"Glenn Ashmore" wrote:


"Geoff Schultz" wrote

What you need is a regulator that runs in diverter mode. In this mode it
senses the voltage and when it goes above the level that you've set, it
diverts some of the wattage to a resistive load (in my case, a water
heater
element in my hot water tank). There is absolutely no loss when running
in
this mode. This regulator controlls both my solar panels and my wind
generator.

I would suggest looking at charge controllers from MorningStar. I went
through several Trace/Xantrex and finally scrapped it. It seems that once
they started buulding the units in China that the reliability went to
hell.
I went with MorningStar TriStar unit and have been very happy with it.

Geoff,

I have been looking at the Tristar but couldn't figure out what to divert
to. How did you wire up the water heater to isolate the Tristar from the AC
shore power?

We divert the excess solar power (and wind power) to little fans that
run in the cabins and keep the air circulating. We can tell when the
batteries are charged if the fans start to run. If the boat is on the
hard and we aren't aboard, it helps to have the air circulate. YMMV