On Thu, 22 Mar 2007 04:57:17 +0000, Larry wrote:

Eric Stevens wrote in
:

It all depends. I have a 45' power boat (a 60 year old nine knotter)
with two 80 watt panels on the cabin roof. They are tied together
through a common regulator and keep my 220 amp.hour house batteries
charged. The house batteries in turn are coupled via a Heart Interface
echo charger to the starting battery to keep it topped up also.


Love the boat. Thanks for keeping her afloat. Most powerboaters are in
WAY too much of a hurry to "get there" for me...(c;

But, alas, 160 watts only happens in direct, bright sunshine and, at 14V
is only 11A at peak output, which, if the thing can be kept pointing at
the sun with nothing shadowing it, the 11A peak is at the top of a daily
bell curve, which starts around 9-10 AM and dies off quickly after 3PM,
at best. Boat environment swinging around on a hook is anywhere near "at
best".

I'm aware of all that. I only mentioned the 80 W to give people an
indication of the size of the panels.

You probably make 30 AH/day on sunny days...nothing if it's cloudy.

I doubt if I make that much in the depths of winter but its surprising
how much I can get when its just ordinarily cloudy.

I'm afraid I'm STILL the advocate for a wind generator in coastal
climates....one that makes serious power 24 hours a day if the wind is
up. On a power boat, of course, even a slow one, you'll want to stow it
with the engine running the alternator(s).

Aaaaah - the noise - the noise. :-(



Eric Stevens