Hey everyone, new to boat and new to solar, lots of changes in my life coming up. I'm looking to add a solar setup of about 450 to 600 watts relatively cheap to my boat. Don't worry about mounting, I'll figure something out cheaply for that. I'm trying to avoid paying a heavy freight cost for solar panels so I'm stuck to ordering ones around 120W max I think.
The way the boat is set up right now is 2 12V AGM batteries wired in parallel connected to the engine via alternator for charging and it powers the 12V switchboard. What I was thinking of doing what getting 480W of solar panels, putting 2 on the port side and 2 on the starboard side near the back all wired in series with an MPPT controller, rewire the 2 batteries in series so they're 24V and connect a step down 24V to 12V so they can still power the switchboard and get a 24V inverter so I can power everyday things, mostly my laptop or low wattage desktop I built. The engine starter is connected to this battery bank it's a Yanmar 1GM only 7.5 HP so I don't think it's too bad but I was thinking of getting a separate battery for that anyways and connect the only system via alternator for charging to that one. Now ideally I'd like a bigger main battery bank but I've decided since they should all be the same and purchased at the same time to keep things from draining one another that I'll just use these 2 until they die and then buy a new set of 4.
What I was planning on so far:
4 X http://www.altestore.com/store/Solar...-Panel/p10354/
1 X http://www.altestore.com/store/Charg...-Black/p11138/
1 X http://www.altestore.com/store/Volta...er-12A/p10506/
1 X http://www.amazon.com/Power-Bright-M...s=24v+inverter
I don't know what size wires I need or how long they will have to be so I'm looking for help on that and any other suggestions if you have any different products or anything but remember I need to do this cheaply. I figure if I have 2 on one side and 2 on the other of the boat the beam is 9ft and if I wire them in series I'll need a good length of wire. Is there anything other than the wiring I need to set this system up? does the stepdown converter come with the connection pieces and wiring to do what I wanted or do I need to buy this seperate? I want to wire in series to avoid a combiner box (read: extra money spent). Do I need a circuit breaker? Maybe a 8-plug power strip with surge protection built in attached to the inverter? This has been putting a lot of stress on me because it seems so technical with so many different things, please help.
The way the boat is set up right now is 2 12V AGM batteries wired in parallel connected to the engine via alternator for charging and it powers the 12V switchboard. What I was thinking of doing what getting 480W of solar panels, putting 2 on the port side and 2 on the starboard side near the back all wired in series with an MPPT controller, rewire the 2 batteries in series so they're 24V and connect a step down 24V to 12V so they can still power the switchboard and get a 24V inverter so I can power everyday things, mostly my laptop or low wattage desktop I built. The engine starter is connected to this battery bank it's a Yanmar 1GM only 7.5 HP so I don't think it's too bad but I was thinking of getting a separate battery for that anyways and connect the only system via alternator for charging to that one. Now ideally I'd like a bigger main battery bank but I've decided since they should all be the same and purchased at the same time to keep things from draining one another that I'll just use these 2 until they die and then buy a new set of 4.
What I was planning on so far:
4 X http://www.altestore.com/store/Solar...-Panel/p10354/
1 X http://www.altestore.com/store/Charg...-Black/p11138/
1 X http://www.altestore.com/store/Volta...er-12A/p10506/
1 X http://www.amazon.com/Power-Bright-M...s=24v+inverter
I don't know what size wires I need or how long they will have to be so I'm looking for help on that and any other suggestions if you have any different products or anything but remember I need to do this cheaply. I figure if I have 2 on one side and 2 on the other of the boat the beam is 9ft and if I wire them in series I'll need a good length of wire. Is there anything other than the wiring I need to set this system up? does the stepdown converter come with the connection pieces and wiring to do what I wanted or do I need to buy this seperate? I want to wire in series to avoid a combiner box (read: extra money spent). Do I need a circuit breaker? Maybe a 8-plug power strip with surge protection built in attached to the inverter? This has been putting a lot of stress on me because it seems so technical with so many different things, please help.
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