what size of solar power do you have on your Trawler

Would be interesting to know about your solar system onboard

Size of solar power
Type of panel and regulator
How many Watt do you produce peak and daily
What type of battery do you have
How many Get Set hour are you running
Are you happy with your choice
Do you plan any installation or update
...
..
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We just bought Selene 62 and planning large installation but still working on best solution

We've got 820 watts of solar. 2x 410 watt panels, each with its own Victron 100/30 MPPT controller.

Battery bank for us is 415ah at 12 volts, comprised of 2x L16 AGMs in series. I've debated adding more battery capacity, but there's currently no pressing need.

Typical generator runtime when away from shore power is 40 - 60 minutes per day for cooking and making hot water for showers. Unless we get multiple dark cloudy days without moving the boat we hardly ever run it for battery charging.

4x200w solar panels divided port/starboard due to angle of hard top. Each side has a Victron 100/50. 700AH LiFePO4 battery bank. Mine is a 36-footer setup for intended austere cruise (think 1970s sail cruise). I also have 225ah (12v) balmar regulated alternator. I haven't cruiser her enough to know if my 250ah daily budget is correct, or if the system will deliver that much. But pretty sure it will.

I don't know what boat you have, where it's located, or what kind of lifestyle you live. Rslifkin for example has an electric range and a fairly decent sized motoryacht sized boat.

My advice would be to spend some time on an energy budget, then calculate your desired degree of off-grid. I seek 100% off grid for energy use. Rslifkin is hampered by cooking so will always have some generator run time

Peter

2x350 watt solar panels through one controller. House bank is 8 LA golf cart batteries for about 1000 ah, half of that usable. 5kw genset. Espar hydronic heat, no air conditioning.

After adding solar, we use the generator very little, basically just for cooking. My advice would be to add every last solar watt you can fit on your boat space-wise.Quiet, continuous battery charging that is always on when the sun is out. Be aware that your enery yield will be less than what you would calculate with Ohms law. With our 700 watts and my 12 volt system, my best charge rate is about 35 amps in bright sun. This is adequate for our needs but far less than theoretical.

I have 4 Canadian 395 watt panels with a Victor 100-50 controller. My panels are wired to two parallel pairs in series which gets my solar voltage up to around 70VDC. My batterbank consists of 8 6V 115 amp golf carts wired into two banks. Each bank has a two parallel pairs in series.

I can spend time on anchor or mooring without needing to run my genny although I do run it in the morning for about an hour to make hot water and coffee. The boat has an 8.3cuft self deforst apartment fridge, 40'' and 32'' hi def tv's.

Things work well and I am so pleased with the solar I have contracted for a 10.4KW system for my home to be installed in September.

mvweebles said:

I don't know what boat you have, where it's located, or what kind of lifestyle you live. Rslifkin for example has an electric range and a fairly decent sized motoryacht sized boat.

My advice would be to spend some time on an energy budget, then calculate your desired degree of off-grid. I seek 100% off grid for energy use. Rslifkin is hampered by cooking so will always have some generator run time

Click to expand...

All good advice. I do have an all electric galley. My boat isn't much bigger than yours though at 38 feet.

If I could fit more solar and added some more battery, I could realistically put in a bigger inverter and cook without the generator. But I'd still have the hot water issue (although I could plumb one of the engines to the water heater to take care of that on travel days). For how little we actually run the generator, I don't have much motivation to change it considering I'm unlikely to remove the generator.

Was:
8x63W panels from 1997, 2 of which blew away in Hurricane Irma! Lead Acid, probably about 800Wh

Will be:
Just purchased 4.8kW, 16 flexible panels, each being 310W. After that's installed will be finishing the cover over the back deck and add another 2+kW. Choice of flexible is largely because of weight up high - they'll be installed on solid surfaces with poly channels under for cooling. Will be going through a number of Victron MPPT as shading is an issue in for a few spots. Battery will be 48V LiFEPO4.

On SCOUT we had 10 x 140W flexible panels split into four banks, each with their own charge controller. 1600Ah AGM 12V house bank.

I wrote up a small summary of the system and our use case (attached). A small daily "diary" is included in the writeup along with actual Victron/Bluetooth sample outputs.

We cooked on an electric induction rangetop and cooked on an outdoor electric grill with no problem.

Since I wrote this short summary up some time ago, we subsequently converted our dinghy to full electric and charged its 1800Wh lithium battery bank (6hp Torqeedo) and also a 750W hot water heater element using the house bank (inverter) replenished by the 1.4kW of solar.

On full sun days, we needed ZERO generator time for all of this while stationary on the hook - indefinitely.

On partial sun days, we would routinely get 1-2 days with no genset needed, before (if the sun didn't come out) then needing to either move the boat to the next destination using alternator charge (2 x 140A Balmars) or firing up the 8kW 'beast' for a bit.

For panels I have 6 x 345W Sunpower and 2 x Trina 330W, so a total of 2,730W. They are arranged in pairs to minimise shading and I'm using 4 x Victron 100/50 Smart controllers. The attached chart shows daily output in recent months, with days of low output being at marina on shore power. I've spent far more days at the marina than I would like! Peak power on sunny days has exceeded nominal system W on a number of occasions. eg in late Dec peak was 2,858 W and max daily yield was 11,880 Wh

House bank is 900Ah LFP, 12V. Start batteries are charged via 2 x 30A DC-DC Victron units. Engine alternators are 2 x 200A via Balmar MC 612 Dual regulator connected to house bank.

Overnight I use ~370 Ah. Solar tops up easily on most days and when full I use a timer switch for 2 hours to make hot water.

No genset other than a Honda eu 2000 for emergencies. Very seldom used. It takes quite a few consecutive cloudy days to take the house bank low enough to warrant starting the Honda, and often I'll just motor for an hour or two to a different anchorage instead.

Currently the system is pretty well balanced and I have no plans to make any further changes.

wow all that is very interesting

did you saw the new flexible panel 360/380Watt 1840mm X 1040mm

https://www.sunportpower.com/wp-content/uploads/download/Flexible-Solar-Module-S6-QHES(B).pdf

Just placed order for 2 to make try

9 X 275w Jinko
Midnite classic 150 mppt
Victron 5000/120 multiplus
840ah @ 24v lifepo4
7kva Genset for rainy days and head start in winter - sunny summer days no Genset needed.


High draw boat with 4 fridge freezer, all domestic 240v totalling 900 litres
180 litre 240v hot water system with 1.8kw element
150 lph 240v watermaker
Multiple 240v appliances including washing machine, induction cooker, electric kettle, air fryer.

Cruising 365 days a year, zero shore power.

1300 watts, 4 panels, each with its own Victron MPPT controlling it. Not very good yield, I believe mostly because of shading issues. Haven’t had much time to attempt corrections. There just isn’t much flexibility in locations for large items like radars, masts, and panels

6 x 330 W panels (~2kW in total) integrated into flying-bridge hard-top
Victron MPPT 150/70 controller
3 kW Victron MultiPlus inverter-charger
8 x Trojan T105 6V golf-cart batteries (900 Ah @12V in total)
propane cooking
no AC
no generator (took out ancient Onan this week)
2 x 100 A alternators, externally regulated, charging house bank

Reading some of the comments here makes me realize I got lucky in terms of panel placement vs shading issues on my boat. Pretty much nothing on the boat shades the panels, it's more of an issue from other stuff near the boat. On a good day in mid summer, I've seen 3.7 kwh from my 820 watts of panels. And if I'd had more load in the afternoon or the batteries were lower, I think I would have managed around 4 kwh. 3 - 3.2 kwh is pretty reliably achievable on a good day, but I've seen more a few times. I've also seen sustained output in the high 700s a few times and peaks to slightly over the rated 820w.

twistedtree said:

1300 watts, 4 panels, each with its own Victron MPPT controlling it. Not very good yield, I believe mostly because of shading issues. Haven’t had much time to attempt corrections. There just isn’t much flexibility in locations for large items like radars, masts, and panels

Click to expand...

Here's a quick update. I turned up the float voltage on my panels a touch and now they are producing as expected - 1000W+ on 1300W nameplate rating. They are now fully carrying the boat's power loads, and even recharging a bit. This is what I was looking for and expecting, and it should significantly extend our anchor time. We are docked now, but without shore power, and it's great to no be drawing the batteries down. It will be interesting to see how long we can run before the generator kicks on (it's set to 40% SOC as the auto-start threshold).

my solar system is designed as 'minimal'. 2X130watt(I think) It will maintain my 4X4D (3 house+start battery) when I not onboard. Basically, it supports 4 bilge pumps and a NovaKool 12vt fridge. So far it seems to work out well.
I'll let the next owner spend the bucks to 'improve' the system.

On our Selene 57 has

4 X 400w panels on the F/B hardtop,
2 X Victron 150/70 controllers

House bank MG Energy LiFo 24v X 1120a in 2 banks, 2 X MG Energy BMS

24v 175a alternator with Wakespeed controller

2 X Victron Multiplus 24 v 3000w inverter charger in series

20kw Genset to house chargers

Victron 24v to 24v start bank charger

5kw 24v DC generator with autostart

Alex

4× 435 watt panels. 2 outback 80 amp controllers. 1350 amp hr of T 105 gc batteries. run the gen set Rarely in the dead of Winter . have made 7kw of power in summer. More electric power then I can use. Average production 4.3kw. Which floates the battery bank. Most days

Wild Blue said:

2 X Victron Multiplus 24 v 3000w inverter charger in series

20kw Genset to house chargers

5kw 24v DC generator with autostart

Click to expand...

Alex, sounds like a great setup. Some questions:
1) Do you mean the inverters work in parallel, can you switch one off without having to reprogram it?
2) If you had a chance to redo, would you step down in size perhaps to 12kW or less?
3) Don't see a lot of DC generators, what are your thoughts on it?

Mako said:

Alex, sounds like a great setup. Some questions:

1) Do you mean the inverters work in parallel, can you switch one off without having to reprogram it?

2) If you had a chance to redo, would you step down in size perhaps to 12kW or less?

3) Don't see a lot of DC generators, what are your thoughts on it?

Click to expand...

Mako:

1. So the 2 X Multiplus at 120v each are connected in series such that 1st inverter outputs 120v on L1, 2nd inverter 120v on L2, then the L1 + L2 output is 240v for those loads at 3000w.

We occasionally get an overload alarm when washer or dryer is running and someone runs the toaster, but the Victron seems to hunker down and take it.

2. I can load up the big generator with chargers, water heater, coffee maker, washer-dryer when needed. We hardly used the big generator, as the solar and alternator keep the batteries charged.

This was a used boat and came with a big Genset for the 3 large air conditioning units, which I've never fired up.

3. Never thought I would like a 24v 200a DC generator. It's a Fischer-Panda and very quiet. It's always fully loaded when charging the house bank. I use it quite a bit. It turns out to be the backup when rain or clouds limit the solar charge.

I set it to auto start at 50% charge and bring the house up to 80%, hoping the solar will take over. Might change that to let the house bank discharge a bit further.

Alex

The DC generator sounds intriguing. There are more discussions about powering boats fully through the inverters, not the generators, even for high VAC loads. These are generally centered around 48V house banks. In those cases it makes sense to have a DC generator for charging.

It is really interesting to learn how everyone has set up their solar charging and battery systems, here is our setup:

“Our Island” has 4 – 80 Watt Renogy monocrystalline solar panels installed flat on the helm’s hardtop. The panels each have an optimum operating current/voltage of 4.3 amps and 18.6 volts. They are connected two in parallel, and the two groups are then connected in series to isolate the impact of shading from the mast. The full array has an optimum operating current/voltage of 8.3 amps and 37.2 volts. The array is connected to the battery bank via a Victron 75/10 MPPT controller wired with pre and post isolation fuse/switches. We isolate the solar panels from the battery bank when traveling, running the generator or when on shore power – we choose to keep things simple and only have one source of power for battery charging at a time.

The battery bank includes 4 Lifeline GPL-8DL AGM batteries providing 1000 rated amp hours. The battery bank is large but it serves as the starter battery for the engine and a generator while providing power for the house, stern thruster and the electric winch for lifting the tender off the upper deck. Our house needs during fair weather boating are primarily the refrigerator and lights with the occasional hour or two of streaming TV entertainment. Winter boating would impose additional demands to power electric fans and circulation pumps for the diesel fueled Wabasto coolant heater. A fifth independent 8D AGM powers a bow thruster and the anchor winch.

On good days the solar panels handle most of our prime daylight power demands and the battery bank sees a daily deficient of about 30 to 40 amp hours a day. When solar power is limited, our NEXT GEN 3.5kW generator can be used to charge the batteries. With good weather we can remain at anchor for 3 nights without needing to charge the batteries (batteries around 12.5 volts; 70 to 75% charge level). Given our reliance on the one bank of batteries for starting both the engine and the generator we conservatively limit the level of discharge before charging with the generator or moving on.

On the move, voltage from a 100 amp Leece-Neville alternator is regulated by a multi-stage MC-614 Balmar Regulator powering an older Heart Interface Freedom 2500 Watt Inverter/charger to recharge the battery bank; and if needed invert power to a smaller 10 amp battery charger to recharge the independent 8D AGM.

On long cruses I have always found somewhere to tuck our old trusty Honda EU2000i into a locker – always good to have a Plan C.

The gen start is in the ER. I was concerned what to do it the gen battery goes flat. I had a separate cable run to the house batteries. It wont charge the gen battery, it will only provide power to start the gen. If the gen battery is flat, I drop into the ER, turn the switch start the gen via the house battery, turn the switch to isolate the gen battery from the house bank and I am back to normal.

There is a good article in Passagemaker Magazine, "The sound of Silence". It's a step by step setup of a solar array system. One of the takeaways I got, and one that Twistedtree, alluded to, was how important the solar panel is when it comes to shading, and how they are mounted to keep them cool/vented.

Congratulations on your new boat! You will love the Selene. We bought a Selene 57 a little over a year ago and it's worked extremely well. We just got back from the Bahamas and Florida where we spent over 4 months on the hook and cruising. Shortly after we bought the boat we installed a new (soft) bimini cover with 8 175W soft Renogy solar panels for 1,400W total. It's been a game changer for us and has worked extremely well. We installed a Renogy controller, and I would go with a Victron controller if I did it over again. The Renogy app doesn't work very well.

The system you install depeds on how you will be using your boat. I have 6 4D Lifeline AGM batteries in the house bank for 630 A-hr @ 24VDC. Someday I may replace them with LiFePo batteries.

The 8 175W (1400W total) solar panels was just about right. I read somewhere that a good approximation is to triple the total system wattage to get the day's power production in W-Hr. So in theory I should be generating 1400 x 3 = 4,200W-Hr per day. The actual is very close to that. My usage is about 10A x 24hrs x 24V or 5,760W per day @ 24V. So the solar is producing about 70-75% of my usage. I need to run the generator about a hour or two per day to make water (30GPH watermaker), so I do that in the morning when the batteries are low. Generator and battery charger will operate in bulk charge mode to quickly charge the batteries and load up the generator. When the generator is turned off, the solar will charge the batteries slowly in absorption and float mode until they are completly charged. By the next morning the batteries are back down to about 65%. It really works very well.

PM me if you would like to know more specifics.

Richard

On our 37 Nordic Tug in northern Maine, we have 2x350w panels in series to a Victron 150/60, 2x300w panels in parallel to a Morningstar TriStar, and a single 300w panel to a Victron 100/30. Our house bank is 8xLifeline AGM 220 Ah 6v batteries (originally 880 AHr but testing at 800 after 12 years). We have an externally regulated 200 A bus alternator.

We are an all electric boat with an estimated 250 A needed per day at anchor where we spend 90% of our time. Our loads at anchor are refrigerator, freezer, heavy electronics usage, TV, microwave, coffee pot, kettle, stereo, small convection oven, an induction cooktop plus the normal small DC loads such as LED lighting.

Our 700w panels are new this season and we have seen an average of around 3 kwhr of production per day from our complete system before all panels essentially shut down with the battery bank at 100%. Admittedly the weather has been ideal, cool, only 25% cloud, and one solid day of rain when we dropped to 74%. Regardless, we have reached 100% by around 2:00 pm. On most days, we have found that we can run our 1500w water heater for an hour around mid morning while we are still in bulk charging and still get there.

We will be monitoring our output carefully this season to optimize water heating and are looking to implement a load dump system to automate this.

Size of solar power.

As mentioned previously install a Victron or Balmar battery monitor and determine what your actual battery amp hour usage is. Using that info you can factor in what your battery bank size is and how many solar panels you might need.
Now, on my 43' 1984 Ocean Alexander I use approximately 200 amp hours per day as calculated by my Victron 712 battery monitor. I have a single battery bank for house and engine starting made up of 6- 6 volt flooded cell golf cart batteries with a total of 660 amp hours capacity with 330 amp hours useable. I have 2 -Trina 330 watt panels wired in series feeding a Victron 150/60 mppt controller. I have anchored out 3 days without having to run the generator.
I need to run the generator for A/C, hot water, or to run my electric stove/oven. Your mileage may vary but depending on how sunny it is you can run the genny at your convenience. I am very happy with my install. I am located in southern Lake Michigan. Hope this helps.


Tom Kataras
Greek's Folly
AGLCA / MTOA

Wild Blue said:

Never thought I would like a 24v 200a DC generator. It's a Fischer-Panda and very quiet. It's always fully loaded when charging the house bank. I use it quite a bit. It turns out to be the backup when rain or clouds limit the solar charge.

I set it to auto start at 50% charge and bring the house up to 80%, hoping the solar will take over. Might change that to let the house bank discharge a bit further.

Alex

Click to expand...

Wait, a dedicated generator to charge batteries? Slick! Haven't come across that yet. So when your bank hits a certain point, the Fischer-Panda starts up and charges them to a certain point?

Senojev said:

Our loads at anchor are refrigerator, freezer, heavy electronics usage, TV, microwave, coffee pot, kettle, stereo, small convection oven, an induction cooktop plus the normal small DC loads such as LED lighting.

Click to expand...

What brand and model is your 'small convection oven'?

I am thinking about going to an induction stove top but have yet to find an oven replace.
Thanks

HeadedToTexas said:

Wait, a dedicated generator to charge batteries? Slick! Haven't come across that yet. So when your bank hits a certain point, the Fischer-Panda starts up and charges them to a certain point?

Click to expand...

Texas:

Yes. Here's the detailed answer:

The Fisher-Panda has an "automatic adapter RE0704" accessory that provides a contact pair that when closed starts the generator, including a start sequence and warm up. When the contacts are opened the generator stops, after a short cool down.

The battery bank state of charge (SOC) is monitored by a Victron Cerbo-GX. This is a little computer box which connects to the battery management controllers (BMS) to get the SOC. We set start gen to 50% SOC and stop gen to 80% SOC. The Cerbo GX closeds and opens the contacts to start and stop the generator.

Since it's a LiFo battery bank, the generator runs totally loaded at 27.8v 200a. We have an 1100+ amp hour bank, so every hour the generator charges approximately 20%. It takes roughly 90 minutes to get from 50% to 80% SOC.

Alex