Sea Word
Senior Member
I’m sure it’s being discussed at length but what do people need for their solar set up’s. We are away from shore power full time on the hook but only part time on board. I’m considering a full-time AC system to run the fridge but not much else while we are away. But when we were on the boat we would want more power for pumps lights heating. I’d rather not rely on genset at all which is a tall order I know, but I want maximum sustainability, and we have a large roof area to use for collection. With new more efficient panels and mppt controllers how much do we need to keep us online full time unassisted? I can get around 1200w on the roof and match it to 400AH or so battery pretty easily.
If running inverted AC full time is not feasible I do have a 12v chest fridge we could use but that would be a whole different system. I’m even considering a 24v house bank and and running everything on AC. Might waste some power here and there this way but it would be easier to wire, and the power lost at lower voltage might be more than the losses from conversion to low volts for lights and phones etc. Basically the fridge drives the whole system lol. I would need 12v for furnace and water heater though.
If running inverted AC full time is not feasible I do have a 12v chest fridge we could use but that would be a whole different system. I’m even considering a 24v house bank and and running everything on AC. Might waste some power here and there this way but it would be easier to wire, and the power lost at lower voltage might be more than the losses from conversion to low volts for lights and phones etc. Basically the fridge drives the whole system lol. I would need 12v for furnace and water heater though.
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