With it blowing up to 30 knots, I installed the additional 65W Kyocera solar panel on Buddy's roof today. Including the previously installed 135 Watt Kyocera panal, we now have a total of 200 Watts! The panels are installed using Stainless and nylon marine canvas frame deck hinges with pull pins.They are connected together with MC Interconnect Cables for Solar Electric Panels,
all purchased from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun http://store.solar-electric.com/. Part # are: MC4-10-MF, PV-AZB4, and PV-AZS4 (one of each). The wires to the 65W panel are 5' long. The smaller panel is attached to the larger panel and crowned aluminum 7/8" tube with nylon deck mount hinges to electrically isolate each. When both panels are attached to the rooftop, the wiring stows out of sight underneath the panels. Buddy has two Group 29, 115 amp deep cycle wet cell house batteries and two Group 27 wet cell starting batteries. The charge controller (Morningstar SunSaver) is programed to put 90% of the solar output to the house batteries and 10% to one starting battery.
I did not want to attach additional mounts to the roof because we sometimes carry our Zodiac Inflatable on the roof when underway. From previous photos in the blog, you will note the front 135W panel does not have to be removed to stow the inflatable. The rear mounting bar is easily slid forward or removed along with the smaller panel. We now have enough solar power to run both our new 2.5L Nova Kool refrigerator, the portable Waeco 56L freezer and all other electrical needs on the boat! (updated 12/8/16)
