i will be much safer buying a Honda 1000 inverter and using it connected to the inboard charger (if the battery guts low)

 

[Fixit]

I would skip the Honda generator and go solar. It’s working 16 hours a day in the summer, no refueling. No noise.
my old boat had dual group 31 batteries (house/start battery) with a blue seas acr. But no solar. I could still play the stereo all day long (1000w rms sub and 4 speakers)
400w of solar is 28amps of charging. Likely way more than you could use

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

I have a foldable, transportable 120W solar panel in my RV trailer.
Once the compressor fridge drained the trucks battery so low that I could not start it, but battery was not dead.

I attached the solar panel to the battery in a not perfect location under trees, but with filtered sunlight and after about 1 hour the truck cranked.

It would be easy to calculate the power need, just add all max amps of the connected devices and multiply with 12V to know how much Watt the solar panel would need to run all devices under worst case max load. Most/all devices rarely/never pull max Amps, it can be much less.

However, it could be difficult to reach 100% autonomous running of house needs, but it will slow down battery drain considerably on a sunny say.
For autark use need a good quality rigid 120-200W panel would be best, if only battery trickle is the need a much smaller panel will do the trick too.
Flexible panels are working good and are barely visible but most of them have less power than a rigid frame panel who are cooling the back thru air circulating, but they are ugly. Also, flexible panels must be glued on well to avoid that they vibrate as that damage them prematurely and that makes them difficult to remove and will probably damage the hard top.
I personally would go with a rigid frame on with their brackets glued on with 4200UV/5200 as the adhesive can be removed if 24/7 installation is needed, otherwise a small, removable one if theft is not a issue.

I had in Costa Rica some really small panels from Walmart to attach on the cigarette lighter and they did the trick to keep the car batteries charged. However I would be careful with cheap ones, if the charge controller inside is overloading the batteries it will damage them and produce hydrogen what is not good as we know from the Hindenburg.
Investing in a good solar charger will give more power and avoid damaging the batteries, boat or people.
Victron is my favorite brand for solar panels and chargers

Chris

 

[Cadeco]

I have a foldable, transportable 120W solar panel in my RV trailer.
Once the compressor fridge drained the trucks battery so low that I could not start it, but battery was not dead.

I attached the solar panel to the battery in a not perfect location under trees, but with filtered sunlight and after about 1 hour the truck cranked.

It would be easy to calculate the power need, just add all max amps of the connected devices and multiply with 12V to know how much Watt the solar panel would need to run all devices under worst case max load. Most/all devices rarely/never pull max Amps, it can be much less.

However, it could be difficult to reach 100% autonomous running of house needs, but it will slow down battery drain considerably on a sunny say.
For autark use need a good quality rigid 120-200W panel would be best, if only battery trickle is the need a much smaller panel will do the trick too.
Flexible panels are working good and are barely visible but most of them have less power than a rigid frame panel who are cooling the back thru air circulating, but they are ugly. Also, flexible panels must be glued on well to avoid that they vibrate as that damage them prematurely and that makes them difficult to remove and will probably damage the hard top.
I personally would go with a rigid frame on with their brackets glued on with 4200UV/5200 as the adhesive can be removed if 24/7 installation is needed, otherwise a small, removable one if theft is not a issue.

I had in Costa Rica some really small panels from Walmart to attach on the cigarette lighter and they did the trick to keep the car batteries charged. However I would be careful with cheap ones, if the charge controller inside is overloading the batteries it will damage them and produce hydrogen what is not good as we know from the Hindenburg.
Investing in a good solar charger will give more power and avoid damaging the batteries, boat or people.
Victron is my favorite brand for solar panels and chargers

Chris

Thanks . I will look at Victron and see where i go.

 

[Redehin]

I have a GW with a hard T top and I'm using a solar panels to charge my batteries. It works great! I can keep my batteries charged up even when I'm out on the water all day.
I'm really happy with my best solar panel and I highly recommend it to anyone with a GW or another boat. It's a great way to keep your batteries charged up and to reduce your reliance on shore power.

 

[DennisG01]

I have a GW with a hard T top and I'm using a solar panels to charge my batteries. It works great! I can keep my batteries charged up even when I'm out on the water all day.
I'm really happy with my solar panel and I highly recommend it to anyone with a GW or another boat. It's a great way to keep your batteries charged up and to reduce your reliance on shore power.

What brand are you using and what are the sizes/specs on them?