Where's the best place for mounting solar panels?

giolconda

giolconda

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Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

Hi all, can those of you with solar panels tell me where you think the best (most practical) place is to mount them, and your reasons for your suggestion.
We move aboard in 8 ish weeks. The other half is in Italy at the moment checking the boat and making some last minute mods. He has asked me to post the question.

We have 3 options

1. On goal posts - we have had a quote for having these made but it is quite pricey.

2. Mounted on the coach roof - the boat is a deck saloon, but won't the boom tent stop them working efficiently?

3. Attached to the side rails.

The boat will be in the Med for at least the first few years, mostly at anchor except for the winter months which we're planning to spend in a marina in Turkey.

Looking forward to hearing your suggestions. Please include as many pros and cons as you can, as we need to make the decision pretty sharpish!
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

Well I am not going to reply as to where to mount them as you will get loads of responses from others about their specific mountings which might or might not suit your requirements?

I would point out one or two general things which need to be taken into consideration.

Most importantly, how easy will it be to run the connecting wires from the desired location down into the battery compartment. These wires need to be 'fairly' substantial.

How safe will the panel(s) be, will they be overtly visible to passing shipping and therefore a possible target for thieves. If they are to be made removable, how easy will it be to stow all the wiring cables and mounting nuts and bolts.

I have seen panels fitted to coach roofs, radar arches, bimmini covers, outboard of the side stantions, on the fore stays and on the fore deck. Some even mount them outboard over the stern away from the boom shadow. Are they of the 'walk-on' type or would they crack if you stood or fell on them?

It is all a matter of what suits your requirements?

Hope this helps? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

It depends if you have already bought the panels. We have semi-flexible ones that are sikaflexed onto the deck in front of the mast. They are designed for walking on and blend in well with the hatches, but they may not be as efficient as rigid ones. It is cheaper to buy more panels than pay a lot of money for mounting frames. Make sure you buy ones that doen't reduce their output dramatically when there's a little bit of shade.

We looked long and hard at mounting rigid ones with some mechanical device to angle them to the sun at all times. This would have been the most efficient but definately not the most practical, and it would have been expensive. Our 2 X 68w panels are now out of sight and we have thought of adding more.
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

Good morning:

Why not figure out some way to install them temporaryly i.e on coach roof, hanging off lifelines with plugs so they can be removed and stowed below when appropriate until you get to Turkey where you can have a radar arch or some such fitting made reasonably cheap. By that time you should have firmed up where you want them and had lots of time to look around to see what others have done with similiar yachts.

Cheer

Squeaky
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

There is no magic solution. Mounting them on an arch to allow adjustment of angle to the sun sounds the perfect solution....BUT.... when at anchor you are not in control of the angle the boat presents to the sun. In anycase, you don't want to be fretting about whether you have 90% solar collection or 60%, after all you are cruising to enjoy your local situation.

In my case I first installed 2x54W panels on the top of my dodger. They were specifically shade tolerant but one or the other was often partially in the shade of the main or at least the boom. I then added 2x64W to the top of the bimini. Much less affected by sails or the boom but still effectively horizontal.

I am happy with my solution because it works and does not require any human intervention. None of the panels are mounted in the optimum position relative to the sun except around midday but they do the job without fuss or thought on my part.

In summary, if you want to get the best out of fewer panels you will have to put a lot of work into keeping them positioned in the optimum unshaded position. For a low attention solution, add as many panels as you can and accept that they may be in-efficient for some hours of the day.
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

Another vote for semi flexibles mounted on foredeck. 3 x 68w panels. reasonable output and have stood up to being walked on for 2 years so far. Fit and forget.
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

Hi
Ive just mounted a rigid 80w panel on the side of the stern using adjustable/removeable mounts. It is connected to a deck connector at the stern which you can unplug. It can be adjusted to suit the angle of the sun. it was easy and cheap to install. When not needed can be taken off and put inside. I will probably buy a small 5w or 10w unit to be perminently mounted for charging the batteries when i leave the boat for long periods.
Hope this helps
M
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

We have gone through various stages of solar panel ownership and mounting. I first fitted a 38 watt panel aft of the mast about 12-13 years ago. It made a useful contribution to battery condition, especially in the winter, for which it is still used. However, it was always difficult to keep sun shining on it, with shadows of shrouds, mast etc almost always reducing power delivered.

Then I bought an additional 32 watt flexible panel which delivered good power and could be moved around the boat to keep out of shadows. However, the lack of a fixed location became a real nuisance and we seemed to be forever moving it, with six lines attaching it to various points to stop it blowing away. Sailing with it attached was particularly annoying, as the only place we could realistically mount it was on the coach roof, which prevented us from standing there to take the mainsail down, or for any other purpose. The total theoretical power delivered, 70 watts, catered for our fridge and other consumers in Greece in June and July but not in other months.

At the beginning of last season I made an arch from standard fittings, to which I fitted 40 and 85 watt Kyocera panels, which have the same width. These two were just catered for by the existing 9 Amp controller. I made the arch with the capability to pivot to maximise sun angle but in practice this has been quite unnecessary. I just leave them flat all the time and we only ran the engine once all last year, in October when we had thick cloud and rain for several days. The radar scanner throws a shadow but this has not affected the battery condition to any noticeable extent.

This photo shows the arch.
IMG_3788.jpg

I bought some of the angles and T's on a trip to USA, others from Baseline, who I found had the best stock and lower prices, and all the tubing from an Ebay dealer who was very helpful. I had the fittings that hold the panels to the tubes made by a local welder.

The subject of cabling has been raised by another poster. The original panels had all connecting wiring below, for which I used industrial grade multistrand wiring, not tinned, about 4 mm2. For the new panels I bought 5 mm2 tinned marine grade cable. I didn't want to suffer any voltage drop, so these sizes are quite generous.
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

I'd agree with Vyv, having faffed about with moving panels around we ended up lashing them to the side decks. They provided power (they were 2x65w) for the fridge and lighting at anchor. Now that we are UK based, I've removed them but will go for the arch route when they are put back, along, as with Vyv, the radome and the aerials. Very nice rig you have there, Vyv.
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

We chose a gantry (goal posts mounted over the stern). Once we got used to it being there it has proved to be effective without inhibiting boat use in any way. They are out of the way of shadows - which is really important, as the slightest shadow practically stops a panel from working, they are also out of harms way too.

The only other solution I would consider is mounting on the guard rails to either side of the stern which I have seen effectively used.

The bonus about the gantry solution is that it is fit and forget - apart from the occasional clean of the SP surface.

We avoided the flexible panels for two reasons :-
1. They are not as electrically efficient
2. All solar panels suffer from a loss of efficiency as they get hot. The best way to avoid heat build up is to have air passing top and bottom of the panel - which you can't do with a flexible panel. (We are cruising in the Med not the UK)
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

Went through a similar thought process last year and decided to go with 2 x 100 W permanently fixed to an arch which was fabricated at Sopromar Yard in Lagos.

Not cheap, but very glad we went this route. Last season we were 100% self sufficient for energy, typically getting 11 amps plus during the middle of the day. The arch is the same height as the bimini and immediately behind it, so it effectively gives us significantly extra shade as a bonus!

We did consider having panels mounted on the guard wires by the cockpit with a tilting mechanism and prop arrangement....but having seen something similar severely damaged when coming stern-to between two other boats, I am glad we didn't go this route!!!
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

Hi Cloadasmum,

We have spoken to a lot of people with solar panels over the last two years in the Ionion and around to Turkey because we were interested in fitting solar panels as well.

The recurring answers have been:-

- Goal Posts / Arch are good but output is affected by inability to change angle of solar panels and the arches are expensive to make and fit.

- Aft rails very good (with stainless tubing welded in place of guardwire for strength) because of ability to angle both panels.

My concern has been potential damage to panels at the side but in all cases owners with this option were very reassuring about this.

Bearing in mind that most of us tend to justify the decisions we have made the responses to the questions have been interesting. Most with flexible panels expressed some disappointments, Some with arches expressed disappointments, None with aft rail mounting expressed disappointment.

As a result of the reactions we have opted for the aft rails positions and the panels (Kyocera) have been fitted this winter in Turkey.

Time will tell.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Bob
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

Hi Alyssa,

Your post beat me whilst I was doing mine.

Damage to ones at the side was a major concern and I hadn't seen any in this position damaged and all owners I spoke to were, as I said, reassuring.

Must say I 'gulped' when I read your post about what you'd seen. Looks like my big ball fenders will be coming into play a lot!

Cheers,

Bob
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

Hope it works out for you. It would be impossible for me to mount them on aft rails, our pushpit is far too narrow.

In the past four years I have replaced a total of four stanchions due to collisions of one sort or another. One was caused by myself, berthing stern-to in a force 7 in Sardinia. The others were all caused by others, either berthing or departing berths. Every one would have wrecked a solar panel mounted on sides.

I cannot find any problems at all in our arch mounting, except the need to climb up onto the pushpit to wash them occasionally.
 
Re: Where\'s the best place for mounting solar panels?

With Bob on this one. We preferred not to erect a 'goal post' so went for the aft side rails. Have a look here:


IMG_2095.JPG



If you look closely behind bucket and cat you will see the assembly, which is easily raised or lowered as required.

We chose 3 separate panels side by side, which fit perfectly inside the guard rails, when lowered. Each panel is 40w, so we have a total of 240w, giving us up to 16amps on a good, sunny day with all panels in sunshine. The advantage of 3 smaller panels on each side (apart from looking neat) is that if shadow falls on one the other two still work perfectly. Our panels are Kyocera, bought locally through the dealer in Marmaris, who is an electrician and helped install them. The stainless steel work was also done in the local 'sanayi' (industrial estate). If anyone needs a contact name for the supplier please pm me.
 
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