Solar Panel Installation on a Small Sailing Yacht.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.พ. 2019
- A bit of a departure from the normal uploads.
This is not a "How To" video, more a video of how I did it. The pushpit rail was removed and extended by a local stainless fabricator and the rest I completed myself. The complete parts list is as follows:
Ten metres of 6mm solar cable, available online for around €30
Two 100w Victron Solar Panels @ €170 each
Bag of Solar MC4 connectors €5 online
One Victron Bluetooth MPPT 100/20 controller €160
Two pairs of NOA Solar Panel brackets @ €88 per pair
Fabrication to pushpit rail by a local stainless company €720
Scanstrut Deck Seal €70
Total costs €1501inclusive of local taxes.
The project took around two days to complete, once the stainless fabrication was done. Most of this time was spent routing wires under seating and beneath cupboards and lockers. The wiring itself was very simple. The panels were wired in series, rather than parallel.
You can find cheaper (Chinese) panels, but they may not provide the power they claim to and it's worth checking the warranty period. Victron seem to offer a long warranty and their panels are purported to be superior to the Chinese variety.
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Nicely explained. Simple and Clear. Beautiful installation BTW.
Thank you 😊
Thanks mate, nice video .
Very handy, thank you for posting
Thank you 😊 Glad you found it useful 👍🏼
Absolute wonderful
Thank you 😊
Thanks for the info. Nice video. Quite new at this so can you explain a little bit more how you connected the negative from the NPPT controller to the shunt? Then does the negative from shunt go to the positive on the battery and positive from shunt go to negative on battery?
Hi, thanks for your comment :) You will probably only have a shunt fitted if you have a battery monitor. The shunt is connected to the negative terminal of the house battery bank and then accessories have their negatives connected to the shunt, that way the shunt can measure the input or output of accessories. The shunt does not have a positive, it is only wired to the negative. The positive wire from the controller is wired to the positive terminal on the house battery bank. Hope that helps :)
Brilliant video mate. Massively helped me to get my head around the solar panel set that I’m hoping to fit shortly. I am also looking at the NOA B fittings to mount my panel to the rail. However, according to everywhere I look, NOA only supply the stay extrusions to a length of 650mm. I am fitting a 100w Victron panel like you however, according to all the stat pages, the height of the panels are 688mm. From your video, it looked like you were chopping them shorter. Could I just clarify whether you ordered them larger than the standard 650mm. I’m hoping i’ve made a huge error and that you might shed some light on the matter. Many thanks in advance!
Thanks for your comment - glad to read it was of some help. My Victron panels are 540mm by 1200mm so I had to cut 90mm off each rail. If your panels are 688mm then you'll need to fit a strut running top to bottom inside the frame of the panel, to mount the NOA rail on. That's the only way I can think of dealing with that height of panel. It would not need to be a large strut - just a strip of 2mm stainless sheet wide enough to take the rail, which could be bolted top and bottom. Hope that is of some help and good luck with your project.
Nice work. Can I ask you what kind of winter cockpit cover you have? Looks great and not fixed on the boom like the original one. Thanks.
Hi Markus. Thank you. It is a bespoke cockpit tent which zips onto the spray hood, made by JB Yacht Services, Salisbury Green, Southampton. It is a good quality tent, a snug fit and uses a collapsible three-piece hoop which can be removed when taking the tent down. It is a better fit than the original HR tent and was about the same price as HR list the original on their website.
Very nice installation. Would it make any difference to the overall efficiency if you wired the panels in parallel?
Thank you :) I don't think it would make much difference in my case. My understanding is that parallel works better if you have one panel which is likely to be shaded more. In my case, series was preferable as it is easier to wire and uses less wiring. As far as efficiency, no, I don't think it would make any difference. The controller is happy whichever way the panels are wired.
Nice video. I didn’t realise extending the push pit was an option. It certainly explains how you can fit larger panels. It sounds like you are in the Hamble are, so can I ask who extended the push pit for you?
Thanks Martin, The Hamble was my home for ten years, but I am now located in The Med. A stainless fabricator here in Spain did the work for me. It is not complicated, requiring the end rail of the pushpit to be cut and then around 1.82 metres of upper and lower rail to be inserted, taking the end up to the first stanchion. I am a bit out of touch with stainless fabricators on the UK now, having been away for some time. It is an easy mod which does not interfere with the lines of the boat and even makes the cockpit feel a little safer. Do let me know if you decide to go for it - I have lots of pictures detailing the work, would be happy to share what I have. Julian.
@@thetravelsoftatsu3967 Thanks, I'd appreciate seeing more pics. I looked at your channel more after I posted this comment and realised you are probably traveling the world now. If you do instagram you can reach me on instagram.com/mr.martin.jarvis/.
Interesting video, wondered how you getting on with the solar panels install on the pushpit, has it been a success or is there anything that you would have done different. Also are the Victron panels sturdy and well made for the position they are installed. I have been looking at the 90 watt Victron blue solar mono panels and 80 watt panels from Photonicuniverse, just wondering which ones to try, and if to install them on the pushpit.
Thank you :) I am working on a TH-cam update video for these panels. Since uploading the video, I have been ashore in a boat yard in the Mediterranean for eight weeks without a shore power connection and the solar system worked beautifully. It was in the middle of the summer here and temperatures were in the high thirties every day. I ran the fridge, the inverter and lighting down below when it was dark, without problems. Because of the shadows of the boats either side of me, I only had about seven hours of sun each day on the panels, but this was enough to generate about a kilowatt of power each day. I have found the Victron panels to be as sturdy as they need to be. I can say that installing them on the pushpit rail has not created any problems for me and if I had to do the installation again, I would not change anything. Hope that answers your question :)
@@thetravelsoftatsu3967 It does thanks for your reply and time.
What gauge wire did you use to connect the solar panels and batteries to the victron? I used 10AWG and found it very difficult to insert into the wire terminals and then they would fall off because of the vibrations.
I used the UV resistant 6mm single core to connect the panels to the Victron and the same to connect the Victron to the batteries - the positive cable you see in the video is the same black cable I ran to the panels, but with red electrical tape wound along its length to identify it. I tinned the ends with solder at the Victron connection and I have not had a problem with the connections, though there's not a lot of vibration where the Victron is mounted. Hope that helps.
Great video, thanks for the share. Can I ask a question? What happens at the MPPT controller when the bank of batteries is being charged by the alternator. Do you have to switch the solar controller out when the alternator is charging the battery bank?
The MPPT controller app allows you to set the bulk, float and absorb rates, so you can adjust these values to coincide with those of the regulator. That way, both the solar panels and the alternator will input until the batteries are charged. Once this point is reached, the controller dumps any further charge by way of heat loss.
@@thetravelsoftatsu3967 "dumps in way of heat loss" is that via an external load? In the same way a wind turbine needs to dump or just naturally heat dump at the controller? Thanks for the feed back much appreciated
Freshly Squeezed There is an option for a load output on the controller. You could wire this to any 12v application - I understand that it is possible to wire this to a 12v heater element in a water tank, which I think is an excellent way to use the energy, but if nothing is connected, the controller loses the energy via the heat sink on the back of the unit.
@@thetravelsoftatsu3967 Thanks again 👍
@@thetravelsoftatsu3967 if you ad a heat protection what will happend will switch off the controller?
I did not understand exactly what a shunt is and it's importance. Without it the battery voltmeter wouldn't work?
The shunt is an in-line resistor which enables the battery monitor to accurately measure real-time voltage and current draw. It is not essential, because you can see the charge state of the battery bank on the Victron Controller Bluetooth app however, if you also have a battery monitor, you get a far more accurate picture of the charge state and current draw on the battery bank. Hope that answers your question :)
@@thetravelsoftatsu3967 yes perfectly answered. The word resistor is something I understand more. And if I may ask how would you measure its resistance? From the equation?
The potential difference (voltage drop) across the resistor is detected and current flowing in the circuit is measured using Ohms Law.
I ve a question too: The frame, is it also from Noa?
No, the Victron panels come with a frame. All rigid solar panels come with a frame - the flexible and semi-flexible do not, but then they are a lot lighter than these glass rigid panels, and do not need brackets like the NOA ones. Hope that helps :)
@@thetravelsoftatsu3967 Thanks for the quick response. I have flexible, so I have to made them myself then. I will ude your video as a example!
Good luck with your task, I’m sure they will look great 😃
What is the name of the 4 x Sweedish made brackets. I don't know what it is you said. Thanks.
Hello, yes they are NOA brackets, made in Sweden. Their website is noa.se/webshop/ I have no connection other than being a very happy customer 😊
Thanks for sharing this. I just got most of what I need to set up solar on my boat but will have to jury rig the panel onto the pushpit initially. It's nice to see how you've done it as I have the same mppt charge controller 😃👍🏻