Solar power

[Justme]

Been a funny old day. Not really burning hot & the sun dint really get going till late on in the day.

 

However we have had our best day ever. Total solar power produced was 5.1 kwh that's about 400ah on a 12v system & its still trickling along at 5amps & the batts are nearly full at 96%.

 

Justme

[twocvbloke]

Just goes to show it isn't some eco-hippy fad, it works...

[Justme]

Oh yeh it def works. If you take into account that the array is mounted too shallow & pointed WSW not S & we are surrounded by high trees its working very well. I did calc that if I had it set up due South at 37 deg pitch with no shade I could get over 7kwh on a reasonably good day.

 

So far we have not had the genny (or any other charging method) on all this month & most of last apart from one day when I needed the genny to run the compressor to fit the solar array upgrade. Had I know how well it would have worked for the rest of June I would not have used it then & it would have been two months with no other charging. Have been very close to needing the genny but 50% was the lowest we got to & then had a few good days.

[Dutch]

Been a funny old day. Not really burning hot & the sun dint really get going till late on in the day.

 

However we have had our best day ever. Total solar power produced was 5.1 kwh that's about 400ah on a 12v system & its still trickling along at 5amps & the batts are nearly full at 96%.

 

Justme

Would it be possible to see a photo of your panel setup please?

Mick

[Justme]

Sure.

 

 

The first 800watts in 2 x 5 panel strings running at up to 110v.

This should be do able on a boat as the angle of my roof matches a boat roof quite well.

 

 

 

 

The site showing the trees

 

 

 

The frame going in for the 400watt upgrade

 

 

The complete array

 

 

My job over the next few days weather permiting is to raise the first 800w to match the angle of the 400w upgrade as in the afternoon (when we get our best sun) the 400w string can be doing as much as both the first strings.

 

 

Justme

Edited July 31, 2009 by Justme

[Scotty]

What a lovely setting.

 

Funny looking boat though

[Guest User]

How long have you been set up ? It'll be really good to see how the figures play out through a whole year.

[stuart]

Are the solar panels worth more than the caravan ?!?

[Justme]

What a lovely setting.

 

Funny looking boat though

 

 

If you had seen the amount of rain we have had lol.

 

The deck for the solar water looks like a boating jetty too.

 

part way through the install

 

How long have you been set up ? It'll be really good to see how the figures play out through a whole year.

 

Have recordings for all of this year.

Will be posting Julys stats tonight with a link to the full set.

Take note of the notes about shade removal x 2 & array size increase & the increase in power gained.

 

Are the solar panels worth more than the caravan ?!?

 

Hell yes lol.

 

Justme

[RLWP]

 

 

 

 

Justme

 

Hi Justme,

 

Is this hot water installation a "kit" or are you working it out for yourself?

 

Richard

[Justme]

Hi Justme,

 

Is this hot water installation a "kit" or are you working it out for yourself?

 

Richard

 

Its a kit but you do need some bits yourself. Like pipes & fittings, TMV (themostatic mixer valve) insulation & the header tank option etc.

 

Its THIS ONE but they do others too.

 

Mine has "mains" pressure hot water & a vented tank.

 

It will on a reasonably sunny day add 30c to the tank temp (220L).

 

We dont use much hot water so a full hot tank can last us 2 or 3 days use with showers, washing clothes, washing & washing up for 3 of us.

 

Went for that one as it uses NO power at all (bar the water pressure pump that would be on to feed a boiler any way).

For the colder days I am looking at adding 20 more tubes but on the roof & pump the fluid to the tank.

 

For a boat you would poss be better with a flat panel (good for 2 or 3 seasons but not in winter) but thats just a guess.

 

 

These are the results from our 1.2kw array.

 

 

day		amph kwh	VP	kwp	amp peak
31-Jul	70	0.8	102	0.37	28.4
30-Jul	387	5.2	108	0.94	67.7
29-Jul	154	1.9	106	0.74	56.3
28-Jul	90	1.1	105	0.51	40.4
27-Jul	338	4.5	107	1.01	78.6
26-Jul	90	1.1	109	0.77	57.8
25-Jul	301	4	108	0.95	69.4
24-Jul	342	4.5	108	0.97	75.4
23-Jul	317	4.1	108	1.05	79
22-Jul	226	2.9	110	1.08	79.5
21-Jul	130	1.6	107	0.94	73.2
20-Jul	341	4.4	107	0.88	65.6
19-Jul	248	3.1	107	1.06	79.6
18-Jul	272	3.4	107	1.03	82
17-Jul	88	1.1	105	0.88	64.2
16-Jul	135	1.6	104	0.57	45.7
15-Jul	302	4.1	106	0.99	69.3
14-Jul	243	3.2	105	1.06	77
13-Jul	185	2.4	108	1.03	74.4
12-Jul	336	4.4	106	1.01	75.6
11-Jul	84	1	101	0.42	34.1
10-Jul	213	2.8	105	0.68	46.6
09-Jul	215	2.8	106	1.03	72.6
08-Jul	300	4	106	1.08	79.9
07-Jul	141	1.8	111	1.03	76.4
06-Jul	297	4	106	0.98	70.7
05-Jul	268	3.5	106	1.09	79
04-Jul	107	1.3	107	1.08	81.7
03-Jul	301	4	109	1.09	80.8
02-Jul	206	2.6	104	1.07	79.1
01-Jul	308	4	102	1.07	78
TOTAL	7035	91.2	3296	28.46	2118
AV	226.94	2.94	106.32	0.92	68.32

 

Wind 11ah (all month but mainly over 2 days)

Genny/engine run hours NIL

 

This years stats so far can be found HERE

Edited July 31, 2009 by Justme

[Phil Ambrose]

Oh yeh it def works. If you take into account that the array is mounted too shallow & pointed WSW not S & we are surrounded by high trees its working very well. I did calc that if I had it set up due South at 37 deg pitch with no shade I could get over 7kwh on a reasonably good day.

 

So far we have not had the genny (or any other charging method) on all this month & most of last apart from one day when I needed the genny to run the compressor to fit the solar array upgrade. Had I know how well it would have worked for the rest of June I would not have used it then & it would have been two months with no other charging. Have been very close to needing the genny but 50% was the lowest we got to & then had a few good days.

 

My 500watt set up works pretty well for us too but we get as much in the Winter as the Summer because we are really surrounded by trees, I have just dropped 9 trees and the difference is staggering, I still have another 8 or 9 to drop which should make for a marked improvment.

Oh and before I get called a tree murderer, they will be used for fuel and there are thousands of others which I am not touching ( cos I like trees )

 

Phil

[Justme]

We had to do the same. If you look at last months & the one before you can see the days I trimmed the trees & then dropped a big one at the end of the van. There are more I could drop but I dont want to.

[gaggle]

swansea uni have discovered a spray on SOLAR CELL COMPOSITE , spray on to metal much like paint and get power.

Electric cars could use this possibly.

[Justme]

I think the sprayable stuff (I assume its the same as the printable stuff) has been around for a bit. Much cheaper to make but has a lower % efficiency so needs larger surface area. On a car you could not make any measurable amount of increase in the range even if ALL the car was covered in panels (excluding those super light weight concept cars they used in really sunny countries but looked more like a plane). They would need to be huge to get enough surface area.

 

Have altered my panels this week to a steeper angle.

 

[becki]

hello there, found this thread interesting as am about to get a 35' sailaway and am trying to decide what's best to do about energy supply including water heating. i've been told by boaters that solar is brilliant but i wonder if you could give me any idea where to look or roughly how much i might be spending to get solar power to run the mains electric, lights and hot water?? there are two of us going to live on the boat.

[Justme]

First you have to specify

 

how much power you will use per day

Over what time period that power will be used

whats the peak load (IE the highest consuming item plus any other things that will b e on at the same time)

How often (IE weekends, summer all year)

how much power will be provided by the engine or other means

will you have a genny as well for non green power days

how many days between green power days do you need to last without the genny / other power

[Chris Pink]

Where did you source the MC connectors?

 

I am installing 4 panels for somebody and the coupling cabling is over £30 a panel, and that x3, a little pricey in my opinion.

 

Although there is competition keeping panel costs down it seems like the connectors are practically a monopoly at wholesale level.

 

I am considering buying wholesale so I'll have quite a few left over which I would sell at a discount on web prices if anyone is interested?

[Justme]

My first set of panels I hard wired in. The second set came with the connectors So I only needed to hard wire each end.

 

You can get them on ebay for about £10 a set.

 

In fact THESE seem a better bet as you can fit the cable size you need.

 

[i

 

 

Gibbo, How is your solar controller trial coming on. Especially now you should have some real world moving boat type results as well.

 

Justme

[Chris Pink]

In fact THESE seem a better bet as you can fit the cable size you need.

 

 

They are type 4, type 3 are more common, but that's not a bad price, I decided against the wholesale route, my storeroom is full of odds and sods already and it's for a customer so they can pay the extortion. I did recommend chocolate block and silicone at about £1 but they decided on MC connectors at £150.

 

But if anyone is considering a multi-panel installation I will be stocking up on type 3 MC connectors and I insist on selling them cheaper than anyone else.

[becki]

hello, thanks for your reply. i'm not sure how to work out how much power we will use per day, but we will be living on it every day throughout the year except the odd weekend or holiday away from the boat. we will both be studying so i expect one or two computers (at the moment one pc, one laptop) will be running on the boat every day. other than that we will have a printer, stereo, fridge (12v), LED lights, electric shower and will need to charge 2 mobile phones. i was interested in working out how much solar power would be needed so as not to use the engine or a genny or buy in a calorifier. some friends of mine (who i unfortunately can't track down at the moment!) have solar panels on their boat which they use to constantly charge 3 batteries which they then use to run their electrics. we were thinking of doing the same. cheers, becki

 

First you have to specify

 

how much power you will use per day

Over what time period that power will be used

whats the peak load (IE the highest consuming item plus any other things that will b e on at the same time)

How often (IE weekends, summer all year)

how much power will be provided by the engine or other means

will you have a genny as well for non green power days

how many days between green power days do you need to last without the genny / other power

[Justme]

electric shower

 

 

Whilst thats is in the list solar (and inverters) is not cost effective sorry.

 

Most showers are about 9kw or more. You are going to need 3 x 3000w inverters at about £1800 EACH to run that.

 

Assuming 2 x 10 min showers each day you will be using 3kwh per day just for the shower. We use less than that for ALL our needs.

 

 

 

Justme

[RLWP]

And so, once again we find that fitting out a narrowboat is not about the sun on the water and the gentle breeze in the evening, but has sums in it!

 

Richard

[Justme]

It still could be IF you also have a much simpler life style expectation.

[Lesd]

Two PC / lap tops per day will draw lots of amps....our 12v fridge is our biggest single current draining item over a 24 hour period (not so bad now we tenc to switch it off at night and back on in the morning) but if either Heidi or I work from home and spend the day on one lap top then we are really pushing our our 260w of panels to their summer max, two pc's will see you onto 3 or more likely 4 x 130w panels in my view. Our others have said you need to do the audit.

Les