Battery topping up via small solar Panel

[Bigplumbs]

Soon our Sealine S24 will be on a swing mooring and I am keen to keep the starter battery topped up. It is not easy to fit a large solar panel to such a boat so I have bought a folding 60 watt panel and a longish, narrow 50 watt panel. I performed this little test and depending which will fit best. I think either would easily do the job.

Little video below

 

[Chiara’s slave]

It’s perfectly standard for us raggies to use a panel like that on a similar sized sail boat, and expect it to start an outboard and run a basic electrical system, ie instruments, nav lights and an internal light. If all you want is a top up trickle, a 10w panel would do, with the money saving bonus of not really needing a regulator. Though a PWM on is less than a tenner, so maybe who cares.

 

[ithet]

As Chira's Slave says, I have kept a starter battery topped up when on a mooring for several years, including over winters using a portable 10w panel and no regulator. I have a fixed 60w now, which keeps starter AND. 270ah topped and can help bing up if required.

 

[Bigplumbs]

I bought the Victron solar charge controller mainly because I like looking at the output on my phone lol

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I bought the Victron solar charge controller mainly because I like looking at the output on my phone lol

I do that with my home system. Canna be assed with the boat. I daresay I’ll get a bluetooth BMS lithium battery one day. Anyway, if you have that, absolutely any panel you can fit on a surface on the boat will do all you ask and a lot more. Us raggies generally use semi flexible panels stuck down to the deck, cos we run about when we are under way, and don’t need any more trip hazards than nature provided. I have a loose 25w panel on our RIB, which is tied down on top of the cover in the dinghy park, and flung on the floor when it’s left on our mooring when we’ve gone sailing. Neither of our motors have ever failed to start on the key.

 

[Plum]

Soon our Sealine S24 will be on a swing mooring and I am keen to keep the starter battery topped up. It is not easy to fit a large solar panel to such a boat so I have bought a folding 60 watt panel and a longish, narrow 50 watt panel. I performed this little test and depending which will fit best. I think either would easily do the job.

Little video below

How often will you be using the boat while it is on the swinging mooring? With a motorboat your battery should always be fully charged when you return to your mooring and if you are going to use it again within, say, two months, why bother with a solar panel? A lead acid battery will discharge 10% ish in 2 months.