Alan Gomes
Sustaining Partner
I decided to cobble together an inexpensive solar installation for my E26-2. I went with a 100W solar panel recommended by my friend Neil (who occasionally posts here as "Parrothead").
This is the panel I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017OMTAV6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here's the controller: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IMIBM3G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I splurged and purchased this meter so I could monitor what the panel is doing rather than simply taking it on faith that it is working: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SW1N844/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I gave it a test on Friday morning and it seems to be doing everything it is supposed to. I'm heading over to Avalon (Catalina Island) tomorrow and will be there for a week, so this will be the acid test. I have LED lights in the cabin so the draw from those is negligible. The biggest draw is my laptop, which I use throughout the day, since I typically go to Catalina to work on my writing projects. After about 3 days of heavy laptop use I start to see the need to run my engine to keep the house battery from discharging too deeply. My hope is that this panel will eliminate the need for that.
For ideal efficiency I'd have the panel on an articulating mount that I could aim for best performance throughout the day. But my approach here is to just mount it on the sea hood and get whatever I get. When I'm under way I will just store the panel in the quarter berth and then set it up once I'm on the mooring or at anchor. I believe it will give me adequate performance even with this very simple but less than ideal mounting; I guess we'll find out. I'll report back.
I need to make some custom bungees for attaching it to the hand rails. In the attached photo I just used some off the shelf bungees to secure it.
(Also, I now have a short cable that connects the meter to the controller. The meter ships with a really long cable in case you wanted to mount the meter far from the controller.)
This is the panel I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017OMTAV6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here's the controller: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IMIBM3G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I splurged and purchased this meter so I could monitor what the panel is doing rather than simply taking it on faith that it is working: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SW1N844/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I gave it a test on Friday morning and it seems to be doing everything it is supposed to. I'm heading over to Avalon (Catalina Island) tomorrow and will be there for a week, so this will be the acid test. I have LED lights in the cabin so the draw from those is negligible. The biggest draw is my laptop, which I use throughout the day, since I typically go to Catalina to work on my writing projects. After about 3 days of heavy laptop use I start to see the need to run my engine to keep the house battery from discharging too deeply. My hope is that this panel will eliminate the need for that.
For ideal efficiency I'd have the panel on an articulating mount that I could aim for best performance throughout the day. But my approach here is to just mount it on the sea hood and get whatever I get. When I'm under way I will just store the panel in the quarter berth and then set it up once I'm on the mooring or at anchor. I believe it will give me adequate performance even with this very simple but less than ideal mounting; I guess we'll find out. I'll report back.
I need to make some custom bungees for attaching it to the hand rails. In the attached photo I just used some off the shelf bungees to secure it.
(Also, I now have a short cable that connects the meter to the controller. The meter ships with a really long cable in case you wanted to mount the meter far from the controller.)