Home Power Planning

As most of you know – I LOVE SOLAR POWER!!

However; my new home – Aria – does not currently have any solar panels onboard. I know…. GASP!!!

Clearly I need to rectify that very quickly! 🙂

To that end, I’ve done some research to find out what is available on St. Lucia. One would think that solar panels would be available on every street corner given the amount of sun available there. However; from several thousand miles away, that does not appear to be the case (I suspect it is due to the cost of shipping things there).

I was hoping to find a couple 400+ watt panels for cheap but that didn’t happen. Instead, the highest output panel that I could find was 260 watts and they were $1.50/watt. Ok, fine – it is what it is. I put a deposit on two of them.  They will be mounted up high on the dingy davits at the rear of the boat.  This will provide more shade for lounging and be in about the most “shade free” area of the boat.

In my luggage, I am taking a brand new Morningstar TS-MPPT-45 solar charge controller and a brand new Victron BMV700 battery monitor.

My last Morningstar TS-MPPT-45 performed flawlessly, I could find no reason to even consider anything else.

I really like the Trimetric RV-2030 that I had in my coach. However; the Victron has received good reviews and offers a much more attractive look – at least for where and how it will be mounted in Aria. It was also a few dollars less expensive. I decided to give it a try.

Finally, four new 230 AH 6 volt golf cart batteries are waiting for me. These will replace the two dead 12 volt 4D monsters that are currently onboard. I’ll probably have to call some “youngsters” to come help this decrepit old man get those big boys out of the boat! I guess I knew that day would come but I never thought it would be the result of a cycling accident. 🙁

Clearly I have some work to do once I arrive! However; once it is done, I should have an electrical system that is in pretty good shape and a good bit of power to keep me going!

Can’t wait to get started! Six days and a wake up!