Solar Panels for Sailboat?

[tholley]

Hi,

I’m planning on adding 3 450 watt bifacial solar panels to a stern arch on my 47’ sailboat. Looking for high performance and suitable for marine environment with max width of 41”. Would like to use “tier 1” panels. Any suggestions for panels that fit this bill would be much appreciated.

thank you,
Tim

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Photovoltaic panel manufacturing is a mature industry. There’s probably “dozens” of decent brands.

Any recognizable brand making bifacial panels is going to be ‘good.’

REC, Hyundai, Canadian, Jinko, Kyocera, Longi, Silfab, Qcell are just some that are off the top of my head. There’s probably 20 USA-made mfgrs.

 

[bryhan67]

Could be good idea to look and see if you could make more power by having a second panel under the top one. I believe the backside of a bifacial does not produce the same power? Or test a bifacial. flip it over and see how the power is different. Microinverter might be good for shadowning of the mast?

 

[Dave in AZ]

Hi,

I’m planning on adding 3 450 watt bifacial solar panels to a stern arch on my 47’ sailboat. Looking for high performance and suitable for marine environment with max width of 41”. Would like to use “tier 1” panels. Any suggestions for panels that fit this bill would be much appreciated.

thank you,
Tim

Recommend you post this in the Marine forum, where all they talk about is marine rated panels...

 

[HRTKD]

Thread moved to Marine subforum.

 

[HRTKD]

Are you sure that a bifacial panel is the best solution? Will there be enough of a reflective surface behind the panel to justify it?

 

[bryhan67]

Are you sure that a bifacial panel is the best solution? Will there be enough of a reflective surface behind the panel to justify it?

If they are mounted up in the rear like I see most they should have a lot of extra power with the sun reflecting off the water or even a white boat.

 

[HRTKD]

Bifacial Solar Panels - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Apologies if this has been covered.. I couldn't find a lot of discussion on it and thought it an interesting idea. On mono-hulls where everyone tends to mount solar on an arch, how come nobody mounts

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