Foldable suitcase solar

[Craig Illman]

Anyone tried something like this to augment battery capacity while at anchor or on a mooring?

http://www.renogy-store.com/Renogy-100W-12V-Mono-Portable-Solar-Suitcase-p/kit-stcs100d.htm

Craig

[Stu Jackson]

Criag,

Conceptually, it makes sense.  All boats on a mooring (i.e., NOT a dock) can keep their battery banks healthier with solar during the week the boat is not being used.  That said, the devil is in the details.  In this case, no pun intended, you're paying for the case, the alligator clips, and various other bits & pieces, where one could purchase the panel(s), wiring and connectors for perhaps somewhat if not much less and make it a DIY installation.  Any mounting other than propping them up in the cockpit would also need to be considered.  Maine Sail has a good writeup on mounting a smaller panel on a pushpit.

The panels only have a 5 year warranty, while others have 25 years.  Renogy panels are rather new to the market, folks with them say they perform although one has to match the production batch to assure equal performance from two apparently identical panels, which sometimes doesn't happen.  

The details of the controller aren't mentioned much in the link.  Maine Sail has also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of different types of controllers (MPPT vs PWM).  For a week-long scenario when the boat isn't being used, PWM is just fine, while the MPPT are much better for full time larger arrays to obtain as much power as possible when full time cruising.

Also, determine if the panels are wired series or parallel.  Series will have issues with shading.

The package deal is simple and has all the parts.  I'd compare it to a DIY in terms of cost if that is an issue; you might be surprised.  For example: What is the panel cost if you do the math compared to the Renogy stand-alone panels or any other brand panel, that kind of comparison.

[Craig Illman]

Stu - Thanks. The scenario I'm considering is for a few days a year, while on a trip where I don't want to run the engine or use a generator to charge my 230aH bank for an extra night on the hook. My C30 is a bit more limited than a C34 for adding additional batteries for a few nights usage a year.

Craig

[Ron Hill]

Craig : I had two solar panels that I always thru out when we anchored.  One was flexible and the other was crystalline.  Every little bit of charge helps the bank.

You won't get much of a charge just after anchoring (4 PM till dusk), but they be there when the sun comes up the next AM.

Guess what you are paying for is the "flexibility"

a thought

[Craig Illman]

If I motor every day, I won't have an issue, but if we want to hang out somewhere for awhile, 30-40 extra Ahs would really help covering the fridge draw.

[mregan]

We are on vacation in 2 weeks and will be out for 4-5 days.  I just ordered one of these and will see how it works out.  If it can lessen the amount of time we run the engine while at anchor, the wife and kids will be happy.  It has a 30 day return policy so if it doesn't work out I can return it. 

Looks like the alligator clips to the battery are only 15' long.  May end up making some longer connectors with terminal connections I could attach to the battery terminals and connect to the back of the controller.  Thinking of setting it up on the deck or bow.

[Ron Hill]

mre : I changed my solar panel ends to be male cigarette lighter plugs.
 
Then I could just plug them in to any female cigarette lighter plugs (I had 5 inside and 1 by the wheel) on the boat!

A thought

[mregan]

Ron, thanks for the tip.  How does plugging into a cigarette lighter feed elec. to the battery?

[chuck53]

Ron, thanks for the tip.  How does plugging into a cigarette lighter feed elec. to the battery?

How do you think the cigarette lighter gets its power?  It is a direct connection to the battery.  makes sense to me and a good idea if you already have one in the cockpit.  No need to run additional wires.

[Stu Jackson]

It all depends on how it's wired.   

[mregan]

Ron, thanks for the tip.  How does plugging into a cigarette lighter feed elec. to the battery?

How do you think the cigarette lighter gets its power?  It is a direct connection to the battery.  makes sense to me and a good idea if you already have one in the cockpit.  No need to run additional wires.

Never thought you could feed power back through an outlet and charge the battery. 

I only have 1 cigarette lighter and it's on the same circuit as the depth/wind gauge.  Kids only use it to charge their phones. Can I still use it or would it not be a good idea because it isn't a direct connection?  If the panel works out I'll add another cigarette lighter direct to the battery.

[Stu Jackson]

Never thought you could feed power back through an outlet and charge the battery. 

Please be careful here.  Those lighter plugs are notorious for lousy connectors and SMALL SMALL SMALL wires.

If you don't know how to size wire & fuse it properly, please don't use these things.  If you don't know how your boat is wired, please find out.

[Ron Hill]

Guys : Don't go "El Cheapo" on the cigarette lighter plugs!  
I found that Marinco plugs worked and lasted the best.  You can also use a "Driplug" which was the best for weather resistance.

Also, I used marine grade 14gage wire.  

A thought  

[mregan]

Got the Suitcase solar package in the mail last week.  We went our for 4 days this week and I tried it out. 
The package comes with 12' long 10ga wire/alligator clips.  Thought it was going to be a little short so I crimped on an additional 10' of 10ga wire.

It helped supplement the battery but the 100w wasn't enough power for my needs. 

We run the refrigeration all the time.  Another big drain is the stereo, kids listen to it almost all day.

Left the marina on Saturday afternoon.  Batteries were at 100%, they were on shore power all week.
Sailed for about 1.5 hrs with stereo, gps, instruments and fridge on.  Then ran the engine for 2 hrs. to get to our destination.  Had dinner reservations and we were sailing into the wind.
Fridge ran Saturday night and used some lights, stereo, etc.
On Sunday morn the voltmeter was saying 12.5 or 12.55v
About 10 am set up the solar.  Layed it flat on the deck right in front of the dodger.  The controller is on the back of the panel so periodically I would lift up the panel, look at the controller and see what the panels were outputting.  Most of the time it was in the 3.5A range.  Once or twice it was 5.3A.  Was sunny the couple of days I used it.

At the end of the second day the voltmeter was saying 12.45v which I thought wasn't too bad.  I figured I'd be below that.
Next morning we were in the 12.3-3.5 range.  Wife and kids went into town so ran the engine for 1.5 hrs.
Into early evening, when the fridge wasn't running, voltmeter was reading 12.45.
By the next morning, day 4, we were 12.25-12.3 range.  Even with panels on by mid day we were down to 12.2. 
Were leaving that day so packed up the panels.
Last time we went out for 4 days, we had to run the engine days 2-4 for about an hour each time.

If we didn't have the fridge going I think the 100w panel would have been fine although I don't like the setup with wires running exposed from the battery, up through the hatch to the deck.  After this little experiment I've now been bitten by the solar bug and am starting to get some info. on installing some permanent panels.  Not looking to handle 100% of my needs but i'd like to have something that could give me enough power so after 3-4 days the batteries would still be at 65% or so charged so I wouldn't have to run the engine while at anchor.

[Craig Illman]

Great real world data, thanks!