Search results

Here is a German product that is supposed to save the summer electricity overcapacity and provide it in winter via H2 storage. The idea is to make a house energy independent. But it comes with an expensive price tag: 85k :D Their site is in German but here is the Google translate link...

Hm, not sure about the US but in Germany these devices can be bought and used legally. They are called Balkonkraftwerk (balcony power plant). They consist of a solar panel, inverter and plug. They are limited in max power and you need to register them. See for example on Amazon (just to...

I know you said "from wood" but I am wondering if bio gas wouldn't be easier? You could just use an ordinary gasoline generator with a methane kit? The bio gas (methane) should be fairly easy to produce from waste material?

Food for thought: these guys built a fridge with a water based thermal battery: The use case is to run it on solar or to power it when cheap electricity is available. Its in German but Google translate does a decent job...

Another one, pretty close to go to market: https://sonomotors.com/en/sion/

@ArranP, I would look at it from a different angle: You outlined the maximal shade coverage from the boom while sailing. BUT: Most of the time you are probably not sailing but at anchor / mooring / marina. Therefor you need to map out the shading of the boom when not sailing. E.g. centered or...

In the EU you would have the European Union energy label: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_energy_label

@eXodus, thats a good way to visualize it! Although I think we have a different situation here. Phase 1: DCDC converter Voltage > Battery Voltage: charging Phase 2: DCDC converter Voltage = Battery Voltage: nothing happens Phase 3: DCDC converter Voltage < Battery Voltage: What happens now? Or...

I do want to turn the DCDC converter off at the "float" voltage setting. But the MPPT controller will bring the voltage higher up (for a short while so the battery can balance). Thus my question if it will harm the DCDC converter. Additionally I will also add a manual switch, I will only use the...

Well I have a Battleborn battery bank and they recommend to use a "absorbtion" phase. This is essentially just a higher voltage for a little while so that the BMS can balance. Since I have that programmed into my mppt controller there will be a situation where battery will have a higher voltage...

Thank you! Thats the answer I was looking for.

Hi solar lovers! I have the following system: alternator -> starter battery (lead acid) -> [missing component] -> house battery (lithium) <- mppt charge controller <- solar My starter battery is charged by the alternator, my house battery is charged by mppt controllers To add redundancy I...

@SDovey , I would try to go the other way round: 1. determine where you will put the panels. Since there is limited surface area and always shade on a sail boat you probably have to put them into different places. E.g I have panels on my davids, bimini, dodger and hand rail around cock pit. 2...

I built a Bimini that fits the 50cm panels exactly. And now the sizes of Renogy / HQST panels seems to have changed ? I guess I should have ordered the panels first. But then shipping due covid wasn't exactly easy... I'll find a solution, one way or the other...

@Symbioquine, thank you that is helpful! It seems HQST and Renogy both had the 498mm version but now they sell the 507 version. Maybe they switched their supplier? I wrote HQST, lets see what they say...

Yeah, that would be a bit to big. On Amazon there are 2 different dimensions for that panel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JXYTFF7/

That would be great! Thank you!

Hey solar crowd! I am looking for a slim 100 Watt panel (framed, not flexible). Ideally it is no wider than 500mm (19,685 inch). The slimmest one I could find is this Newpowa one: https://www.amazon.com/Newpowa-Monocrystalline-Efficiency-Module-Marine/dp/B01LY02BOA It says 19,88inch = 504,952mm...

I wonder if the ideal use case for bifacials would be a solar wall / fence? Putting the panels straight up to catch the morning and the evening sun. But I have no information if the back is as good as the front?

In my experience it is not sealed to be waterproof. How do I know? I built a hard top bimini with a rain catching feature. It has 2 x 100 W HQST Poly panels as part of the bimini. Water comes through between the aluminum and the glass. But I think this can be easily fixed with some sealant.

@Firstascent , I am curious why you are looking into having an alternator "made" instead of buying one? E.g. Ballmar offers 24V alternator with external regulation. Are the "made" ones cheaper, better? Just curious..

Also the wire could be smaller than 3x since 1 panel is guaranteed to be always shaded (teh sun can't shine on the 2 sides and the top of a boat). So I think I could get away with the same wire as let's say 1.5 x of the single set up Yes that is still a bit of a mystery what the actual loss is...

I think the cost savings come due to the fact that I don't need a larger controller and only need 2 wires instead of 6. My reasoning here is that no more that 2 panels can get sun light at the same time and thus I don't need to have one large controller that could handle 3 panels in full sun...

@gnubie, thank you for the explanation. what I have is somewhat similar to what you describe. I have 3 sets of panels. 2 sets are mounted to each side of the boat, one above the cockpit roof. You can think of it having as having the panels on each side of a van and one on the roof. => At a given...

yes the concept seems to be common on sailboats. Everything on a boat will break eventually :cool: about (3): do you know what that means in real world numbers? Does that mean that also the performance of the non shaded panel will be effected by the shaded ones since the MPPT controller can't...

that would be great! :-) I have one panel of 365 watts bifacial. I regularly get up to 400 Watt peak power. I can't find it's spec right now but the maximum voltage seems to be around 43 volts. This one is connected to a Victron MPPT 75/15. I think I would leave that one as is to have the...

@gnubie got it, thank you! What I called "panel" is are actually 2 panels in series... So I guess the idea is: one charge controller per group of the same panels, wired in parallel, a (group of) different panel(s) gets their own controller one plus and minus cable (no common minus cable) per group.

hmm, when should you use a second controller? Whenever the panels are different?

There you are right. I would think that not so much can go wrong with the cable itself but there is a chance...

Hello crowd, I would like to pick your brain :-) I have multiple panels that are mounted close to each other but in different angles towards the sun and with different shading (they are on a sailboat). Therefor (and for redundancy reasons) I want to connect each panel via a mppt controller to...

We have a bifacial panel on our boat. If it is worth it you need to decide for yourself ;-) I guess its costs vs. available space. Space is very limited on a sail boat. I can report that we get more power than the nominal (uper side) power rating. We have a 365 Watt Panel and see at sunny days...

We generate our power mainly by solar and a bit of wind. Rarely by generator. Our system is 24 Volt DC and 220 Volt AC. We live on a sailboat, currently in Panama. The shore power here is 110V, I believe the same as in the US. Panama generates generate 64% of its power via water and other...

I think so. The solar panel is not their core product. I would just call or email and and ask: https://www.torqeedo.com/en/customer-service/contactus.html Looking at their ridiculously expensive solar panel it doesn't look like it includes a controller...

Hello @anotherone , when I switched to LithiumFePo4 on my boat I switched only the house bank but left the starter battery as lead acid. I believe this is an area where lead acid batteries do a good job (high short load, followed by recharging right afterwards through the alternator). Cheers Patrick

@Realmaplesyrup , Great to see more people go for the electrical route on outboards! (although they are still overpriced these days in my opinion). The handbook ( https://media.torqeedo.com/downloads/manuals/torqeedo-Travel-manual-DE-EN.pdf ) says this: I wonder if this means you can connect a...