Our next project on the boat is adding solar.
This will entail mounting, wiring, new batteries, and replacing the charger with an inverter/charger.
The panels we went with are made by Solaria. They are the PowerXT 350 high power all black mono 60 cell units. We are putting 4 of these on the boat. Two over the bimini and 2 over the dinghy davits.
From the panels we will have a breaker to control when we want sun power and to also be able to work down line without being shocked. To control the sun power we are using 2 MPPT Victron 100/50 controllers that are blue tooth capable.
We added the Victron BMV 712 battery monitor to be able to manage the power. Soon we will add the Color Monitor GX to be able to fully customize the system and be able to review remotely.
The battery plan will be 5 Lithium 12 volt 200 amp hour units. These are the prismatic style that come in 2 cell 3.2 volt and will be matched as 4 to make a 12 volt battery. Three of these 12 volt batteries will go on the port side under our garage storage area. Replacing our 2 AGM house batterys that were 200 amp hour a piece. The other 2 will be placed on the starboard side next to our black water holding tank.
Stay tuned for the Belle power manegement install.
