2018 242 Limited SE - I need to replace solar panel

[Summers420us]

2018 242 Limited SE - I am looking for a solar panel, either OEM or something that will fit. Anyone have any hookups or ideas? Dealer is telling me they are NA even though it is technically still under warranty.



I believe part number is F3F-U8441-10-00

 

[Cambo]

Why does it need to be replaced ? The reason I ask is that on my 2017 I thought the solar panels were not working when I probed the battery terminals with no batteries to see what bank it charged and had no voltage to any of the batteries I thought the panel was bad . Turns out it was a blown fuse if you disconnect the batteries and touch any of the connectors together by mistake on a sunny day it will burn the fuse out. I checked the connector on the starboard side and it had power.




On a sunny day it produced a decent amount to even power my 12v shower and it pushed the water further than I have ever seen do to the aprox 15V in full sunlight

 

[Summers420us]

Why does it need to be replaced ?

It has delaminated and basically fallen apart.

 

[joechen]

Reviving this thread. The Yamaha offical panel is around $600 but I would expect a similar sized panel to cost around $40 on Amazon. Has anyone fitted a different brand to a 2018/2019 242 bimini. My panel is delamenating also. Thanks for looking

 

[dalcini]

@joechen I can't help with any experience, but have saved a collection of links discussing this on various models. From the links below, it seems you could replace your panel far cheaper than what the OEM unit costs, but might need to make a few modifications to attach a different size/shape panel. This is on my list too but probably won't happen this season (my first). @FSH 210 and a few others here are quite knowledgable on this topic.

Links:

M

Thread '2016 242 LSE Solar panel replacement'

Oct 28, 2023

Doing some upgrades on the boat in the off season here. I just replaced my batteries from 2x24M's to a 24M(starter) and 2x27m(house) as I'm planning to upgrade the sound system this winter as well. During this I noticed one of my solar panels was delaminating and had corrosion on it (previous owner did all salt water). Pulled the junction box cover off and measured each panel the port panel is putting out 17.5 (no load) so it's fine, but the corroded starboard panel is only putting out about 7.5 so it's basically shot. The panels that come on these boats are Ganz GSP-12's with a max output...

• Motoriderx7x
• Replies: 6
• Forum: Electronics-Stereo/GPS/Chartplotter/Electrical etc

Thread '2019 242x Solar Panel Charging'

Jun 4, 2019

I have now had my 2019 242x out on the water a couple weekends now and this last weekend my house battery has just continued to drop in voltage. I am guessing this is from running the stereo almost all day every day. On Saturday about half way through the day my house battery was reading 11.9 on connext and my amps started to turn off due to lack of proper voltage. Once I fired up the engines everything returned to normal. I charged the battery for a good 15 minutes at an elevated idle which helped a lot but I am pretty disappointed in this whole solar panel thing. I swear it's not...

• CDENsomnia
• Replies: 92
• Forum: General Discussion

Thread 'Making DVSR Active with Engines On Only'

Jun 13, 2016

I want to have the DVSR only come on with the engines, to allow my dual bank charger to work as intended. I know you cut the red wire on the back of the switch cluster, and feed the one side from a switched power supply, but my question is for the 2016 e-series, does anyone know which wire will do the trick?

On the previous models, it was a specific wire for power to port or starboard YDIS that could be found behind the circular port in the engine bay, but mine has no such port, so I'm assuming the wires may be different as well.

Any help appreciate!

thanks,
Derek

• Derek Fosbury
• Replies: 88
• Forum: Electronics-Stereo/GPS/Chartplotter/Electrical etc

Thread 'Charging Scenario - Replace DVSR with DC-DC Charger?'

Jan 26, 2024

New boater wanting to float an idea past the experts. I'm looking at options for upgrading my house battery capacity and am drawn to this Dakota Lithium 135Ah group 24 LiFePo as a mostly drop-in replacement for what the dealer installed. I also intend to install a NOCO Genius 10x2 onboard. From reading here, I understand that the DVSR would need to be modified to prevent paralleling the batteries while using the NOCO (or at rest on the water) due to higher resting voltage of LiFePo. Instead of that, what if I removed the DVSR completely and installed this Victron Orion XS...

• evilbit
• Replies: 17
• Forum: Electronics-Stereo/GPS/Chartplotter/Electrical etc

Thread '210 FSH Sport Solar Charger'

Jul 4, 2021

I added a 100 Watt solar panel to the T-Top with a Solar Charge Controller. I dont have power for a charger in my storage location. Even with my moring cover covering the solar panel while in storage the battery it still produces enough power to keep the battery topped off. Spent all day on the water Friday runing the Stereo and and 1500W amp all day and still had plenty of power at the end of the day. Unfortionatly the charge controller is cheap and does not display the current production amps. The Solar Panel is mounted to the T-Top with paracord in the front, with bungee securing the...

• lazergeek
• Replies: 19
• Forum: Electronics-Stereo/GPS/Chartplotter/Electrical etc

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[FSH 210 Sport]

I suppose the trick would be finding one the correct size and being able to adapt it to the oem holder. The electrical connections on a replacement panel will obviously be different.

I’m not sure of what the purpose of the oem solar panel is, just to keep the batteries topped off? Provide some extra power while on the water? Both? The oem panel doesn’t look very big but @Cambo ’s account makes it seem like it’s got some umphhh, water pumps usually take around 3.5-5A’s.

I skimmed over the linked threads that @dalcini provided, thanks!

@lazergeek ‘s set up is great, his experience basically shows that the longevity nod goes to the non flexible type panel. And with his upgraded controller he’s able to see how much charge he’s getting and where to put the charge current, he has dedicated 1A to the start and the rest to the LFP house battery. He’s getting 82% of the mathematical 6.944444A’s or 5.7A’s which is very good, so he’s got 4.7A going to his LFP house battery to supply power while on the water and to charge that battery when the boat is in storage. He’s also set up his DVSR to ignition hot, see below.

Modifying the DVSR to “storage” or “ignition” mode is pretty much a mandatory thing to do for all the boats that come with the BEP marine battery switch, or any boat that uses a VSR set up with two batteries, whether you’re using lead acid batteries or LFP batteries. There are two ways to accomplish this, either hook up the DVSR activation wire to a rocker switch on the dash=manual / storage mode or use a fuel pump hot wire=ignition hot mode. The fuel pump hot wire is the fire and forget way to do it and several people here have done that with great success, this allows the start and house batteries to be charged independently and will provide the best possible performance out of the house battery whether you’re on the water or charging the batteries from shore power via an onboard charger.

 

[dalcini]

Excellent information @FSH 210 Sport. I will add one comment from my side: Solar panel consideration is further complicated if you intend to incorporate an onboard battery charger.

I don't recall seeing a definitive solution for how to make these two play well together. It is for this reason that I decided not to replace my own (dead) solar panel since I will be wet slipping my 242X, and prefer to leverage available shore power for a two bank battery charger.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Excellent information @FSH 210 Sport. I will add one comment from my side: Solar panel consideration is further complicated if you intend to incorporate an onboard battery charger.

I don't recall seeing a definitive solution for how to make these two play well together. It is for this reason that I decided not to replace my own (dead) solar panel since I will be wet slipping my 242X, and prefer to leverage available shore power for a two bank battery charger.

Thats a good point.. I do not know how to “turn off” the solar charging system if on shore power.. I would venture a guess that since the system is fused and no damage will come from just having the ckt open in the case of a blown fuse. So, a simple switch would probably suffice to take the solar off line when on shore power.