Lead acid batteries are supposed to have a charge rate between 10-13% of their Ah rating, for example, a 100Ah battery should have a charge rate of 10A-13A.
Looking back at your original post it seems you have a dock where you could mount the panels on? You’re going to need more than 20W per battery of solar panels. If that’s true why not mount several 100 W panels on the dock as well as the controller and just have the output wires from the controller go to the boat? The math says you’d get about 6.9A’s of charging per 100W panel, but would probably be less in reality,
@lazergeek reports 5.7A which is 82% and pretty good, but he’s in Florida, your output might be a bit less. He has a very simple controller set up mounted in his boat as well as the 100W panel on top. He doesn’t have a dock to mount his equipment on. He is also running the LiTime battery which is pretty inexpensive and reporting good performance.
Checkout his post here;
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...
Also some good info in this thread.
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
I will definitely look at those threads you linked.
Yes, we have our own dock, but Kentucky Wildlife (which oversees the lake) has control over what you can do at the lake and what you cannot. Running electrical to the dock is definitely not allowed. Thats not to say there are people that have run power, but they are also on parts of the lake that are not as popular or areas people would hang out. Or they just haven't been caught yet. Hence my reason for solar, and attaching it to the dock - something I need to look into if thats even permissible, as I am now thinking through this more. (we are definitely on a part of the lake that sees more activity and has more exposure). Our lake has a tendency to flood depending on the rainfall, and setting up a solar panel on the shore would most likely see it be submerged. Having it attached to the dock would keep it above water. But I also don't want to overload our dock with solar panels (gangway is 4' wide by 20' long & dock is 8' wide by 16' long).
The hurdles I see for myself, and it really just needs more research and understanding on my part...
- Can I mount panels to the dock - that answer could squash the whole project.
- Setting up a system that would allow easy connect/disconnect from dock to boat.
- Confirming/feeling comfortable that the "live" end coming from the panel, when disconnected is still safe and not a hazard.
- Can it get wet from kids splashing on the dock?
- Can it get wet from weather without it being a hazard?
- Can it be left disconnected during the non-boating season without issue?
- What happens if the live end falls into the water?
- Is there a switch that could be added after the panels, but before the disconnect that would allow me to kill the power feed.
- Confirming that the panels I get and the "trickle" charger setup I have will not be detrimental to the battery.
- The good thing for me is that the boat essentially has 1 week (if not more) to recharge, as we are typically only there on the weekends. So I don't need it fully charged within a 12 hour or 24 hour period. If I kill the battery due to the stereo being overused while floating, I will use my Noco charger to recondition or recharge it - if salvageable.
Again the "Lake Lite" system is very intriguing to me, and supposedly they claim it will do what I want. Will it over time kill the battery, I don't know. But using their system as inspiration to developing a system that is maybe a little better in quality or output, but also at a similar or less expensive cost is the ultimate goal. Just need to continue to do more research and refer to other people's builds.
