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Old 03-31-2019, 08:20 PM   #41
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Solar controller question

Sorry another question:

I have to leave the boat for a few weeks and go back to Texas. Should I turn off the AC powered battery charger and just let the solar charge the batteries? I have very little draw when away. Basically everything DC is turned off except for the bilge pump.

I’m still trying to decipher this Victron app, but this is what the panels did today. Doesn’t appear to be much and it was super sunny. I did notice that unless I turned on lots of DC drawing appliances the panel output dropped way down to basically nothing. I only had one fridge running and some LED lights all day and the batteries stayed at 100% . When I turned on the freezer the panel watts kicked way up.


Each 300w panel has its own Victron SmartSolar 100/30 controller.

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Old 04-01-2019, 05:50 AM   #42
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IF you are in a slip with shore power leaving the AC battery charger on is a good idea as it can power a couple of bilge pumps "forever".
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Old 04-01-2019, 06:28 AM   #43
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Yeah I’m in a slip right now. Couldn’t remember if the AC battery charger would “fight” with the solar panels and controllers in some strange way.
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Old 04-03-2019, 06:07 AM   #44
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Most charging devices rely on the voltage they see, so which ever has a higher voltage will be doing the work , the other just watching it happen. No problem.
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Old 04-03-2019, 07:48 AM   #45
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Thanks.
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Old 04-03-2019, 09:58 AM   #46
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Riverguy View Post
At the end of the day, every conductor on every boat MUST have overcurrent protection located at the source of the current, and MUST be sized based on the capacity of the conductor....not just for the devices that are supplying current today, but for any future devices using that conductor in the future.
This is not a requirement, as it would be quite impossible to satisfy. If I put in 4/0 conductors for my 100 watt panel, I can still add a gigawatt of solar later and overload it. Any installer that adds capacity to a charging system and does not check that the existing wires are large enough to handle it is incompetent and liable for the result.

To another comment: fuses to protect against lightening are a fools errand.
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Old 04-03-2019, 12:36 PM   #47
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cardude01 View Post
Sorry another question:

I have to leave the boat for a few weeks and go back to Texas. Should I turn off the AC powered battery charger and just let the solar charge the batteries? I have very little draw when away. Basically everything DC is turned off except for the bilge pump.

I’m still trying to decipher this Victron app, but this is what the panels did today. Doesn’t appear to be much and it was super sunny. I did notice that unless I turned on lots of DC drawing appliances the panel output dropped way down to basically nothing. I only had one fridge running and some LED lights all day and the batteries stayed at 100% . When I turned on the freezer the panel watts kicked way up.


Each 300w panel has its own Victron SmartSolar 100/30 controller.

Yes to your first question. Turn off everything except the solar and let the very good controllers do their job of keeping the batteries topped up for free.



If your batteries are mostly or fully charged then the panels won't be delivering much power to them. In fact I use panel output as a simple way to know if my batteries are charged. If I get on the boat and its full sun and the power output from the panels is very low I know the batteries are fully charged.


Ken
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Old 04-03-2019, 01:08 PM   #48
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Ok cool. That’s what I did— turned off the AC battery charger. I wanted a good idea of what the panels were doing while I was gone and didn’t want the battery charger complicating things.
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Old 04-06-2019, 06:14 AM   #49
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" let the very good controllers do their job of keeping the batteries topped up for free. "

A battset in good condition will self discharge 1/2 percent per day.

On a 1000 amp house battset or about 5 amps at 12v DC per day .

Creating 10A of 12v to charge the battery for an hour pr day would be 120watts .

The savings of not paying for dock power at even 25c a KW, a dollar a month, might easily be overlooked as cheap insurance should the boat need her bilge pumps.
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