[Rhodes22-list] Solar Panel Installation on Rhodes 22

[Blue Heron]

David,

I just replaced a blue panel that was original equipment in '93 because the
transparent plastic film covering the cells had deteriated, causing them to
short when wet.  I got a replacement from Defender by the same maker that is
the same width, a little shorter and produces more amps.

Your panels will produce the rated voltage when the sun is bright and the
air temperature is about 80 degrees.  Trouble is, when it gets dark, the
panel will draw current from your batteries unless you have a diode in the
circuit to block the backward flow.  So that's the only regulator you really
need with wet cell batteries.

If your 2 year batteries are wet and last only two years, I suspect your
diode may not be up to par and is causing your batteries to drain at night.
You can tell by measuring the voltage across the diode with a towel over the
panels.  Of course you may use your batteries a lot more than me, but I use
a single deep cycle battery for starting the engine and powering the
autohelm, radio, etc. about 25 days a year and it will last 3 to 4 years.
Rick
On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 6:14 PM, David Culp <dculp at hsbtx.com> wrote:

> I have some questions for anyone who may happen to know:
> I have two solar panels permanently installed on the cabin top of my 1998
> Rhodes.  They are blue in color and so far, have worked very well.  My
> first
> question is does anyone have the same panels from GBI and know the
> manufacturer and specs?  I can always ask Stan, but hopefully he is busy
> selling boats right now.
>
> I have two batteries.  One up front and one in the laz both run through a
> nice battery sel/cutoff switch.   I had a battery go bad this year and
> replaced both of mine with matching 24 series deep-cycle batteries.  I
> assume that we have an unregulated system as I can't find a regulator
> anywhere, can anyone confirm?
>
> When my batteries were removed on a full sunlight afternoon, my volt/ohm
> meter was showing me 18 volts coming from the panels which I think is
> pretty
> good.  When I wire in the batteries then I start reading their voltages
> which are 12.5 on each.  I assume that this is normal even though the
> panels
> are indicating 18 volts?
>
> I don't think anything is wrong because my system was working fine and the
> 2
> year battery lasted exactly two years.  I just wanted to check with the
> list
> as this is my first experience with solar panels; so any information anyone
> has is appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> David Culp
> __________________________________________________
> To subscribe/unsubscribe or for help with using the mailing list go to
> http://www.rhodes22.org/list
> __________________________________________________
>