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MRBear

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Hi guys

I'm after some advice again.

I am considering having a solar system installed, but cant decide if its worth the money, the system I'm thinking of is a 6 panel, 990w system.

I originally thought it would cover a big percentage of my electricity needs, but I've been told that it wont provide enough power to run the immersion heater as well as the 12v systems.

I have a vitron combi 3kw inverter. 5x 110ah leisure batteries, I am a leisure boater

I understand its just a form of battery charger but I'm struggling to understand why I cant run a 1kw immersion or anything else with a power draw of only 1kw when I have such a big inverter.

I look forward to getting your advice and comments

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Your inverter will run the immersion fine, until the batteries are flat.

 

That solar system is not enough to keep your batteries full with the immersion on all the time - in the UK it might replace in an average day what your immersion uses in an hour or so.  More in summer, less in winter obviously.

 

If you have access to shorepower, use it.  If you don't, you need to consider disconnecting the immersion heater or making sure to only use it when the engine is running.

 

Read this to see if it makes a bit more sense:

 

 

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Other have already explained well. My twopenneth is that solar is great for many people but not always worth the money. Example myself AT PRESENT. I amplugged into mains full time so by far the cheapest way is to use immersion and pay the peanuts mains leccy bill. When we do go cruising we cruise enough each day to charge batteries and get a tank of hot water so again no need for solar. Solar is great say for someone on a mooring not moving much and without mains hook up to HELP run the lectric stuff but not the immersion. Solar is useless in winter.

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1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

Other have already explained well. My twopenneth is that solar is great for many people but not always worth the money. Example myself AT PRESENT. I amplugged into mains full time so by far the cheapest way is to use immersion and pay the peanuts mains leccy bill. When we do go cruising we cruise enough each day to charge batteries and get a tank of hot water so again no need for solar. Solar is great say for someone on a mooring not moving much and without mains hook up to HELP run the lectric stuff but not the immersion. Solar is useless in winter.

Not if you have enough of it

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1 minute ago, peterboat said:

Not if you have enough of it

Yeah we know Peter :D But covering the whole roof in it and paying 54 million pounds for the panels and batteries sort of defeats the object innitt.

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22 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Yeah we know Peter :D But covering the whole roof in it and paying 54 million pounds for the panels and batteries sort of defeats the object innitt.

Doesn't cost that much and future proofs my boat against unknown circumstances like moorings with no electric or one that is constantly broken!!!! Or even diesel a a zillion pounds a litre 

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9 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Doesn't cost that much and future proofs my boat against unknown circumstances like moorings with no electric or one that is constantly broken!!!! Or even diesel a a zillion pounds a litre 

Yeah its a great way to do things thats why nearly every boat is doing it. You will tell me next you have a composting bog another great idea again why nearly all boats have them fitted :D

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1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

Yeah its a great way to do things thats why nearly every boat is doing it. You will tell me next you have a composting bog another great idea again why nearly all boats have them fitted :D

 

By that argument, most people live in houses not on boats anyway.

 

Maybe you should try it for a couple of months ...

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9 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Yeah its a great way to do things thats why nearly every boat is doing it. You will tell me next you have a composting bog another great idea again why nearly all boats have them fitted :D

Only the clever boaters the ones around me with holding tanks are currently in the poo?

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13 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Only the clever boaters the ones around me with holding tanks are currently in the poo?

Yeah. Same when theres a freeze innit stoooooooopid pump out tanks!!

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thanks guys, I have concluded that the £2000 for the solar system isn't going to be a good investment for me. as usual, I would like to express my thanks to all those who spared the time to respond

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24 minutes ago, MRBear said:

thanks guys, I have concluded that the £2000 for the solar system isn't going to be a good investment for me. as usual, I would like to express my thanks to all those who spared the time to respond

You are correct :) If you only wanted it to run your immersion heater, it was never a goer.

 

Having said that, how do you power your immersion heater at the moment?

 

My water is heated by gas. 2 x 245w solar panels, via a Tracer MPPT controller, provide enough power for all my electricity needs, (around 100Ah per day), most days between about March and September. Cost of the system was about £500... worth every penny.

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I use it when I'm hooked up to shore power. the investment of £2000 with the limits of the system and the limited time I can be aboard indicates that it would take about 10 years to pay for itself, so I may as well stay using shore power when in the marina and the engine when out 

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7 minutes ago, MRBear said:

I use it when I'm hooked up to shore power. the investment of £2000 with the limits of the system and the limited time I can be aboard indicates that it would take about 10 years to pay for itself, so I may as well stay using shore power when in the marina and the engine when out 

Sounds like the right idea.

 

At what cost would it have been worth doing? You could probably do a 1000w system for around a thousand, rather than two.

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25 minutes ago, BEngo said:

Well, if £2000 has a ten year payback £1000 one would expect will be about 5 years, ignoring discount rates etc.

 

N

 

With a half size system, you only get half the electric, so the payback is still ten years or so. Solar is hard to compete with grid electric from a shore line. Where it shines (see what I did there ?) is when out cruising, or moored away from shore power.

Jen

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37 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

With a half size system, you only get half the electric, so the payback is still ten years or so. Solar is hard to compete with grid electric from a shore line. Where it shines (see what I did there ?) is when out cruising, or moored away from shore power.

Jen

Not a half sized system, but a full size system for half the price, see #19

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15 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

With a half size system, you only get half the electric, so the payback is still ten years or so.

Not in the case I was making.

 

The OP was talking about £2k for his 1000w system, and I was saying that he could get a 1000w system for about £1k.

 

So same size system, same electric, half the money.

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