battery charging with solar & alternator

[Guest]

Yes, you should be.....

...able to connect your solar panel and alternator in parallell without any problems. But, depending of your battery capacity you should be aware of the risk of overcharging you battery with the solarpanel if the boat is left unattended for long time during a sunny summer season. I think you should consider getting some sort of charge regulator.

 

[Guest]

Re: Yes, you should be.....

You may need A diode in place between the batts and the solar panel for when it isn't sunney to stop them discharging the battery, as is done with wind generators!

 

[Guest]

You should fit some kind of regulator and blocking diode to solar panels unless they are the type with them built in (ie Exide Solar Chargers) A simple shunt regulator for a 5W solar shouldn't cost much. You might get away without the regulator on a small panel such as 5W, but you certainly need a blocking diode to prevent damage to the solar panel.

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[Guest]

Can anyone help me ? I want to charge my boat battery and have an Evinrude 7.5 hp o/b with rectified alternator output and a Solarex 5W solar pannel. Question is, can I just connect these two in parrallel to my battery or do I need any protection/isolation to prevent damage to either the alternator or solar panel ?

 

[Guest]

Conventional wisdom seems to be that up to 10W with a fairly large battery capacity, 100Ah or so, does not require a regulator.

 

[Guest]

I thought a diode was....

...normally integral with a solar panel kit. But I might be wrong. Yes, a diode i doubtless needed