Secrets of the best solar power system- The Solar Electric boat explained
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2024
- @AndrewStransky-cc2drPerhaps the most vital part of an Electric boat is the Solar system to recharge one's batteries. Here we look into how boat solar systems have improved over the years, how to instal the latest state of the art panels, including a radical curved mounting of glass panels. All the details that allow Fantasia to run purely off the sun.
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The first catamaran that I've liked. Well done.
Thank you very much, that is quite the honour!
just finished testing my 21' solar pontoon yesterday! thanks for the very cool overview!
Solar powered pontoon boats certainly have a lot of possibilities. Good luck.
Thanks for the video. I thought it as going to be a solar powered catamaran (ie. the propulsion system too). Forget that, I've just watched your other videos and saw that you have a 10kW motor on one side of the cat. It's great to see how you developed your system from the humble 60w panel. I learned my initial solar skills on renovating motorhomes, each one getting bigger culminating in last year, putting a solar system on my house. On that system (8.7kW in panels, 92kWh lead acid battery bank, 15kW in paralleled inverters) I now monitor it from anywhere with an internet connection, via a program called Solar Assistant running from an Orange Pi 'computer'. It really is a great system. I'm currently using what I learned there, to complete a 40ft power catamaran. The original builder sadly died in 2018 with the catamaran unfinished. He was planning on using two 60HP outboards. I'm building it with electric propulsion in mind (there is no mast). Once completed (hopefully in Sept 2024), it will have 6kW in panels, two 45kWh LiPO4 battery banks, two 11kW solar inverters running at 48V and two Aquamont 15kW electric outboards. The panels will be running around 350V straight into the solar inverters so cable can be 6mm. The battery banks are 48V and the inverters will provide 220V AC and 24V and 12V DC. I will probably monitor it all from Solar Assistant and if it all works should give me my dream houseboat. I'll be releasing the build videos once she's on the water.
Wow, you have certainly gained a lot of solar electrical experience over time! Sounds like a well thought out power cat. The Solar assistant sounds interesting. I look forward to the videos of your project Alan.
Alan, you sound very solid in your designs. I like the 350v to minimize cable thickness.
Keep the videos coming! Love the air scoops under your bent panels! For my 48v system i have 5 x controllers with 2 panels in series making 80Voc Each. I will monitor this to see if the buck voltage booser situation might be better. Thanks for the idea.
Thank you so much James! Your Electron is considerably more up-market than mine and together we are certainly making a good push forward into the solar electric future.
Well done with this latest video, Andrew. Wow, how far this technology has come from having to rough it in the early days to now having the comforts of home courtecy the sun. It must be the dream of so many cruiser sailors (and even home owners) out there to live off-grid so effectively and efficiently. Huge congrats on utilising it and putting it all together. Presume you still have a diesel back up system for emergency to keep you safe in the event of failures. It must be a concern and presume you have thought about fire the hazards and backup issues having an all electric boat. Maybe a subject for another video.
Hello James, yes, amazing how far it has come. We still have the port side diesel and I give it a run occasionally to keep it happy, and sometimes need it for close manoeuvring or motoring into a strong wind when we need both motors. It is a great hybrid combination. The fire risk is generally hyped up by the media. This generation of lithium is very safe, certainly much safer than petrol/diesel or gas.
Thank you for all the videos and infomation. Glad you started your channel and looking forward to more.
Thank you so much for the encouragement!
Interesting approach! I have not thought of bending the solid glass panels, but it appears as that their performance is not impacted by the bending. I guess if the glass doesn't break, the silicon cells will also not crack.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Yes, I would have like to show the glass solar panel that I had removed the frame from some years before. They are amazingly flexible and very easy to bend. This is where I gained the confidence to bend the whole thing like this. Unfortunately it was taken to the tip. I had glued it straight onto the bimini but it got much to hot like this.
@@AndrewStransky-cc2dr Have you looked into BiFacial panels yet? Those do not have the white backing to them, so the cells can convert light reflected onto the back surface too and are as a result about 20% (don't quote me on that) more efficient.
They would perform amazingly over the davits as they would receive a ton of reflected sunlight off the water.
I'm doing a bunch of research for my own build, I want to have the cat fully electric so I'm going to need everything I can out of the panels.
@@theromihs yes, they certainly can produce more power and my friend the solar installer was onto me for not using them. In our situation, where the bimini is primarily acting as a shade to keep us out of the sun, I feel the extra light coming through would be reducing our protection from the sun. In situations where your instal is not doubling as a UV blocker, like stern mounted, the bifacials would be the very thing.
They are now producing higher output panels that are lighter use less critical materials and less prone to failure ..they are glass but can bend quite dramatically. There are also new panel PV chemistries arriving that can use more of the available light spectrum and cope with higher temperatures..
Battery and PV panels are dropping in price yet improving in performance and safety.
@@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665 yes so much development going on. I don't suppose theirs much point waiting for it to mature, as it will be developing for quite some time. The Hyundai panels have some great teach, the way they slice the cells into 5, then use electrically conductive adhesive rather than silver/copper. The shingles sections of cell are at a lower voltage reducing panel heat. So good stuff, but as you say it has far to go! I got my final panels through a large supply house and they were so cheap!
And the panels on Esychia are still going strong today. Albeit with an upgraded Victron controller 👌 Good work mate!
Oh wow! I wonder if one is our original. We did have a pretty basic controller, the sealed little aluminium box type. I trust your going well with the Esychia work!
Awesome job. Nice seeing DIY systems.
Thank you very much. I do hope they are informative and inspiring.
Om my!! What fun! I've just converted my sailboat to a Golden Motor 10kW. Looks like you've got it too! Will watch all videos to learn from your experience! So nice to see an experienced sailor go fully electric. That's been my dream since I started sailing about 15 years ago too! Seems like we have similar ideas and components 😎 I try to document it on my channel @HappyGoLuckyLand
Looks like you have a great life Mose! I'm loving the electric motor, it is a great dream to realise. I'm still fiddling about making my system better, but am enjoying how clean the work is. I'll look forward to seeing how you go in your HappyGLluckyland! All the best.
@@AndrewStransky-cc2dr Oh thank you!! Your life and boat looks very beautiful too! I just quit my job to go sailing full time for as long as possible so hopefully I can work out my motor and electric system as well! 😊
Val Busey, you're great man, dude!
Haha, well, who wouldn't take such a great compliment! You made my day! Thank you so much!
great info as always! The series vs parallel panel wiring was a bit shocking to me. I have been living off grid on land for about 5 years now and have been able to control the shading of my panels and have always gone series. As I finish my solar boat build I intended to do the same but this video has me rethinking that. I will likely redesign the wire routing to allow for series or parallel so I can be flexible on my install.
Thank you Tom! Yes, houses always do series wiring it seems as it brings the power back at such a high voltage to the controller and hugely cuts down loses in your wiring. Boats of course have all those things to shade panels. Good luck with your solar boat!
Well done. You're definitely not a newb! 😊 Enjoy!
I'm pleased to see it looks like I've learnt something over the years! Enjoy your wool fetching kitty!
Thanks for all that Andrew, I love the clever way you got the alloy panels to fit the curved deck. I will steal that idea for sure. I remember reading about the perils of series type solar panels, I don't really get it but I think it is Nigel Calder's book. Cheers Phil
Thank you Phil! Yes, I had removed a glass panel from its fame some years ago and was impressed at how easily it bent. I tried gluing it straight onto the bimini but it got way too hot and didn't produce much power like this. One way I can see series dropping out charge is if one panel loses its voltage output then the two panels don't have enough combined voltage to reach the charging voltage. There are other reasons of course.
The only thing I would have done differently would have been to make some concave rails to the panel could be flat and not try to curve the panel. nice set up.
Thank you. Haha, well, that was the part I was most pleased with, but each to his own way of doing things for sure. Definitely if one is happy with flat panels they are very easy to instal.
@@AndrewStransky-cc2dr the kerf bending is a clever way of doing it. I really like how you took the ends off for better air flow.
@@kchortu thank you. Yes, a small weight saving and you don't need the strength they offer when the panels have that curve.
Have you considered getting a water turbine to charge batteries using the wind (ie, the sails)? Could be a nice way to put electrons into the battery at night!
I suppose sorting regen from my existing set-up is exactly this. I may well do this in the future, but I have yet to feel the need as yet. Good point though, this is actually getting power from the sails.
@AndrewStransky-cc2dr I would approach this as when you think you need more batteries for more motoring, look into hydroelectric to charge the additional batteries.
@@artsmith103 it probably is the way to go, as I don't think I want to put more solar panels on.
Om my!! What fun! I've just converted my sailboat to a Golden Motor 10kW. Looks like you've got it too! Will watch all videos to learn from your experience! So nice to see an experienced sailor go fully electric. That's been my dream since I started sailing about 15 years ago too! Seems like we have similar ideas and components 😎 I try to document it on my channel @HappyGoLuckyLand