Let there be solar
30 July 2021
• Sainte Marine
by Wim Vandenbossche
Solar panels are - at long last - in place.140W worth.
Chief Engineer once again earned his keep.
They have been for a week now, and I am very pleased with the way they have performed so far.
On average, I am getting about 400Wh/day. This equates to roughly about 30-35Ah/day. Not nearly enough to keep up with my power consumption under sail, but a nice additian all the same.
Under sail, I use about 8-10Ah/hour. A lot depends on the ambient temperature (fridge running), the seastate/sail-trim and how hard the autopilot has to work.
To reduce the amount of time I would have to run the engine (to generate power) there are two possible courses of action: either I add a windvane selfsteering device or some sort of hydrogenerator.
Not made up my mind yet.
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