In article ,
Electricky Dicky wrote:

On Fri, 29 Dec 2006 09:21:11 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

snip
If it's partly sunny most of the day, the solar cell is sufficient. If
we happen to run the battery flat, a couple of hours' sunlight will
bring us up far enough to start the Yanmar.

So what do you do if you suddenly need the engine on a foggy day!!!!!

I cannot see any sense in a setup like this.

As I said, it was a test. In practice, we don't run the battery down
that far, and we *can* charge when it's foggy or partly overcast.

AND we do have a fully-charged second battery.

My next iteration on the system will be a group 31 directly connected to
the engine with minimum-length leads, the house bank considerably larger
and usually disconnected from the starting battery and alternator, but
hard-wired to the solar.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/