Power for Sevylor 12 volt small boat prop

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System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
Hello: I have a one man raft which I have acquired a 12 volt Sevylor electric motor. I have not purchased a battery for it yet so I am open to suggestions there.

In addition, I would like to know the most effective and least expensive kind of portable solar setup I can use to charge this unit.

This is my river routine......battery would be charged with house plug in before leaving then motor would be used to reach my beach area which will only be about a 15 minute motor usage....so will probably be some battery left yet.

Now, what I would like to do is capture some of the all day sun beating down to charge up my little battery while I am hanging out before leaving close to sun down.

I am a brand new member to this forum and hope someone will have some suggestions.

Ofcourse, I am interested in complete solar dependency and being off the grid entirely, so hope to learn much from visitng here.

Thank you.

Steve!
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
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    Re: Power for Sevylor 12 volt small boat prop

    aside from the obvious question that we would have for you on the power draw from the motor (more specificly would be it's current draw) as any system must replace what is drawn, i must raise the question of the feasibility when pvs with their sharp aluminum frame corners can snag a raft? there are flexible pvs out there, but they are amorphous and most are lower power for the exposure area and you are charged high $/watt just the same for them
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,439 admin
    #3
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    Re: Power for Sevylor 12 volt small boat prop

    Using a solar panel for a day trip to power your raft--probably not practical.

    As Niel asks, how much power do you actually use running the motor.

    Assume a small motor running 7 amps @ 12 volts = 84 watts for 15 minutes.

    84w * 1/4 hours = 21 watt*hours

    If you have 5 hours of sun (summer), and 50% overall charging efficiency (equal to 2.5 hours of sun), then

    21 watt*hours / 2.5 hours = 8.4 watt solar panel

    Hmmm, not as bad as I thought. Might work OK for you.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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