RufusR

All mine are in parallel, i have trees which shade between 11 and 2 so parallel gives more power during that time , as said on a boat cable lengths are not long enough to make a difference unless you are using 12 volt panels , my opinion is don’t , they are too expensive and too low voltage unless series connecting , victron mppt for example doesn’t even turn on until 5 volts over battery voltage it’s all too tight imo , give yourself some headroom , 24 volt panels much better with an mppt , reserve 12 volt for pwm controllers .

definitely as said my original one lasted 10 years odd but subsequent ones lasted a matter of a few months at a time

50% is an average across the day every day , You may see the odd spike but unless you get that number constantly for 8 hours or so then it wont help charge your batteries any faster

have to agree an elastic band powered foot pump would be better than the modern Shurflo's , the original Aquaking lasted 8 years but that was not a chinese model since then garbage , I have not had a JAbsco pump but they seem to have a good rep with people I know

My opinion , Shurflo are now rubbish used to be good then production went to china and the quality turned to poo in a bucket . I went through 3 in 18 months until I gave up and paid a little extra for a Whale version and that is superb .. not missed a beat in 2 years and my whale gulper in the shower has been going strong for 13 years . I would spend about £20 more and get a whale over a shurflo any day from experience

yes 710 watts and you saw 399 which is just over 50% ?

In UK you will get max just over 50% of your panels rated output on a good day , tilting may add 20-30 % depending .. on a good day , Most people expect too much from small panels on boats . The old adage of you cannot ever have too much solar in UK rings true , I have 1630 watts on my narrowboat and that is like being plugged into shoreline from Feb to Nov and most of what I need in Dec and Jan with just the occasionally gennie run every couple weeks to make sure the batteries are getting a true 100% charge . I am off grid moored and dont cruise much until summer . so if you do cruise more you will not need as much , but a few small 100watt panels will always disappoint in UK climate IMO . I doubt you will see a huge improvement by swapping flexies to framed even tilted unless you up the wattage quite a bit . Now if you are like Will Prowse and lived in Vegas , then 300 watts would be give you 300 watts or more all day but not at 52 degress latitude unfortunately

Yes it will no problem , I have this exact set up and works fine , Honda 2.2 is bomb proof and will power victron 3000/ 120/ 12 all day

When you change batteries change to lead carbon , they will happily sit in psoc for 72 hours without damage and you should get 1000 plus cycles at 50 to 60% dod. Then with your cruising pattern you won’t need solar .

Have on of These and runs fine from 12volts but I bought a regulated dc dc converter to be sure , works a treat

https://www.so-counties.co.uk/man-in-serious-but-stable-condition-after-boat-fire-in-leighton-buzzard/ Heard about this from a lady at work who lives in Leighton , Apparently it was a GRP Cruiser but hard to tell from the remains .. Tragic I hope he recovers ok but has lost everything ? I also heard it was an explosion ( maybe gas ) but that maybe Chinese whispers as nothing in Media about that . Our thoughts are with Paul

When moving on board a boat all must go !! we got rid of 98% of what we had and still had too much , Charities , car boot sales are useful . If you really must keep some of it that wont fit look at getting a top box or 2 for your boat we have two made by top box co , dont have number to hand and they dont have a website . Will try and dig out number later for you , these are not cheap but well made and allows you to store quite alot ( in boaters terms ) .

14.6 is prob fine for many battery types esp this time of year when temps are low but check battery manufacturers specs to see if you are in tolerance .

Mine is 6 inch

Ok I have same victron the agm charge profiles are set up for victron agm batteries , there are 2 options either 14.7 v absorb or 14.4 v absorb these are set either by puter via usb link or by dip switches inside the case on upper right . Check the profile of your battery and whether your victron has temp compensation , victron agms should have 14.4 for shallow cycles or if new non compensated , 14.7 is good this time of year if no temp compensation. Some agm like full river want 14.7 nominal. Leoch ones prob 14.4 nominal but this time of year with low temps then 14.7;is good if you don’t have temp compensation. . If you have temp compensation the. 14.4 is prob best , those two options are the only ones for agm , if you need a different voltage you will need to play with other batteries settings unless newer unit which has more options

Of course you did realise that in cold winter weather that lead acid batteries capacity decreases by approx 1% per degree c under the rated temperature usually 25 deg c , in feb average temperature would have been in mid to high single digits so your bank would have been about 100Ah down on the rated capacity. Just to check you took this into account . I am sure Leoch would or should have pointed this out as well ?

Arduino’ are excellent at controlling or refining solar diverters , that is my current dark winter night project . Hence the interest

Hi I am interested . Just starting a project for pwm solar diverter and others why you getting rid ?

on average in summer 50-60% of rating is the norm on very good days hence good to over panel quite a bit in the UK , Most I saw in August this year was just over 1000watts so about 62% , May have got a little more earlier in summer ( June / July ) but didnt have it completely set up properly then but I suspect 70% of rating would be abs max on bright sunny summers day with panels at optimum angle to the sun as well , having them flat on a sunny day will cut about 30% of output

I have 6 x Perlight 270Watt compact black PERC panels they are 54 cell so fit lengthways across the boat while staying inside the profile of the boat . They are performing very well . There are alot of options , As said bifacial need to be tilted on white roof and are quite big , I didnt go for that as wanted to tilt up alot facing forward or back along the boat . It depends on your needs as Seadog rightly said if cruising all the time you wont need as much but if stationary off grid like me and want to use solar in winter you need a fair bit , The old adage that you can never have enough solar in UK is probably true . If you are under trees Bimble have a limited time offer on some thin film low light 165 watt panels currently , that I may have looked at had they been available at the time , they are lower wattage as they are less efficient but in low light and shading they would almost certainly be better than crystalline panels , you will need a high voltage MPPT controller though as they are about 120volt panels so would need parallel connection . Worth a look but you would want to get about 6 on your roof to have a chance of putting 150Ah plus back into your bank in winter , maybe worth a look though .

Then you need more solar , I get enough to charge 550Ah AGM bank which is slot tougher than lithium’s all year around and have same tree shading issue as you , how much have you got ? Most narrowboaters have nowhere near enough hence doesn’t work in darker months , there seems to be a myth that 2 tidller 12volt panels is plenty on a narrowboat .

Solar is your green non polluting friend .

Agree with Peter , I am already living off grid on end of field mooring and generating 97 % of our electric via solar , don’t forgot with the incredible competition in the solar field having already massively brought down prices and driven up efficiency in last few years by the time we all need to have electric boats solar panels will be at 50 percent or more efficiency esp with bifacial etc so getting several kw on the roof of even a narrow boat will be possible , I have 1630 watts on a 60 foot narrowboat today with 2 top boxes and other furniture so it’s possible if designed properly . This will not be as hard as thought . pS all my hot water from April to Sept comes from solar as well . then there are fuel cells , I know one company close to launching a boat fuel cell 500watts each way expensive today but price will fall , their aim is to replace diesel gens in boats very soon . We must ween ourselves off polluting hydrocarbons or we will kill the planet I short order .

Ok so DIY solution! Not for most I imagine , I would not want to do that , I do understand how to manage and charge lithium’s however so will prob build a solution around Victron smart lithium’s and BMS cost currently be around 3k for 300 Ah which would be plenty for us if lithium’s . It’s a lot but will pay back over life span probably twice . Saving now lol Ps if I have lithium will have lots more solar available to divert to heat water for longer during the year , have cool diversion circuit but runs out of grunt in Oct when charging current 550 Ah bank

Ah yes you are right , I really should have saved harder and had lithium’s this time around instead of AGM’s ( which are much better that fl lead acid btw) but yes lithium’s would be the icing , next time will def put them in maybe sooner . What bms do you have or it is integrated ? Cost at is what puts most off but I am beginning think worth saving for the more I research it . I think I will always have solar as like making free leccy from photons and don’t like burning hydrocarbons to get leccy .