Marine Solar Panels USA
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Marine Solar Panels USA What’s The Difference?
It’s very interesting to see so many websites marketing solar panels to the boats and yachts especially marine solar panels USA.
I have four panels fitted to my sailing yacht and they supply the power I require throughout the summer season.
Now a lot of companies will tell you that you need marine solar panels but let me clear this point up right now and say that I fitted my standard non ‘marine panels’ in 2006 and they have given me trouble free power.
I have four 90 watt Phaesun panels fitted on top of a large gantry aft, the panels are connected for 24 volt operation, to minimise cable size and then connected to a Blue Sky MPPT 50 Controller.
Marine Solar Panels USA MPPT
The controller then steps down the voltage to ships voltage which is 12 volt. This all means that the panels provide 24 volts to the controller which return reduces the voltage down to 12 volts at the controller end.
It’s well worth investing in a MPPT controller even though the box costs nearly as much as a whole panel, the reason for this is that here in the Mediterranean, in Greece, the panels will produce 25 Amps at 12 volts, which if you do the maths is a 83% efficiency. You’ll never get that with a standard solar regulator.
Now coming back to this marine word, the thing is that the word marine implies that there is something special about panes sold with this prefix, there is not, the only bit of kit that you could describe as marine, even with marine solar panels sold in the USA, the only thing is the connecting boxes.
Marine Solar Panels USA Connection Boxes
Yes the little boxes usually fitted under the panels themselves, the boxes that house the connector blocks or as I like to call them chocolate blocks, they are waterproof to marine standards.
It’s much simpler to go out and purchase the required quantity of boxes and fit them yourself, it’s certainly a lot more cost effective to do this. No there is one other point I would like to make and it’s to do with the panels themselves.
That point is make sure that the panels are set in anodised aluminium and not some unprotected alloy, now they all usually are but some people who have asked me for advised recently have gone out and made sure they got the cheapest panels on the market and they were no anodised.
This can lead to problems in the future and I’m sure that these type of solar panels would not last as long as anodised ones.
Keep an eye out for more solar panel related post on this blog, I’m doing a review of my panels, which as I have said, have provided all the power I need from the sun day in day our for the last six years.
Leave a comment below if you want to ask any questions and I’ll answer them or point you in the right direction.
So in conclusion, rather go out there and buy you solar panels from marine outlets shop around for them online and offline, marine solar panels USA don’t have to have the marine in front of them to give long years of trouble free power on your boat.