We had previously installed two Siemens 35 watt solar panels, but because they just weren’t enough to keep up with our electrical demands, we decided to increase the capacity to a single 120 watt solar panel, made by Kyrocera. The maximum daily output we got from the two Siemens units was about 15 amp hours per day, with the new Kyrocera we are getting about 45 amp hours per day. The Kyrocera is rated at 120 watts, with a maximum output of 7.1 amps, but we are actually getting up to 7.9 amps, a nice surprise.

The solar panel was installed across the dingy davits and will tilt about 15 degrees forward to about 25 degrees aft in the event we want to track the sun’s movement across the sky. A Flexcharge voltage regulator, rated at 14 amps, was installed in the lazarette. The panel is wired to the regulator, then to the house bank only. Since the engine battery does not have a drain on it without the engine running, we decided to bypass this battery so that all the energy produced will go towards our house bank which always has a drain.

After a week of monitoring, we are very pleased with the decision to get a larger solar panel. Our average daily amp hours used is about 100 ah, including the refrigerator. Currently with the 45 ah we are getting from the solar, we only need to charge the batteries about every six days, but the wind generator actually extends that even more, just depends how the wind is blowing.