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Solar Panels at Sea

Jessica PirroMay 3, 2019 1208 0

Boating is expensive. The cost to buy it is expensive and after it’s purchased, money has to be spent on maintenance, as well fuel charges. Now there is a reliable and cost-effective way to power your boat. Solar panels.  

Solar panels set sail

The way that a solar energy system works on a boat is similar to the way that other portable, off-grid systems work. A boat’s solar panels system contain four viable components. Solar panels, charge controller, solar power inverter and the battery.

When sunlight hits the solar panels installed on a boat, they then generate an electrical current. The battery then stores the current that is generated so that it can be used for the boats electrical needs.

For most system’s a charge controller is required to prevent the batteries from getting damaged from over charging. The charge controllers prevent the batteries from receiving more voltage than the can handle, which would result in overcharging.

The deciding factor if you need a solar panel inverter to convert the direct current electricity to alternating current electricity, all depends on the type of appliances you need to energize.

There are some boat electronics that use DC and those one’s will not require a solar panel inverter. But the if there are every day appliances that are on your boat such as, TVs, microwaves and hairdryer, they will usually use AC electricity and those one’s require an solar panel inverter.

It is possible to buy all of these separately, but there are solar panel kits that come with some or all of the needed parts. There are also boat solar panel kits that include all of the wires, cables and mounting equipment that is required to get the solar system producing energy.  

Boat solar panel kits 

There are quite a few solar panel kits that are available for purchase for boats.

PRODUCT

COST

PANEL WATTAGE (W)

INCLUDED EQUIPMENT

Renogy flexible solar panel

$200

100 W

None

WindyNation

$160

100 W

Charge controller, connectors, mounting brackets

Renogy solar panel

$175

160 W

None

Newpowa solar panel

$100

100 W

None

If the solar system that is purchased doesn’t have a solar power inverter or a charge controller, you’ll need to buy them separately. There are some battery storage products that have built in solar power inverters and charge controllers.

Are solar panels on your boat right for you?

There are plenty of benefits to having your boat run on solar power. What people seem to consider the most attractive benefit, is the savings.

Like other solar systems, you will need to invest money upfront to buy the solar system, but once the system is up and running, your boat will be generating free electricity. You also won’t have to purchase fuel like you would have to for a gasoline powered generator.

The quietness of solar panels is also a benefit of solar panels for boats. If running on generator power while boating, the noise that it creates can ruin the general splendor that comes with being in the middle of a body of water.

Another benefit of solar panels on boats is you can generate electricity and charge your batter with solar power all the while not being on your boat. It is just the opposite with generators because they require manual operation and monitoring.

With solar panels you can have them produce usable electricity while at work and have it ready to go for the weekend.

How many solar panels does your boar need?

A yacht has very different power requirements than a sailboat. There are a few different things that determine how many solar panels are required to power your boat.

It will depend on what kind of boat you have and what size it is. It will also depend on the quality of the equipment you choose, how many hours of sun-hours the boat sees and the amount of electricity your boat requires.

There are some boats that can get by with a single 100-watt solar panel solar panel and others that need a multi-panel setup.

The first step in figuring out how many panels you need is by calculating the amount of electricity that your boat requires. Below is a chart of common appliances on a boat and how much they draw for power.

APPLIANCE

POWER CONSUMPTION (W)

DAILY HOURS OF USE

DAILY POWER CONSUMPTION (WH)

Light bulb

60 W

6

360 WH

TV

200 W

4

800 WH

Microwave

800 W

1

80 WH

Mini-fridge

200 W

24

4,800 WH

Fan

400 W

2

800 WH

Blige pump

40 W

1

40 WH

GPS display

50 W

3

150 WH

The last column in the table above is the amount of energy that you’ll consume in watt-hours while running each appliance for the number that is in the hours column.

One 100 watt solar panel that receives direct sunlight for 5 hours will produce 500 WH of electricity. That’s enough energy produced to power a boats GPS display for 10 years.

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