Wiring Boat Solar Panels

Shade s impact on sailboat solar.

Wiring boat solar panels.

Installing one or more photovoltaic solar panels on your boat is a great way to keep your batteries topped off and in larger installations replace the power consumed by house loads. Mc4 connector a water proof connector used in solar wiring. The purpose of a controller is to prevent batteries from being overcharged apply the optimal charging current to the battery bank and prevent current from back. Solar controller except for small trickle charge systems all solar systems should have a solar controller.

The wiring of your panel to the boats battery bank is critically important. Typical marine solar panels are comprised of a number of silicon cells normally 32 connected together in a series string. Attach marine grade copper wires to the panel. One of the biggest challenges for sailors installing solar power on a.

By tom burden last updated. Mount your panel on your stern rail see photos details below. Small panels maintain or trickle charge batteries while you re unplugged from shore power. These connectors are easily disconnected.

Run the wires into the main cabin this usually means drilling a small hole in the cockpit. The positives of course must be installed on the correct gang associated with the respective switch for that load. Individual silicon cells produce only around 0 6v and so enough of them have to be connected together in series to produce a voltage high enough to be able to charge a 12v battery. These are dc wires for a 12 volt system so you need 2 sets of wires.

Positives to the terminal block and negative to the bus bar. Giving up any of this voltage to voltage drop can affect how quickly your bank is recharged. Most decent 12v nominal panels will output a voltage of around 16 0 to 19 0 volts. But too high a voltage will damage a battery.

Our marine solar panel design choices. A solar panel needs to produce in excess of 15 volts to ensure adequate charging. Just hookup your existing boat wiring infrastructure to the terminal block and buss bar. If we have two solar panels with same voltage and power the connection will be very simple.

Therefore some form of voltage regulator is normally required. Most are terminated with standard 8 ring terminals. Most solar panels come with mc4 connectors attached to 3 foot solar wire pigtail coming from the panel junction box. You need to understand how different stringing configurations impact the voltage current and power of a solar array.

In our installation we decided to mount three 185 watt 24 volt nominal. Adding solar power to a sailboat panel positioning and wiring considerations. Solar panels with a maximum output current of less than about 1 percent of battery capacity are said not to require regulation.