christophert

My partner doesn't quite get it ! It's not a house hooked up to a never ending supply, bless her

the prices of the controllers go up quite a bit with size. I was thinking 50 amp should be sufficient. I was thinking of Victron but they're not cheap. Wondering what other makes there are out there which has a good reputation and a reasonable price

originally, I was going to go for three 140 amp batteries, six hundred watt or there about of solar power. But I'm drawing away from 140amp batteries simply because of the price, and whether the charger could cope. Maybe I'm being overly concerned regarding the charger, as the solar should do the job. I may now go for smaller batteries, 115 or 120, as the price drops significantly. The two house panels I'm looking at generate 280 watt of solar so it'll give 560 watt total. The solarWorld panels are supposed to be quite tough and durable, and can take a knock or two. Ideal for going under bridges where small gangs may gather who like to throw stones.

Hi Alan, this is where we want to get to, and striving to do so. Your battery bank is huge! and maybe I'm worrying too much about the charger as the solar will do its part. 1300ah!! Can I ask how big are the batteries and how many you have. Also, what watt of solar powers them?

X 2 285 watt is, I believe, the biggest they do. I'm told they give out 36v per panel. A 50 amp MPPT controller I'm hoping should be sufficient.

Hi, This is the question I need to look at. When in the marina, the only thing on 12 volt is the lights and fridge, and pumps. The larger battery bank will take longer to charge while in the marina, but hopefully the solar will solve this problem.

Oh My !! I didn't expect so much response in such a short time! Thank you all. It's a shame the manufacturers being Solar World and Victron couldn't respond as quickly with such straight forward answers. What responses I have had from them has been - You need to contact a local supplier, or, refer to our manuals. Neither has been much help. There's a lot here to take in, but the consensus seems that the MPPT controller, as long as it's powerful enough, will do what it's meant to. I'll be going for two panels, 2.85 watt each giving 5.70 watt. If I can get 300 watt panels, times two, I'll go for that. Solar World seem to have a good reputation, and the panels can take a good hammering. Useful when going under bridges and misfits throwing boulders on at the boat.! I'll go for a 50 amp MPPT controller, should be sufficient. Though I would like to look at alternatives to Victron as they are expensive. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Again, thank you for your kind support and advice. Any more information would be greatly appreciated. At least now I have a better understanding of what direction to take.

Hi all, hope everyone is well. I'm trying to make sense of what I need to make my home sustainable out of a marina for part of the year. I'm going to have new batteries. Previously having two 110 amp leisure batteries, I'm now going to increase this to three batteries. At first I was going to have three 140 amp batteries, but decided against this, as I don't think my battery charger is 'from my understanding' not powerful enough to keep this amount of amps topped up. The battery charger in question is a WAECO IU1512. From my understanding, it is designed to work with one leisure and one starter battery. So, as I'm on a budget, I've decided to go for three 115 amp batteries and hope the charger will manage ok with these. The other thing I'd really like some help with, and more than the above, is solar energy. I'm looking at putting 600 watt of solar on my boat. I'm guessing this will be enough to keep the batteries topped up. What I'm confused with is - the panels will be the same as those that go on a house. The charge controller will be a 50 amp MPPT type, possibly Victron, but looking at cheaper models. Someone told me I have to be careful, as house solar panels throw out higher amps. I thought a charge controller converted whatever amps from solar panels to 12v. This person told me that charge controllers will not recognise what house type solar panels give out? What this person said was - Charge controllers will only recognise 12, 24 36 volts. anything in between will confuse the controller. What I'm trying to ascertain, and unfortunately not having much luck in finding the answers, is - Can I use solar that is normally fitted to a house on my narrow boat? Or do I need solar specifically designed for boats? Does it matter about the size of my battery charger regarding an increase in battery size? I know in theory having 600 watt of solar should keep the larger battery increase trickle charged. But would like to know if the charger alone would do the job, as solar won't be fitted straight after. I really hope someone can help answer these questions, as I'm not getting any help from Solar World or Victron.

The floor's pretty rock solid. It's the back plate that has suffered. I don't understand why they didn't put the holes level. The problem would not have been created if they had did so

Hi all, I thought it was high time I painted inside the gas locker area thing ... whatever it's called. So I took out all the stuff from there to find a lot of rust at the bulkhead thingy ... the back part. So, I got stuck in with a scraper -which went through the metal at the back bottom! After a little head scratching, I come to the conclusion water had not been getting in through the top hatch door but through the gas holes on the sides, and hasn't been able to drain out as the gas holes are a good inch and half above the floor! hence trapping water every time the boat takes a journey. Looking at another boat, the gas holes are level with the floor, which is how it should be. Obviously blocking the holes and drilling new ones higher up won't let any gas that accumulates escape out. Has anyone else had this problem? I can see my water tank through the rotted holes! I'm worried how much water has gotten under my floor.

I've never heard of bus bars. I'll go google I'll go look. I'm wondering if it'll be better to pay someone to do this

Any suggestions?

Two twin cables are confusing me as to where to put the shunt. If you click on diagrams, they should enlarge

Hi all, have purchased a 120v 500a power meter. I thought I'd have a go at fitting it myself, but not sure where to fit the shunt. The battery bank is 3 110amp leisures with the top one on diagram being the starter. There are 2 negative cables going from the middle battery to the inverter, this is also the same for the positive. Can anyone help please. Here is a diagram of my setup plus diagram which came with the product. there are three pictures with it, I'm presuming it will be the one showing the battery charger I'd have to follow. Thank you. Has anyone had any experience with fitting these?

Top Cat, very helpful, thank you. I was going to mount the controller in the bedroom but I'll re consider that. I'll go take a look at Victrons calculator. I don't suppose you have the link by hand do you?

Can anyone recommend a good MPPT Charge controller? There's plenty out there, but I don't wanna buy a banana skin :-(

Thanks, Sea Dog. I think it'd be plenty but will go have a read later. Part of me is saying go bigger to allow for expansion, but the price shoots through the roof at 80 amps The other alternative would be to fit a second cc if I was to expand. There's plenty of 30 amps going at a good price. But I want to get this right. Go for a good make and pref an 80 amp. May have to dig deeper in pockets... Hope I don't have to sell myself down that dark alleyway again.

So would you suggest an 80 amp? There's so many controllers out there, it's hard to know which is a good make and which is turd like? Solar panels I've chosen. SolarWorld, a German panel. They're good leading brand and well built.

Evenin, all. I'm looking for someone who's well informed regarding solar? Shortly, I'll be fitting 600 watt of solar on my boat and wondering if a 50 amp charge controller will be large enough? I was thinking of a Victron MPPT 100/50 - 50amp. Although there are cheaper on the market, I'd be happy to go with this. The thing is, the bigger ampage you go with these, the more ridiculously priced they get. I'd like to go 80 amp but ....

Thank you, Tony. I'll take note of that. It won't be so much cruising, but more spending time on the bank away from the marina. Hopefully the solar will produce most of the charging, hence going for a larger system of 600w. All lights have been replaced with 12v led which should help

Thank you all, I'll monitor with the charger I have and if it's a struggle I'll go for a larger one.

Hi Top Cat, I'm planning on spending much more time out of the marina and off shoreline next summer, so thought of having 130 or 140amp batteries, poss x3 leisure and going to have 600w of solar, hopefully then giving plenty of off shore power

Thank you, I'll go have a read HI, Author, I'm a little confused here. Was under the impression you don't use your battery charger when out cruising, as you need the inverter on to use the battery charger, which means running the engine to put power in etc. I'm guessing you're talking about using a generator only?

My worry is that this charger will undercharge the new batteries and that will cause them damage in the long term

Yeah, hopefully planning to stay out of the marina much more next summer. But I'm guessing the battery charger only comes into its own when plugged into the shoreline, but my worry is the one I have will not put enough into the new more powerful batteries to maintain and keep them healthy