I have four of the Bouge RV panels : three in series give up to 420 watts full sun (should be 540 with no loss) but 50' 10 AWG wire run 'may' account for a lot of that loss . . . & the panels getting hot also reduces output. For my system 420 watts is sufficient. A Bluetti AC200P is on the receiving end. The Bluetti powers microwave, induction cook-top, refrigerator, & occasionally an 8K-BTU window shaker &/or charges a Nissan Leaf in short increments. (My utility bill is extremely low since this set-up takes care of all the major loads.) As Barney Fife would say, "It's all good, Its Allll Good ! !"
@@Sailboatstory - Because I follow a 'Sailboat Story' does not mean that I live on one ! NO ! I used to sail but am retired in a 3 bed 2 bath domicile affixed to mother earth in S. Calif. I now enjoy Florida locations vicariously without mosquitoes, heat & humidity or ThUnDeRsToRmS ! ! ! Thanks, RH
Can you mount the solar panels so if they come unbolted in rough seas they don't fall off the boat? Wondering since everything falls apart at inopportune moments
They are. We've through-bolted most of the fittings and also run the lifelines behind the NOA struts for exactly that reason. Even if every fitting spontaneously failed, they still can't fall off the boat.
I've been very interested/concerned on how you all made out from the hurricane. I couldn't remember just where you had the boat. Is everything okay? Any damage?? Hoping all is well!!! 👍
Maybe somebody has mentioned earlier. I think the Victron 100/30 controller may be undersized as it can take 100v PV and has max charging of 30 amps. The panels could put out 720w (180x4) . Hooking the controller directly to a 12v bank ( I assume this is what you have but could be mistaken) means the panels could produce 60amps (720w/12v=60amps) yet this controller can max charge at 30amps, so extra pv power will be wasted as heat or the controller may be damaged. You did mention a dc to dc charger was or will be part of the system so if you are sending something like 24v or higher from MPPT to the dc to dc charger then the 30amp mppt controller is just fine (720/24= 30amps)
@@Sailboatstory The series/parallel wiring works well to for the PV wiring going to the controller to keep the amps going down the 10gauge PV wire under the max it can carry, without significant voltage loss or heat, all within the max open circuit voltage the MPPT can handle which for you is 100v. However the "30" designation on your MPPT means it can only send 30 amps out. It does not mean that max of 30 amps can be sent to the controller from the panels (you put two 30v 6amp panels in series and get 60v at 6amps of power and put 2 sets in parallel and you get 60v at 12amps going to the controller- yes the 12 amps is under the 30 but that's not what the 30 stands for) If the "out" accepting source is a 12v battery bank, then the max watts it can send to the batteries is 360watts (360w/12v= 30amps). If you have a 24v battery bank, fine. DC to DC converters usually are connected to a battery bank to either boost the 12v battery bank voltage to let's say a 24v windlass or when connected to a 24v battery bank to reduce voltage to 12v for some 12v electronic equipment. When you hooked the Victron up it was jumping around 380w to 280w. Was this clouds coming in and out or was it the controller hitting a max of 360w + an overage of 20w, then throttling back down.
Hey Ben - nice install. I have something similar with the NOA mounts. I would be interested where you got the slider that slid along the center rail. I have one, but mine does not have the lever where you can loosen and tighten in by hand. You guys going to be at the boat show in Annapolis this next week?
Good catch! We are over paneled, which isn’t a bad thing, but we do lose some potential solar production. Even so, we currently have 3x the solar production ability and almost 6x the battery capacity as we did on Sandflea. We may add another charger controller later on, but for now we’re just trying to manage the alarming rate at which we are spending money.
Ben, you are fine on amps. Since you configured your panels in parallel then serial to the charge controller, you will have half the amps, as compared to parallel-only. At 720 watts, you will be over the 100 volt threshold. You should have a 100/20 for two or three of the panels. The 100/20 are much cheaper and can output at 12/24/48 volts.
The panel's open circuit voltage is 21.6v. I may be mistaken, but I don't believe we're over 100 volts with 720 watts at 20 amps. You can double check my thought process. 4x 180watt panels, 10 amps each, 12v each, 21.6 Voc. 2 pairs in series, then each pair is parallel. At the charge controller, there should be something around 24 volts at 20 amps. Am I thinking about something weird?
@@Sailboatstory , nope. I think you have it configured correctly. You will see higher numbers in volts, when connected serially, where parallel maxes the amperage. As long as you are below the 100 reading, you should be in great shape, connected in series. Series connection for us was unavoidable, as we have to get the volts and keep the volts above 53 for charging to initiate our 48v config. OR we would have to have some big ass panels.
A tower would be ideal, but that’s not in the budget. They’ll be just fine though. Loads of people mount them in similar locations, even far less secure than we’ve done, without much drama.
* Get 14% Bouge RV purchases through Dec 31st with this coupon code: SailboatStory14
Well, at least you can definitely have some refrigeration this time around !
Molly will be your resident electrician. You are looking at the future engineer quarters. 😅
Woke up this morning to the news there was a boat on fire at green cove marina. Hope y'all are good and it wasn't you.
Oh no. I'll have to check on that. We're not at that marina, but we know people who are.
I think I see some air conditioning in Tambi and Molly's future....😁
Sounds like your crystal ball might be faulty.
I'd be a nervous wreck drilling into that brand new cap rail.
It does hurt a bit.
Excellent episode. Great filming, story, pace, editing, and humor. Well done all.
I was good to meet you before Ian came by . Please keep the videos coming. Very helpful.
More to come!
Lovely family
T for Terrific!!!! Tamby rocks!!
Mmm, debatable. 🤪
@@Sailboatstory you guys are great. Molly is getting so tall. Hope splash day is on the horizon?
It’s true.
i put a victron charger on every panel due to shade from the sail and or dodger
Ha. That’s one way to do it!
Works good?
Thank you three, for the smiles.
You're welcome. Thanks for the views. 😃
I have four of the Bouge RV panels : three in series give up to 420 watts full sun (should be 540 with no loss) but 50' 10 AWG wire run 'may' account for a lot of that loss . . . & the panels getting hot also reduces output. For my system 420 watts is sufficient. A Bluetti AC200P is on the receiving end.
The Bluetti powers microwave, induction cook-top, refrigerator, & occasionally an 8K-BTU window shaker &/or charges a Nissan Leaf in short increments. (My utility bill is extremely low since this set-up takes care of all the major loads.) As Barney Fife would say, "It's all good, Its Allll Good ! !"
I love that you charge your 🚗 with your ⛵️.
@@Sailboatstory - Because I follow a 'Sailboat Story' does not mean that I live on one ! NO ! I used to sail but am retired in a 3 bed 2 bath domicile affixed to mother earth in S. Calif. I now enjoy Florida locations vicariously without mosquitoes, heat & humidity or ThUnDeRsToRmS ! ! ! Thanks, RH
@@richardhobbs7107 Oh, my mistake. Sounds like a very nice set up you have there.
@@Sailboatstory - & Your set-up your working on ain't too shabby . . . . which I enjoy visiting electronically ! Thank You !
Spin!!
Ben you should look into a mini split A/C. You could run it of your solar set up.
I’ve looked at them a bit in the past. I do like unorthodox setups, so we might have to try something like that someday.
Ben, do you need a Victron BMV 712 Battery Monitor? I have an extra one and I live in Jax. Let me know, Cheers Ted
Ted, I actually have one on hand that I haven’t gotten around to installing yet. Thanks for the thought though!
Great. Job. Ben family,,,,
Thank you!
Ya getting there, panels look durable.
They are. We've used them before on the RV. They held up great!
Can you mount the solar panels so if they come unbolted in rough seas they don't fall off the boat? Wondering since everything falls apart at inopportune moments
They are. We've through-bolted most of the fittings and also run the lifelines behind the NOA struts for exactly that reason. Even if every fitting spontaneously failed, they still can't fall off the boat.
Hope you guys made it through the hurricane okay.
All good. 👍
Put a level on the panels, worth a 100 bonus points if dead-on.
Do I get points even if the boat itself is sitting ia few degrees off plumb?
I've been very interested/concerned on how you all made out from the hurricane. I couldn't remember just where you had the boat. Is everything okay? Any damage?? Hoping all is well!!! 👍
All good. 👍
Maybe somebody has mentioned earlier. I think the Victron 100/30 controller may be undersized as it can take 100v PV and has max charging of 30 amps. The panels could put out 720w (180x4) . Hooking the controller directly to a 12v bank ( I assume this is what you have but could be mistaken) means the panels could produce 60amps (720w/12v=60amps) yet this controller can max charge at 30amps, so extra pv power will be wasted as heat or the controller may be damaged. You did mention a dc to dc charger was or will be part of the system so if you are sending something like 24v or higher from MPPT to the dc to dc charger then the 30amp mppt controller is just fine (720/24= 30amps)
It's all good. The magic is in the series/parallel wiring. Works great and well within the limits of the equipment.
@@Sailboatstory The series/parallel wiring works well to for the PV wiring going to the controller to keep the amps going down the 10gauge PV wire under the max it can carry, without significant voltage loss or heat, all within the max open circuit voltage the MPPT can handle which for you is 100v.
However the "30" designation on your MPPT means it can only send 30 amps out. It does not mean that max of 30 amps can be sent to the controller from the panels (you put two 30v 6amp panels in series and get 60v at 6amps of power and put 2 sets in parallel and you get 60v at 12amps going to the controller- yes the 12 amps is under the 30 but that's not what the 30 stands for) If the "out" accepting source is a 12v battery bank, then the max watts it can send to the batteries is 360watts (360w/12v= 30amps). If you have a 24v battery bank, fine. DC to DC converters usually are connected to a battery bank to either boost the 12v battery bank voltage to let's say a 24v windlass or when connected to a 24v battery bank to reduce voltage to 12v for some 12v electronic equipment. When you hooked the Victron up it was jumping around 380w to 280w. Was this clouds coming in and out or was it the controller hitting a max of 360w + an overage of 20w, then throttling back down.
Hey Ben - nice install. I have something similar with the NOA mounts. I would be interested where you got the slider that slid along the center rail. I have one, but mine does not have the lever where you can loosen and tighten in by hand.
You guys going to be at the boat show in Annapolis this next week?
The little clamp is from amazon. No, we’re missing the boat show. Just too much left to do.
Do you have a video on your electrical system
I would build an arch on the rear of the boat so they could sit facing up to the sun and provide the helm with some shade at the same time.
Come on out and build it.
You must be in Holland Marina. How is the service there, and would you recommend them?
Yes, we like it here.
liked ⚓
⚓️
How much does each panel weight? Also, nice intense Tami action shots! And Molly might be an boat engineer one day!
About 20lbs, I'd say. Not bad at all.
I've looked at panels from them before, I always thought it was pronounced "Boog" RV?
You know, I’m not really sure!
If a wave or a gust of wind lifts the panel what keeps the pipe from falling in the water?
That would be the grub screws on either end of each pipe.
You have 720w of solar which is about 55A at 13V but you have only one 30A charge controller? You'll be throwing away nearly 50% of your power?
Good catch! We are over paneled, which isn’t a bad thing, but we do lose some potential solar production. Even so, we currently have 3x the solar production ability and almost 6x the battery capacity as we did on Sandflea. We may add another charger controller later on, but for now we’re just trying to manage the alarming rate at which we are spending money.
Ben, you are fine on amps. Since you configured your panels in parallel then serial to the charge controller, you will have half the amps, as compared to parallel-only. At 720 watts, you will be over the 100 volt threshold. You should have a 100/20 for two or three of the panels. The 100/20 are much cheaper and can output at 12/24/48 volts.
The panel's open circuit voltage is 21.6v. I may be mistaken, but I don't believe we're over 100 volts with 720 watts at 20 amps. You can double check my thought process. 4x 180watt panels, 10 amps each, 12v each, 21.6 Voc. 2 pairs in series, then each pair is parallel. At the charge controller, there should be something around 24 volts at 20 amps. Am I thinking about something weird?
@@Sailboatstory , nope. I think you have it configured correctly. You will see higher numbers in volts, when connected serially, where parallel maxes the amperage. As long as you are below the 100 reading, you should be in great shape, connected in series. Series connection for us was unavoidable, as we have to get the volts and keep the volts above 53 for charging to initiate our 48v config. OR we would have to have some big ass panels.
Doesn't seem very aerodynamic are you leaving them or just for the yard ?
Most sailors put them down along the rails while sailing, then then put them back up when anchored.
They’re less aerodynamic than an F22, but far more aerodynamic than the 33,000 hulk they’re attached to.
Still laughing at "Our resident unlicensed uninsured electrician..." comment.
⛵⛵⛵⛵⛵
🍩🍩🍩🍩🍩
Instructions! We don't need no stinking instructions.
Yeah those are for rookies, and women, and maybe smart people.
@@Sailboatstory Hope you have the DVD.
To bad there wasn't a better spot to place those panels out of harms way and yours not to take up deck space.
A tower would be ideal, but that’s not in the budget. They’ll be just fine though. Loads of people mount them in similar locations, even far less secure than we’ve done, without much drama.