470 watts solar 400 wind on sailboat looking for ways to upgrade improve system

Re: 470 watts solar 400 wind on sailboat looking for ways to upgrade improve system

I had thought that something like this might be happening with such a smorgasborg of little panels. My thoughts were that having a collection of tiles scattered about would combat the shading that is inherent on a sailboat deck with rigging, mast and boom shadows etc sundialing around as the boat spins etc. I figured it would provide a more continous averaged sort of output then a few large panels. They are all in parallel. The voltages are higher on the mono then poly panels. Will a panel putting out a lower voltage actually drag another higher voltage panel down? I thought it was a sort of water pressure analogy where it would all be sort of forcing in the right direction but the more I think about it the more something must be up. My peak output was 16 Amps from this setup which is obviously much lower then 470 watts would be capable of under ideal conditions. However there is no point in the day where panels will not be shaded its impossible on this boat. Had considered possibly using a second mppt controller for larger mono panels esp if I put in a second wind gen pole and a couple large panels on side pole mounts back there. My understanding was the pwm controllers allowed different panel voltages as they dont actually modify the input voltage as an mppt controller would. My other challenge is to make all this seaworthy - some of the panels will likely be stowed while underway and deployed while docked or moored. I do not use shorepower - it worked last fall but something went wrong with it and it typically costs about 140 a month here so thats more money to invest in my solar system.

I am dissapointed that small turbines are but boat anchors - the thought of charging during storms and at night is very attractive - a week of severly cloudy weather and everything in my fridge rots. At the moment consider my engine non existent and I refuse to use a honda am anti oil and carbon monoxide etc. For my power needs I am largely nocturnal due to a skin condition which has left me little pigment and thus extremely high cancer risk. I just ordered all LED replacement bulbs that should save a ton on lighting though I often use headlamps and such. The real power hogs appear to be my computer which is now a netbook with a DC charger, and my Engel MT45 fridge. It doesnt help its been about 110 here the past few days on the refrigeration front. I also have a pair of fantastic vent endless breeze fans and a cell phone. Before I installed the 145 I averaged about 50 amp hours a day in the bank off solar according to the morningstar duo remote meter and was slowly running down my batteries - what I fear is destructive discharging as they are expensive.

One more note is I just moved a pair of sunsei 1500 ma panels and the backs of them were completely warped and the frames faded - most expensive panels per watt and the first two I ever bought since they were available at west marine the day I bought my boat.

I still think there could be a way to make wind deliver something - even like 4 amps would be great the issue with the 403 seems to be the voltage is too low - would be great for charging a 6 volt system - hmmm theres an idea perhaps? Perhaps I need to switch to a Rutland but have read about voltage issues with those as well.

Re: 470 watts solar 400 wind on sailboat looking for ways to upgrade improve system

Well I'm relieved to say that watching the output of the Air 403 through the morningstar duo charge controller its not as bad as I thought. I am seeing between 0-4 amps fluctuating but seeming to add at least around 1.3 amp hours per hour since I've been watching since the sun went down. Perhaps I didn't need to order the Air X - oh well good as back up or as a second unit for twice the oomph in storms and at night. I would love to sort of have a solar deck on my boat - something walkable and built into the deck and wired out of sight - probably be very expensive and tricky to pull off. My approach with a myriad of small tiles was a quick and dirty way. Perhaps glassing in a ton of cells with diodes to combat shading would be the ultimate - be great to harness every square inch in such a compact environment. Anyways my realistic upgrades will be a second Air X tower and two side of pole mounts - depending how the shopping goes will probably add 200-300 watts or so extra to the system. Might run the whole transom set up through a second charge controller I bought early on in the game before I actually started installing all this kind of regret the decision as it uses relays and is way overkill have a colemanair 160T diversion controller I might hook up to the wind towers and the panels back there and route them to the rear batteries in the lazarette... After that the only other conceivable place for more would be adding a bimini (not much space for one probably like 4 x 6 feet or so) and possibly panels on top of that and maybe running stainless between the stanchions on the lifelines but that will cost thousands and be quite unseaworthy. With the wind tower panels I will be up to around 700 watts of solar and a theoretical 800 watts of wind. With a Bimini I could push close to a 1000 watts of solar. The boat is becoming a bit of a monstrosity but am a mad scientist at heart just ordered a solar oven to cook with will be fun to use the suns energy for as many things as possible.