solar panel installation

[sam]

I just finished a rather simplified solar panel installation on LONGHAWK. I used the gemini clamps on the 1 1/4" diameter bows and made four cuts through the bimini , adding leather and re-inforcing at each protrusion. Using 1" square aluminum tubing was cost effective and strong.

Here are a couple of pictures.

One panel, 140 watts.

sam on LONGHAWK, B43 hull No 9

[Rafa]

Thanks for sharing.

How easy is now folding the bimini?

[Dave Shore]

Looks nice. What brand panel did you use and what are the specs. How difficult is it to remove if you want to take down the Bimini?

[sam]

The bimini is now essentially a fixed one. Four bolts have to be removed and the connecting electrical wire would have to be removed. I plan to do that only for hurricane / storm prep.

The solar panel is a Kyocera KD140sx, a 140  watt unit. The charge controller is a Solar Boost 2512i HV. The clamps are by Gemini products.

[James Taylor]

Looks great.

We have two 140 Kyocera's, they are excellent panels. Not installing the solar arch cuts out quite a bit of the expense. Nicely done.

Our B43 is currently on a mooring in Coconut Grove with us on board. We run the refridge (freezer is off), look at lots of movies on flat screen, run computers, all led lights, etc. We have not run our Honda Gen or main engine to charge batteries since we cut off freezer 1 month ago. The panels charge our 400ahr agms to 100% most days, minimum 95%. You will have happy batteries now.

James.

 

[sam]

Where is Coconut Grove?

I have 660 amp hours capacity in the house bank (Lifeline AGM's). I agree, the freezer is a huge demand, but frozen ice cream is a treat! We added a ton of insulation and the freezer holds around 0 degrees f, but at a cost of amps.

Sam

[James Taylor]

Marina is in Coconut Grove, B43 is on a mooring at Dinner Key Mooring Field in Biscayne Bay. I apologize for the confusion..

Coconut Grove is one of the communities of Miami.

Those Lifelines are the best, in my humble opiniion. They could last 10 years with proper charging and discharging. we have 396ah house bank consisting of two Dekka 198ah batteries. They are approaching 6 years old and doing great. Nice slow discharging and they accept 100% charging. I really think the key to long battery life is proper charging (to 100% ) and proper discharging ( never below 50%, 12.2V). .