Charging an electric outboard with solar battery pack
- Thread starter webcraft
- Start date
andsarkit
Well-Known Member
It looks like a simple 100w panel could be used directly as long as the open circuit voltage is not above 28V. The 12V charger adapter(DC-DC converter) should look after the charging process. 2 panels in parallel could cover the cloudy days.
I'm not sure why you need the extra battery in the kit unless you have another application for it.
I'm not sure why you need the extra battery in the kit unless you have another application for it.
webcraft
Well-Known Member
Interesting.
It says
TEMO's 12V charger has been specially designed to recharge your TEMO·450 aboard your boat, using a cigarette-lighter type socket.
With a power of 100 watts (up to 8.3 amps at 12V), the charger consumes approximately 30 Ah at 12V for a full charge. Your TEMO·450 battery will be fully charged in approximately 3½ hours.
So - a 100W panel will surely never produce 100W? But I guess at 60% efficiency it will still charge the outboard in 6 hours?
Would it really be possible to replace the 12v plug on the charger with a pair of solar connectors and just plug the panel straight in?
The extra battery would always come in handy to charge phones, power laptops etc, but if we could manage without it would save money.
— W
andsarkit
Well-Known Member
That's why I included the specification label which indicates that the input can be 12v to 28v. If the input is 24v it will only draw 4A to produce the required 29.4v 3A for the charging. A solar panel should be fine for this but I would check with the manufacturers. The only problem I can foresee is if a cloud comes over and the panel output drops below 12v the charger might have some intelligent algorithm that resets or gets out of sync with the charging cycle. In that case a battery buffering the panel and keeping the voltage up might be necessary.
Supertramp
Well-Known Member
I charge my Torqedo battery via a 12v cigar lighter socket. It draws a relatively low amount (5A?) and takes a long time. I usually do it when motoring. The solar panel (130w) would do it provided the sun shines. It is simpler for me to do it via the boat's 12v system so I can see what is happening to the current as the solar panel offsets the load on the batteries.
webcraft
Well-Known Member
Boathook
Well-Known Member
Ive got the epropulsion 100 watt foldable panel to charge my epropulsion. Really only use as a top up. I've also got the 12 volt charger but my battery system can't really cope as only run a Honda 30 with a 10 amp output and 80watt of solar panel.
Sea Change
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure that would work. The charger will likely want to see a certain voltage range before it's happy to start operating. The panel at no load would be producing about 18v which might be too much for the charger.
I'm not sure why you're not just going to go solar->battery->charger ? That way the battery acts as a buffer when the sun goes behind a cloud etc.
webcraft
Well-Known Member
That is what I intended to do. However, now thinking trolling motor, see new thread.
- W
Bouba
Well-Known Member
Sea Change
Well-Known Member
Your can cut them down. It's just a fibreglass tube.I saw these trolling motors today…they must be at least eight foot high
Neeves
Well-Known Member
What is the necessity for being 8' high, deep or long (long tail - as in Thailand)?I saw these trolling motors today…they must be at least eight foot high
Jonathan
Bouba
Well-Known Member
So you can use them from the deck of a bigger boat much higher off the water
RupertW
Well-Known Member
I also charge mine from the main 12V system but use inverter and the fast charger mains although that’s a bit lossy it’s a lot faster and after about lunchtime the solar panels have little to do as the main battery bank is almost at float by then.
