Solar Powered

Now the roof has been painted I was able to fit the solar panels.  That was this weeks mid week visit to the boat.

Having made and fitted the mounting brackets it was time to wire up and screw them to the roof.  I had already laid in the wires in the ceiling void so this made the job a bite easier.  What made it difficult was the almost continuous rain over the last 2 days.  Anyway, after dodging what I could and getting the occasional dampening this is what it looks like.

Now the technical bit.  

As the panels output at 30+ volts and this needs to get it into a 12v battery bank safely by reducing the voltage.

This needs another bit of kit, an MPPT controller (this site explains how they do what they do).

This is my MPPT charge controller.

The grey cable is to the remote meter which displays loads of information about whats happening. Of most interest is the live data on the input voltage, amperage and battery levels. 

I have wired the negative via the shunt so this will record on the Victron battery monitor.

This is the instruction manual for the 10amp model but its exactly the same.

So today when the sun did shine well I was getting 35amps! Even when it was cloudy and pouring down I was still getting 5amps.

Conclusion.................... It works so hopefuly this will reduce or eliminate the need to run the generator.