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Small Cabin Forum / Off Topic / Solar powered boat
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Ontario lakeside
Member
# Posted: 19 Oct 2021 19:33
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Hey all, I had some stuff laying around and thought I would put together a solar powered boat. It was a fun project. I ran the motor directly off the panels so not really a lot of power but we did get it going! I made a video if you would like to see. Im hoping one day to get rid of the 2 stroke outboard!

https://youtu.be/KXla8_0yOLU

ICC
Member
# Posted: 19 Oct 2021 20:31
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Fun thing to do.

Dutch solar RV

gcrank1
Member
# Posted: 19 Oct 2021 21:44
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Decent little vid!
Did you have the panels series or parallel wired?
Check the volts output in full sun?

Brettny
Member
# Posted: 20 Oct 2021 09:42
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Glad to see your back to making videos. I enjoy watching them all and was wondering when the next one will be.

Ontario lakeside
Member
# Posted: 20 Oct 2021 09:42 - Edited by: Ontario lakeside
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I had them wired in series but I was using a assortment of bits of wire and wire nuts. I feel like I was never getting the full power. I need to build a better rack and wire it properly.

gcrank1
Member
# Posted: 20 Oct 2021 10:20
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My bigger '12v' panels run 18ishv, Ive seen 36v with 2 in series. The higher the voltage the lighter the wire gauge you can use because the amps are lower compared to running 12v.
That motor is 78v? And how many amps? (if rated in watts, A x V = W). The closer you could get to the 'plate rate' the more efficient the motor will run. Probably not enough room on the boat for the optimum number of panels!
Think Id go for a min of 3x12v series batteries for 36v charged with 3-4 series panels. You could wire up the bats first to test run then figure out the array/scc required.

Ontario lakeside
Member
# Posted: 21 Oct 2021 18:31
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Thanks Brettny

It takes so much time to make a video! and YouTube makes it so difficult to find an audience. Im glad you liked it. If you can share it on social media I would appreciate it.

Ontario lakeside
Member
# Posted: 21 Oct 2021 18:33
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gcrank1

Im going to try some other setups in the spring.

FishHog
Member
# Posted: 23 Oct 2021 14:57
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fun stuff, thanks for the video

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