Solar power for Boats and yachts
Common Questions About Solar Power For Your Boat
How much solar power will I need to generate for my boat?
The amount of solar power required for your situation depends entirely on what you wish to run with it. If you want to power small appliances you may need more power than a trickle charger.
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Look at the devices which you wish to power from your solar system, a good rule of thumb is that for every 50Wh you use per day you will need 10 watts of solar panels.
For example: a 10 watt phone charger which is used for 2.5 hours per day will use 10W x 3hours = 25Wh of energy each day, Meaning you will need 5 watts of solar panels.
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If your trickle charging your boat battery then you will only need a 10-40 watt solar panel and charge controller, this solely depends on how quickly you want to be able to charge your battery.
How Much does it cost to install solar power on my boat?
The cost for installing solar varies depending on many factors which are outlined below.
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The first factor to be considered is the purpose of solar power on your boat. Are you simply wanting to trickle charge a battery? Or are you looking for a higher power system to run appliances with?
If you just want to trickle charge a battery, then you'll probably only need a 10-40 watt solar panel and controller which would likely only cost around $100-300 plus installation fees.
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If you want a more powerful system (one to run appliances with) you will likely need a whole solar generator system which will cost upwards of $1,000.
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Secondly, the cost of installation can be a major factor in the price of a system. Many small systems can be easily installed yourself especially if your system is mainly for trickle charging a battery. If you have a larger system and want to pay for installation, it can cost anywhere from a few hundred, to a few thousand depending the difficulty of installation.
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What is the purpose of solar power on a boat?
Solar power has loads of benefits for a boating situation. The main one being that it will keep your battery charged constantly, even if you leave your boat unattended for a few weeks or months. (Which is especially useful during the COVID pandemic!)
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If you go to a marina you'll see a lot of boats which have a small solar panel attached to their roof. This is usually for the purpose of trickle charging the battery, but it can also be for powering small devices so that the boat doesn't need to be running while you use power. Some small appliances which are usually run on boats are mini fridges, phone chargers, small TV screens, and lighting.
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Solar can also be used to power much larger devices such as kettles, toasters, ad microwaves! if this is the case you may need an
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What is an inverter? How do I know if I need an inverter?
Lots of people have questions about what an inverter is, thankfully we are here to help!
Dynamic Solar Systems takes all the hassle out of designing a solar system and will design one perfect for your conditions, Including working out weather or not you need an inverter and even what size inverter you may need!
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An inverter is a device used to convert the DC power which is generated by solar panels and stored in batteries into regular AC power which you find in normal power outlets in you house. An inverter is very useful when you need to power larger devices which do not work with standard 12VDC Power such as laptop chargers, and TV's.
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There are two types of inverter, a modified sine wave and a pure sine wave. The modified sine wave is the cheaper one which generates "dirty" power. It is only really good for appliances which are not sensitive like lighting. Pure sine wave inverters on the other hand generate a much cleaner output, this is good for all other devices, even sensitive medical equipment. As you have probably guessed, modified sine wave inverters are generally cheaper however we usually don't recommend them due to them bein gold fashioned and in-efficient.
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If you do not plan on using your solar generator for high power devices, there is rarely a need for an inverter as it just costs extra money.
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Can I use an electric motor to power my boat? Can it be solar powered?
This is a great question which has been met with a lot of confusion in recent years as electric motors become more affordable and more popular. Although the answer is almost always "YES!", your performance requirements and your budget may not allow for your boat to be electric or solar powered.
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Unfortunately, due to the current state of technology, it is generally impossible to have a boat completely solar powered. We can however use batteries to power a boat and a solar panel to charge the battery when it is not being used.
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The first thing you should consider is how fast you want your boat to go. For smaller boats and lower speeds a is the best option. For faster speeds you will likely need an Trolling motors are generally much cheaper than outboard motors due to their different construction and purposes.
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Additionally, you need to consider the range you would like on your electric boat, for small boats and kayaks you generally only want enough to get to a nice fishing spot and back so 5-10Km per charge would be plenty, this would usually require only a 500-1,000wh battery bank. For larger applications where you would like up to a full day of motoring you will obviously need a larger battery, around 5-20 Kwh depending on which motor you use. In general, lithium batteries cost between $1-2 per wh and lead acid batteries cost about half of that. Meaning that the battery is by far the largest cost for an electric boat.
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What is the difference between an electric outboard motor and an electric trolling motor?
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For small tinnies and kayaks a small trolling motor is an excellent option which will push you boat up to 7Kmph and use minimal power. These are usually measured in pounds of thrust which tells you how heavy of a boat they can push. For example a 24 pound thrust trolling motor will push a boat which weighs up to 500Kgs. If higher currents and strong winds are prevalent where you like to go fishing then you may need more thrust - possibly up to twice as much.
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For larger runaround boats and if you want higher speeds on a smaller boat, you may need an electric outboard motor. These are similar to trolling motors in that they are an electric option for powering a boat, however they are constructed very differently and have a different intended purpose to trolling motors. While a high thrust trolling motor will be able to move even heavy boats, they are designed for trolling around at slow speeds, whereas higher speeds can be achieved by electric outboard motors which are designed to go at any speed even up to 100Kmph or over 50 Knots!
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The price difference between trolling motors and electric outboards is usually quite large due to electric outboards having to work at much higher RPMs without overheating. Electric outboards are also generally much more powerful and therefore more expensive.
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