Hi Everyone! We hope you enjoy our installation and review of the BougeRV YUMA CIGS 200W solar kit, and the glimpse of our beautiful time in the Bahamas. If you are interested in these solar panels for your self or anything on the BougeRV site please use our affiliate links and discount codes below. Use the Discount Code CSHEL15 for an extra 15% off! Valid until JUNE 1ST 2023. BougeRV YUMA CIGS 200W - www.bougerv.com/products/200w-flexible-solar-panel?aff=30 BougeRV 40amp MPPT SOLAR CONTROLLER: www.bougerv.com/products/40a-mppt-solar-charge-controller?aff=30 BougeRV YUMA CIGS 100W - www.bougerv.com/products/100w-flexible-solar-panel?aff=30 Anything on BougeRV - www.bougerv.com/?aff=30 If you prefer to purchase off of Amazon, use the Discount Code CSHEL15OFF valid until 5TH May 2023. BougeRV Yuma 200W CIGS Thin-Film Flexible Solar Panel - amzn.to/41M9nXI
It's great to have you back making content. I live my tropical life vicariously though your videos. Otherwise, I'm stuck landlocked, hundreds of miles from an oceans. You're both looking good, healthy and appear to be ready for fun. I can't wait to see upcoming videos. Hope things remain easy and the e xpensive boat troubles are behind you (knock on wood).
Hi kids! So pleased you made it back to your favorite cruising grounds. ..... when i installed my unisolar flexible solar panels many moons ago, i remember the instructions noted that the panels would outperform their ratings during a short initial period in operational use. Indeed that's what i observed, and after a few weeks their performance conformed to nominal specs. This phenomenon may explain your panels' initial outperformance. Enjoy the peace, quiet and security of another reliable power source on the yacht.
So great to see you guys again! Thanks for the info on the BougeRV panels. We're researching an update for our solar on Concorde, and these go on the short list thanks to your installation and initial review. Well done you! Fair winds, Shel and Cindy!
Great job. Running wires is always a challenge. One thing I have used over the years are those cheap fiberglass rods that can be screwed together. Harbor Freight and Amazon have them. You can hit an angle through a bundle or pipe much easier. Thanks for the review. The panels seem to be nice.
I’ve heard very good things about these CIGS panels. Curious to follow along and see how they handle the ocean conditions. Nice job with the installation.
Nice installation there Sheldon. You have the perfect place to out them where I only had a Bimini to put panels on. You have inspired me to make an overview of my installing the solar and batteries in my boat and post a video. You are also correct in hooking them up in series as long as the charge controller can handel the open circuit voltage, typically 100 volts, but can range from 80 to 150. If you had any serious shading, then parallel would have been a better solution. Great job and was good to see the two of you at Stanyel Cay recently. We are currently in Georgetown.
A tip from someone who worked as an electrician's assistant through college - run a messenger line with anything you run. Basically have a small diameter cordage that is run along with whatever you are running. Then you can attach the next run to that and it is MUCH easier. (But do attach a new messenger when pulling the existing one.)
Panels in series are better for non-shaded applications, provided you use an MPPT controller to handle the higher voltages, since panel volts add together wired in series. Any shade on any panel in series, brings down the whole system. Also, a side benefit is being able to use smaller gage wire since the amps stay at the lowest rated panel amperage, and series usually does better in low light conditions. Panels in parallel are better when the panels will be partially shaded, or if you want to save money by using a cheaper PWM controller (which can't handle the higher voltages of series). Since the amps of each panel add together in parallel, the total amperage for parallel will be higher and may require larger wires.
We appreciate the explanation. My ridged panels in parallel are connected to an MPPT controller. It has been for 7 years. Do you think that is a problem?
Shel you have become a first-class boat systems guy! Nice job. Looking forward to next Bahamas video. BTW how are the engines working after all the work on them?
How are the panels holding up and performing after a year? Bought mine a bit before you and just getting around to installing them on our new bimini. An update video would be great!
hi love your videos. I am looking into buying a boat similar to yours, but I don’t know how to set up anything with solar or how the batteries would work. 😅 What batteries do you use in your boat right now?
We have 1200 Watts of solar with a 40 amp solar controller and a 60 amp solar controller. These charge our house back that is made up of six 6 volt batteries(golf cart style) combined in sets of 2 in series to make 12 volts (Our DC system is 12 Volts). Then the sets are combined in parallel to add amp hours to the battery bank for a total of 670 amp hours.
Thanks you. It is all in the batteries you are storing the solar energy in. So no, our batteries cannot take the load of a stove running. Would have to move to a Lithium battery bank to accomplish that. The solar would work the same though. We appreciate you watching.
No, when it is a little rocky the dish goes flat, and that seems to be the best position on the boat. Otherwise it likes to point to the northern hemisphere.
Hello. Enjoyed your educational video for the solar. What I would like to know is, who is the manufacturer of your hard top. We have a 48 CPMY Tollycraft with a canvas covered structure over the aft deck. We would like to replace the Sunbrella with a rigid product like over your fly bridge. Can you help me with the manufactures’ name and location. TIA Charlie
Hi Charlie, I really wish I could help you, you are not the only one over the years to ask this question. I don't know who made the hardtop. It is a aluminum framed support system with some sort of translucent plexi panels bolted down to the frame. I have a question in to the previous owner, if he gets back ot me with any further info I'll comment here.
You should be using a pwm controller with your parallel panels. This may be the reason your performance is low. Since you already have the mppt controller I would switch the parallel panels to series and see if it helps the performance.
Yes, I hear that the pwm controller would have been better. I really don't want to make the parallel panels in series. They get shaded from the gear on the radar arch, so at time of shade of one panel I get no power. Maybe I'll replace the controller when I get back to the US.
Any de-laminating issues? Curious how they are holding up. I have been seeing a lot of problems with them in this regard which has prevented me from purchasing.
It's been a full year of use now. There is no de-lam, and they are producing as much power as when they were first installed. We are really impressed with these panels to be honest.
Hi Guys, I have a technical question. When running two solar controllers doesn’t one controller get fooled by the other that the batteries are fully charged because it is reading the voltage from the other controller?
That is a good question. I have noticed that the solar controller will be restricting output or go into float before the battery monitor says the batteries are charged. So this may be happening. However, if the two controllers go into float a little before they would otherwise, I really don't see much of an issue with that. A more complete solution might be 2 solar controllers that can talk to each other or one bigger solar controller.
I must have missed some episodes. Last i knew y'all were going to get an engine rebuild for many thousands of dollars. I'm assuming the rebuild is complete?
Your hard panels are likely not as efficient as your flex panels. Most panels six years ago were only like 16 to 17 percent efficient. Also you likely don't have half cut PERC cells in your hard panels. They perform much better in low light conditions. Newer hard panels are typically 22ish percent efficient. I have some bifacial 540 watt zshine panels that typically put 22 amps in at 14v eight hours a day. They are 50 volt panels so they produce useful voltage(above 12volts to charge) pretty early on. They produce 400 watts direct on the sun. You should consider replacing your hard panels as you can get more compact higher wattage units in the same space as the old ones.
Thanks for the explanation. You are probably correct about the old panels. Yes, when we move to Lithium batteries we will upgrade the ridged panels. Right now with our battery bank, our power consumption, and the added CIGS panels, everything is meeting our needs.
Hey guys, glad to see all is well and you are enjoying the out Islands of the Bahamas. Betty and I have just returned from a week in Bimini. Let me know if you would be interested in selling your old solar system? E-mail me and let me know. Not sure if we will still be in the Marina anymore. Most boats are leaving as per the email that was sent out recently.
Hi Wayde! We are not planning on selling the old panels, at least not yet anyway. Will let you know should we ever decide to. Awesome, we hope you had a great time in Bimini! Crossings were good or did you not take the boat? Yes, we read that about the Marina. Very strange. Is that a marina thing or a Florida thing? Send us a message searchingforcshels at gmail dot com.
every boat needs its main nerd - mostly this is not the cruising wife - everyone plays to their strengths and enjoyment - lets not allow society to pretend this would otherwise be 50/50 if it weren't for the patriarchy :-)
Don't worry about it Mark. We appreciate the correction. We love people looking out for us. You can't imagine how embarrassed we were when we read your comment and thought we had the wrong spelling on our thumbnail for a year. Cheers friend!
@SearchingforCShels haha, I'm so embarrassed as I used to teach college writing! I've been following you all from the start, and you were my inspiration to sell my home in Phoenix and pursue my dreams. I've been living on boats since 2017 (notice my profile pic). Hope to meet you all one day! I'm usually in Florida.
Hi Everyone! We hope you enjoy our installation and review of the BougeRV YUMA CIGS 200W solar kit, and the glimpse of our beautiful time in the Bahamas.
If you are interested in these solar panels for your self or anything on the BougeRV site please use our affiliate links and discount codes below.
Use the Discount Code CSHEL15 for an extra 15% off! Valid until JUNE 1ST 2023.
BougeRV YUMA CIGS 200W - www.bougerv.com/products/200w-flexible-solar-panel?aff=30
BougeRV 40amp MPPT SOLAR CONTROLLER: www.bougerv.com/products/40a-mppt-solar-charge-controller?aff=30
BougeRV YUMA CIGS 100W - www.bougerv.com/products/100w-flexible-solar-panel?aff=30
Anything on BougeRV - www.bougerv.com/?aff=30
If you prefer to purchase off of Amazon, use the Discount Code CSHEL15OFF valid until 5TH May 2023.
BougeRV Yuma 200W CIGS Thin-Film Flexible Solar Panel - amzn.to/41M9nXI
It's great to have you back making content. I live my tropical life vicariously though your videos. Otherwise, I'm stuck landlocked, hundreds of miles from an oceans. You're both looking good, healthy and appear to be ready for fun. I can't wait to see upcoming videos. Hope things remain easy and the e xpensive boat troubles are behind you (knock on wood).
Thank you! 🙏
Hi kids! So pleased you made it back to your favorite cruising grounds. ..... when i installed my unisolar flexible solar panels many moons ago, i remember the instructions noted that the panels would outperform their ratings during a short initial period in operational use. Indeed that's what i observed, and after a few weeks their performance conformed to nominal specs. This phenomenon may explain your panels' initial outperformance. Enjoy the peace, quiet and security of another reliable power source on the yacht.
So great to see you guys again! Thanks for the info on the BougeRV panels. We're researching an update for our solar on Concorde, and these go on the short list thanks to your installation and initial review. Well done you!
Fair winds, Shel and Cindy!
Thank you! Good luck with your upgrade.
My new favorite channel. Perfect blend of the technical, cruising, products, and Caribbean travel!!
Thank you! 🙏 That is very nice to say.
Great job. Running wires is always a challenge. One thing I have used over the years are those cheap fiberglass rods that can be screwed together. Harbor Freight and Amazon have them. You can hit an angle through a bundle or pipe much easier. Thanks for the review. The panels seem to be nice.
Great tip thanks. I'll have to pick some of those fiberglass rods up. The new panels are working out beautifully.
Great that they're working so well! Nice to see you're back in the Bahamas.
Thanks Tadd! Hope you guys are well.
Great to see you guys again!
Thanks! 🙏
I’ve heard very good things about these CIGS panels. Curious to follow along and see how they handle the ocean conditions. Nice job with the installation.
Thank you. We appreciate you watching and following along. Cheers Barry.
Nice installation there Sheldon. You have the perfect place to out them where I only had a Bimini to put panels on. You have inspired me to make an overview of my installing the solar and batteries in my boat and post a video. You are also correct in hooking them up in series as long as the charge controller can handel the open circuit voltage, typically 100 volts, but can range from 80 to 150. If you had any serious shading, then parallel would have been a better solution.
Great job and was good to see the two of you at Stanyel Cay recently. We are currently in Georgetown.
Thanks Bryan! Good to see you as well, have fun in Gtown!
Great to see you again!! Congrats on your new solar panels. Job well done.
Thank you!
Hello guys welcome back to the beautiful Bahamas
Thank you Enoch. 🙏
So glad to catch up with you guys :)
Great job,
I have been following you guys for a few years well now keep the great posts coming look forward to watching them
Wow! With all that extra power you can get yourself a bigger TV Shel. 😜
LOL! The only reason I have upgraded the power is to see how big of a TV I can run. 😆
@@SearchingforCShels Man after my own heart. Ottawa guy thing. 👍
A tip from someone who worked as an electrician's assistant through college - run a messenger line with anything you run. Basically have a small diameter cordage that is run along with whatever you are running. Then you can attach the next run to that and it is MUCH easier. (But do attach a new messenger when pulling the existing one.)
Thanks for the tip!
Your content is great. Can't wait for the next video.
Thank you thank you! 🙏 Very kind of you to say.
Panels in series are better for non-shaded applications, provided you use an MPPT controller to handle the higher voltages, since panel volts add together wired in series. Any shade on any panel in series, brings down the whole system. Also, a side benefit is being able to use smaller gage wire since the amps stay at the lowest rated panel amperage, and series usually does better in low light conditions. Panels in parallel are better when the panels will be partially shaded, or if you want to save money by using a cheaper PWM controller (which can't handle the higher voltages of series). Since the amps of each panel add together in parallel, the total amperage for parallel will be higher and may require larger wires.
We appreciate the explanation. My ridged panels in parallel are connected to an MPPT controller. It has been for 7 years. Do you think that is a problem?
Where have you guys been. Good video !!
Nice! Cheers you two!
Thanks Bret! Cheers!
Shel you have become a first-class boat systems guy! Nice job. Looking forward to next Bahamas video. BTW how are the engines working after all the work on them?
Thanks John! I’ve got a lot to learn yet.
Engines are better than ever. 👍
Just in time. I’m about to up grade
Awesome. Good luck with the upgrade.
Looking forward to the updates on the panels.... Can you tell me where the flybridge hardtop was sourced from ?
I wish I could tell you, but I have no idea. Sorry.
How are the panels holding up and performing after a year? Bought mine a bit before you and just getting around to installing them on our new bimini. An update video would be great!
Coming in a future episode. But in short, we still couldn't be happier with them.
hi love your videos. I am looking into buying a boat similar to yours, but I don’t know how to set up anything with solar or how the batteries would work. 😅 What batteries do you use in your boat right now?
We have 1200 Watts of solar with a 40 amp solar controller and a 60 amp solar controller. These charge our house back that is made up of six 6 volt batteries(golf cart style) combined in sets of 2 in series to make 12 volts (Our DC system is 12 Volts). Then the sets are combined in parallel to add amp hours to the battery bank for a total of 670 amp hours.
Hello can you run your stove as well on solar or do you bbq? Thanks great video, enjoyed very much.
Thanks you. It is all in the batteries you are storing the solar energy in. So no, our batteries cannot take the load of a stove running. Would have to move to a Lithium battery bank to accomplish that. The solar would work the same though. We appreciate you watching.
Do you find star link hard to lock on to satelites with the rocking of the boat?
No, when it is a little rocky the dish goes flat, and that seems to be the best position on the boat. Otherwise it likes to point to the northern hemisphere.
Hello. Enjoyed your educational video for the solar. What I would like to know is, who is the manufacturer of your hard top. We have a 48 CPMY Tollycraft with a canvas covered structure over the aft deck. We would like to replace the Sunbrella with a rigid product like over your fly bridge. Can you help me with the manufactures’ name and location.
TIA Charlie
Hi Charlie, I really wish I could help you, you are not the only one over the years to ask this question. I don't know who made the hardtop. It is a aluminum framed support system with some sort of translucent plexi panels bolted down to the frame. I have a question in to the previous owner, if he gets back ot me with any further info I'll comment here.
You should be using a pwm controller with your parallel panels. This may be the reason your performance is low. Since you already have the mppt controller I would switch the parallel panels to series and see if it helps the performance.
Yes, I hear that the pwm controller would have been better. I really don't want to make the parallel panels in series. They get shaded from the gear on the radar arch, so at time of shade of one panel I get no power. Maybe I'll replace the controller when I get back to the US.
Good job. I know its nice not having to run the generator as much as before these new panels. They should pay for them selves in fuel savings.
For sure. Thanks for watching.
Great review.I know you can walk on them. But are they slippery, esp when wet??
Thanks. They are not slippery when dry. We haven't walked on them wet, we we wouldn't be able to give you a an answer on that one.
How's the engines running?
Better than ever! 👍
Where are you anchored in the closing shot of Cindy on the roof?
A place called the Pipes in the Exumas.
Any de-laminating issues? Curious how they are holding up. I have been seeing a lot of problems with them in this regard which has prevented me from purchasing.
It's been a full year of use now. There is no de-lam, and they are producing as much power as when they were first installed. We are really impressed with these panels to be honest.
Good glorious morning! What did the panel people give you to do this? Discount? Free? Sponsorship?
Hi Guys, I have a technical question. When running two solar controllers doesn’t one controller get fooled by the other that the batteries are fully charged because it is reading the voltage from the other controller?
That is a good question. I have noticed that the solar controller will be restricting output or go into float before the battery monitor says the batteries are charged. So this may be happening. However, if the two controllers go into float a little before they would otherwise, I really don't see much of an issue with that. A more complete solution might be 2 solar controllers that can talk to each other or one bigger solar controller.
I must have missed some episodes. Last i knew y'all were going to get an engine rebuild for many thousands of dollars. I'm assuming the rebuild is complete?
Maybe not. That episode was describing what we did pay, not what we were going to pay. Engine rebuild was done when we made that video.
Your hard panels are likely not as efficient as your flex panels. Most panels six years ago were only like 16 to 17 percent efficient. Also you likely don't have half cut PERC cells in your hard panels. They perform much better in low light conditions. Newer hard panels are typically 22ish percent efficient. I have some bifacial 540 watt zshine panels that typically put 22 amps in at 14v eight hours a day. They are 50 volt panels so they produce useful voltage(above 12volts to charge) pretty early on. They produce 400 watts direct on the sun. You should consider replacing your hard panels as you can get more compact higher wattage units in the same space as the old ones.
Thanks for the explanation. You are probably correct about the old panels. Yes, when we move to Lithium batteries we will upgrade the ridged panels. Right now with our battery bank, our power consumption, and the added CIGS panels, everything is meeting our needs.
what boat is that?
It is a 1991 Tollycraft 44 Cockpit Motor Yacht (CPMY).
Where you been
Hey guys, glad to see all is well and you are enjoying the out Islands of the Bahamas. Betty and I have just returned from a week in Bimini. Let me know if you would be interested in selling your old solar system? E-mail me and let me know. Not sure if we will still be in the Marina anymore. Most boats are leaving as per the email that was sent out recently.
Hi Wayde! We are not planning on selling the old panels, at least not yet anyway. Will let you know should we ever decide to.
Awesome, we hope you had a great time in Bimini! Crossings were good or did you not take the boat?
Yes, we read that about the Marina. Very strange. Is that a marina thing or a Florida thing? Send us a message searchingforcshels at gmail dot com.
Cindy Cindy Cindy Shel what are the stats when she is up there shading
nice to see you back at it
love you guys
lol! Thanks so much Grant. 🙏
every boat needs its main nerd - mostly this is not the cruising wife - everyone plays to their strengths and enjoyment - lets not allow society to pretend this would otherwise be 50/50 if it weren't for the patriarchy :-)
I think you meant "why is she 'laying' on it"...but great video!
Thanks for watching! I think we have it right with “lying”… 😀
@SearchingforCShels okay a little embarrassed here, but you are correct, after I did some research. I'll delete this comment later...sorry about that!
Don't worry about it Mark. We appreciate the correction. We love people looking out for us. You can't imagine how embarrassed we were when we read your comment and thought we had the wrong spelling on our thumbnail for a year. Cheers friend!
@SearchingforCShels haha, I'm so embarrassed as I used to teach college writing! I've been following you all from the start, and you were my inspiration to sell my home in Phoenix and pursue my dreams. I've been living on boats since 2017 (notice my profile pic). Hope to meet you all one day! I'm usually in Florida.
That's a great story! So glad you took the leap. We will see you out here.
with the sun glassed he look and sounds like a car sale man....
to bad they don't make these flat solar panel to custom shapes and sizes like having the entire hardtops just one huge solar panel
I thought the same. I think it’s coming. The cigs technology can be put to any shape.
need to pick a new guy .... sorrry just what ai see ?
Full grey beard and not one grey hair on his head. Been stealing your wife's hair dye again sweetheart!? 😘