Solar Chargers on Sale

A quick review indicated the product from Defender has a 10 yr warrentee vs a 5 yr on the other maker. The defender panel does say u can walk on their's but the other did not. I like the 200 watt as I would like to get to the mooring and have a cold fridge on the hook and no generator if possible.
 
Another alternative. A 200 watt solar charging systemfrom e-bay. $300, free shipping. For RV-Boat-Camping-Off-Grid-System.

I've bought several solar panels from e-bay, certainly they're from China, but shipped from USA. They've worked well. China has the market for low end solar panels, so if you're looking for a bargain, it's gonna be made in China.

Use a 25 watt panel/controller to keep the truck battery charged. Worked well.

Boris
 
The problem with a C-Dory and solar panels is that there is not really enough free space to put up enough solar panels to get a decent amount of watts. On a 22 you could put one of the 100 watt panels on the roof. But there goes your dinghy storage. I doubt that there is room for 200 watts but I'd have to measure.

On a local basis, solar cells might be better for the environment. But a generator is a more efficient and flexible use of the available space (IMO).

I'm not sure, but the total resource cost of producing a 100 watt panel installation is probably more than you can ever get out of it.

It would be nice if there were small panels available, about 12"x12" or 6"x12" that you could stick to something (say the roof of your boat) and connect together. Having tiles that could be readily cut into irregular shapes (and still work, like EL panels) would also be nice. This way you could stick as many solar tiles as you want in whatever arrangement works and be able to hook them together and get power out of them. The amount of power would be dependent on the amount of tiles you connected together.
 
ssobol":p70sk48g said:
The problem with a C-Dory and solar panels is that there is not really enough free space to put up enough solar panels to get a decent amount of watts. On a 22 you could put one of the 100 watt panels on the roof. But there goes your dinghy storage. .
Click to expand...

I see the roof of the Bimini as the ideal place for solar panels, especially those which are flexible, such as the Renogy about 43" x 21" and 4 lbs. Two of the 100 watt panels would fit there nicely. The ones on e-bay are rigid, with aluminum frames, and would not work well on the Bimini.

Hard to justify many things on a boat (or even the boat) cost wise! I see having ice, frozen food and fresh veggies as luxury. But if you can afford it, then why not? So far we have depended on the Honda EU 1000, and it works fine. But I am considering solar panels on the Bimini.

One major issue, not addressed on this thread, is the necessity of tracking the sun, if you are to get the maximum power out of any solar panel. This often means a "pole", rotation to give proper altitude and azimuth adjustment during the day. The flat panels on the Bimini, will probably sacrifice 40% vs one which was tracking the sun.

Then one has to consider the efficiency of various solar cells:

(the graph was way too big,) the essence is that they range from 10% to almost 50% efficient!
 
You might check the "Solar" folder on the EZ DUZIT pics. I mounted 2 100 watt panels in a couple ways to use with or without the dinghy. So far I am satisfied with the results.
 
I just finished installing two of the 100 W Renogy panels on Discovery. They replaced 6 X 15W panels that have been on the boat since 2006. More than twice the wattage in just over half the space of the old panels.

I bought the Renogy panels on sale for $185 each, a few months ago, directly from Renogy. They look to be exactly the same as the panels now on sale at Defender.
 
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