Thursday, April 12, 2007

Promethean Moment

Our little vessel is about to acquire a fixed VHF DSC radio, navigation lights and cabin lights, in addition to her ancient NASA echo sounder. We'ld also like to add a socket or two for things like phone chargers. To run this modest little setup, we'll need a little power. Marina-dwellers can simply plug in, but on our swing mooring, shore power is not an option - so we are going solar, with the help of a neat little kit from SailGB. The gadgetry having arrived, Ms C took charge and soon assembled a test circuit in our back garden, wiring the panel (120 watt-hours per day) to a charge controller (pictured), a 70 amp-hour deep-cycle marine-grade battery, and a small cabin light (pictured) for a test load.

Bottled sunlight in action

When I returned in the evening, a flick of a switch gave us a beautiful steady glow - bottled sunlight. Watching the light of this little ten-watt bulb (a cheap-but-wasteful incandescent) , the implications seemed quite numinous - our little boat, who'll travel nearly every mile under sail, will now achieve complete electrical independence. Once that panel has been screwed to her coachroof, she'll be cleanly and silently self-powering, more or less indefinitely. Wonder how long it'll be before I can say the same of our house - or our cars?

3 comments:

Andrew Knight said...

Hi E

Hope you're well and the good ship Phibius is coming along nicely.

I'm also looking at solar power for Arabella. I hope you don't mind if I ask a couple of questions?

Which model of panel did you choose in the end? I'm guessing it was one of the semi-flexible ones? Which capacity?

In addition, where on the coach roof are you mounting the panel - between the companionway hatch and the mast?

All the best

Andrew K

Phibius said...

Hi Andrew,
I chose a kit from SailGB , the CBS120M, which measures 590 x 450 x 2 millimetres, and produces up to 120 watt-hours per day.

Should be installing it next week, after which I could probably give more educated advice.

As you guessed, it'll be going on between the companionway hatch and the mast - this is the largest panel that would fit that space. Could fit one on the hatch itself, I think, but there isn't any need - this one should be fine for us.

Regards,

E

Andrew Knight said...

Hi E

Great minds think alike...that's exactly the model I am thinking of, too. I'll be very interested to see how you get on, as I am a few weeks behind you.

Good luck!

All the best

Andrew K