Solar panelling for boat

[dart2]

Hi folks!! My name is Alain. I live in a sub tropical area in NSW Australia. I have a boat which uses 3 x 12 volt 105 amp batteries, 2 connected in parallel for the motor and equipment such as depth sounder, the GPS Plotter, bilge pump, VHF radio, Stereo etc. The third is for the lights only. I wish to connect a solar panel from which I can charge these 3 batteries at the one time while I am using or not using the boat. The boat is a centre console. I want to place the solar panel on top of the centre console. Question is:
* Which type of solar panel should be efficient enough to charge the batteries?
* Which other equipment will I need to buy to make the system work efficiently?
Thanks for reading
Cheers
Alain.

[Sunking]

* Which type of solar panel should be efficient enough to charge the batteries?
* Which other equipment will I need to buy to make the system work efficiently?.

There is no single panel that will actually charge that many batteries. At best just maintain a fully charged battery assuming you can mount it in a spot where no shade whatsoever falls upon it and you can tilt it toward the sun. It will keep the batteries charged while docked, but is not capable of charging them. Your boat motor or auxiliary engine if you have one will be doing the real work of charging the batteries

The largest 12 volt battery panel you can buy is about 160 watts and you would need a 10 amp PWM controller with it.

[dart2]

Hi Sunking,
Thank you for this prompt reply. I understand. Since I cannot place another solar panel on board, I'll have to let the motor do it or use my 240 Volt charger to continue the work as in the old days.
Cheers. Alain.

[Sunking]

Hi Sunking,
Thank you for this prompt reply. I understand. Since I cannot place another solar panel on board, I'll have to let the motor do it or use my 240 Volt charger to continue the work as in the old days.
Cheers. Alain.

That is the way to go. Your engine alternator can do more charging in 10 minutes than the panel can do in a week. In reality all it will do is keep your batteries charged while docked assuming the panel receives any sun light.

[rollug]

And how about solar battery for a small car in the Africa ? Can it charged it to have the alternator have a little break, and maybe to power other electronic devices like phone, dvd player?

[Mike90250]

And how about solar battery for a small car in the Africa ? Can it charged it to have the alternator have a little break, and maybe to power other electronic devices like phone, dvd player?

Again, not worth it, unless the car sits idle for a week or more, and you are using it's battery to power other things. The amount of panels needed to produce really usable amounts of power, is quite large. Smallest system I'd bother with would be about 3, 200w panels. Any smaller, and you are only collecting enough power to charge a small LED light, cell phone, or small laptop.

[Amy@altE]

The Kyocera panels are preferred in marine environments due to their strength and salt spray tolerance. If you are just talking one 140W solar panel, Genasun's MPPT charge controller is perfect for boats. If you are talking about more power than that, Midnite Solar's Marine Kid is designed for boats and can output up to 30A. Blue Sky's charge controllers are also popular with boaters (they were recently bought by Genesun).