I've been Solar Struck by the SolarStik

[hellosailor]

I guess the tech (from a smaller battery company that makes this particular AGM) got spun, I know I most carefully wrote down what he said. ("But it was the best of butter!")

These guys did say "bulk at 13.5 to 14.4 V Maximum 10 Amps, acceptance at 14.4V" so yes, they do spec bulk at 14.4--he just said it could take higher amperage during the bulk phase if it was held down to 13.6V, with no other loss.

One thing I noticed in the pages of instructions for the SolarBoost with remote, was that there was no simple "Wet-AGM-Gel" selection, everything has to be programmed manually. Must be designed "for professional installation only".< G >

[Valiente]

Originally Posted by Giulietta

HS, I'm sorry about that.

I can tell yolu how to tune the rigging, how to do things on the boat, how to trim, how to size the sails, and a few other things, but unfortunately, doing what you ask I really don't know...I am computer chalenged..

I just take the photos as they are. I will try to reduce them.

Sorry

In Photoshop, go under "Image", then to "Image Size". Under "Pixel Dimensions", set it to 800 in "Width". The "Height" will change automatically to 600 pixels. Save and post those works of art and they should not be quite so huge.

I looked this up in Photoshop 6. I have Photoshop CS2 on my main computer, but that's not open at the moment, so I can't check if the procedure is the same.

[AmyJohnson]

That was absolutely hysterical, g!! Great job!

[Cruisingdad]

That pic of the landing pad looks familiar to me for some reason... I am trying to place it... ahh, must be Top Gun. I guess I do look like a blonde haired Tom Cruise. (smile)

- CD

[SchoonerMISTRESS]

CRUISINGDAD’s 2 dogs.
It is true that Skip and I really miss our two labs who we found good homes for when we moved onto MISTRESS last year, however, we were getting a little tired of hearing the “We don’t have opposable thumbs” excuse as a good reason for not doing more around the house to help out. Sounds like at least your dogs chase the birds away from clean decks.

___________________
Giulietta, I can tell you how to tune the rigging, how to do things on the boat, how to trim, how to size the sails, and a few other things, but unfortunately, doing what you ask I really don't know...I am computer chalenged..

If you use Microsoft Picture to work on your photos, or really most any picture program, find the edit button and click on it, and then most have a resize button. From there you can usually choose an option like large web pic or small web pic. For this forum it is best to use small web pics. You can also resize to a custom fit, but you will probably find the options easier to use. IT IS IMPORTANT TO COPY THE ORIGINAL PIC FIRST AND THEN CHANGE THE COPY. This way you will always have the original and can take any of these pics and do all the crazy things you do with them over and over again. I was slow on the pic from Cruisingdad’s panels, until I scrolled down and then noticed which pic it was. Very Funny!

_____________________
Camaraderie says,
HS...ok....well I thin the problem witht the voltage is that BULK stage on AGM's should be 14.4V and Absorbtion should be the lower value but AGM mfrs are increasingly saying you can keep it at 14.2 or so even during absorbtion with float voltage declining to the 13.3 range.

I am not certain but I think you have been both talking about the regulator in the BlueSky. Our 4 AGM 8Ds top out at 14.8 for our house bank, however, Skip preset the controller to top out at 14.4 or 14.5, and the regulator will start controlling the amount of input starting at 13.9. I believe these are some of the options you get to program into the system yourself. When, usually around mid day the BlueSky starts to blink it means that it is regulating the input. I will usually plug in the laptop and cell phones at this time and watch the indicator rise right away because of the load. This rise will bring the panels back up to normal.

Please a small note referencing refrigeration. Skip says for every boat he has ever worked on with reference to the refrigeration; almost all have less insulation than the unit requires to run efficiently and this is usually the biggest draw and causes cruisers the most frustration.
Kathleen
aboard
Schooner MISTRESS

[AnnapolisStar]

I have a free solar panel simulator available at http://Yachtsoftware.org that may answer some of your questions. For example with two 120 watt Kyocera panels pointed directly at the sun full time you would get 32% more amps in June in Baltimore than if the panels were simply fixed mounted on top of a bimini. That is a lot of work in manual alignment for a not so impressive improvement in output power.

The program also shows tables of expected amps at all times of the day including the morning and evening for both a user specified fixed mounting angle and a perfectly aligned with the sun panel. For Baltimore in June with a simple PWM controller charging a depleted battery:

Mounted Aligned
Time on Bimini With Sun
5:12 AM 0.0 Amps 0.0 Amps
6:26 AM 1.7 Amps 8.4 Amps
7:40 AM 5.2 Amps 12.1 Amps
8:53 AM 8.9 Amps 13.7 Amps
10:07AM 11.9 Amps 14.6 Amps
11:21AM 13.9 Amps 15.0 Amps
12:35PM 14.6 Amps 15.1 Amps
1:48 PM 13.9 Amps 15.0 Amps
3:02 PM 11.9 Amps 14.6 Amps
4:16 PM 8.9 Amps 13.7 Amps
5:30 PM 5.2 Amps 12.1 Amps
6:43 PM 1.7 Amps 8.4 Amps
7:57 PM 0.0 Amps 0.0 Amps

It has a good comparison between the MPPT charge Controller and the simpler PWM controller (like the C30 from Xantrex). For the dual Kyocera example you would get 16.5% more power with an MPPT controller. The MPPT controller has some drawbacks though. It is expensive, it can generate RF interference because the DC-DC conversion process operates at high frequency, and some of them have minimum input power requirements like the bzProducts model that require 100 watts. Note also that the mppt controller improvement is inversely proportional to the battery charging voltage. It really shines when the batteries are nearly depleted but the improvement is not so dramatic when charging a battery that may only be 25% down.

I have verified this simulation with hundreds of measurements on our boat s/v Star over our two year voyage along the East coast of the U.S. and down to the Bahamas.

[AmyJohnson]

uhmmm, did you just stumble into this discussion, Annapolis?

Or did you go back and read the previous thread consisting of 900 pages?

[camaraderie]

AStar...looks cool to mess around with. Thanks for the link.
Pls. Clarify..are you measuring amps at a FIXED voltage and is your 32% increase based on CONTINUOUS tracking of the sun OR periodic adjustment?
When you say "nearly depleted" on the MPPT...do you mean nearly DEAD or 50% discharged? What would you say the benefit would be vs. a PWM on a 50% recharge cycle.
Welcome aboard!

[hellosailor]

A-Star, it is interesting to note from your chart that your two panels, presumbaly "same make" purchase at the same time? show about a 10% difference in output.

"It has a good comparison between the MPPT charge Controller and the simpler PWM controller (like the C30 from Xantrex)." A fast read of the C30 manual indicates it is not a PWM controller at all, but simply a RELAY, that connects/disconnects the solar panels automatically. Or did I misread that?

From what I've seen so far, no MPPT controller will actually give a 30% gain in and of itself--it looks like the gain is more on the order of 10%+ from the MPPT controller, and another 10-20% comes from the PWM power, regardless of whether that comes from an MPPT controller or an alternator or other device. Which reminds me, to call JCI and ask about PWM and batteries.

[RealityCheck]

I looked over the SolarStik site and it looks as if they do not offer an 80 or 100 watt panel... is the problem that they are to large or could they be used with the stand on a boat. Would the standard panels and a KISS type wind generator be a better move than moving up in panel wattage. I'll be in the Carib and wind is generally available all night.

Yes, I know one question is Dependant on my power requirements... still working that one out but much of it is for the production of ICE. The cost of the Stik would almost be worth it for an unending supply of ICE cubes.