SOLAR POWER

[Guest]

I am off to the med next yr & trying to work out what size solar panel i need... a have a 30 ft boat & use the batteries for interior lights, vhf, radio, autopilot, insts x 4 & chartplotter...

the boat is 2nd hand with no insrtument info, how much power input do you think i require?

i would really appreciate your help to choose which size panels to buy.

thanks nick
ps great site

 

[tony_brighton]

You probably need to be a bit more exact in working our your power demands from your equipment - if you still have the manuals they should give you power consumption when in use. Then figure out the hours of usage to work out your daily power demands from a solar panel.

 

[vyv_cox]

My 2 amp, 36 watt unit would cope with your demands in Northern Europe. In the Med I would expect you could go down in size. The ability to point the panel at the sun helps enormously. You lose a lot of output from even small shadows, e.g. shrouds, and all of it from mast and boom.

 

[snowleopard]

lotsandlots

the killers are nav lights and autopilot. a 25 w masthead unit uses 20 ah per night, an autopilot typically 30-50 ah per day. a 40w panel is going to give you under 30 ah per day. you'll need less if you do'nt sail much but i'd go for at least 2x40w.