Waiting my turn in Nawlins

Is that a smile or did I just put my elbow down on a hot PV module? I’m catching some rays through the sliding module hatch of my solar expedition launch, Sun King. This is at New Orleans, home of the weirdest lock and drawbridge combination I have ever seen. 1620 watts of “B” panels on the boat.

Are you afraid of “B” panels? I’m not. I put six of them on my solar-powered expedition launch Sun King and travelled up to 1000 miles from home. My longest trip was 1920 miles in 44 days. Lots of rivers and the Gulf of Mexico. These days I don’t wander so far off and only have 3 modules in the middle and rounded edges on ends. 9 big 335 watt panels are going on my solar yacht project and I plan on taking that on a 6000 mile trip around The Great Loop. “B” panels are reliable and cheap, so you can afford more solar stuff, like batteries and charge controllers, all of which Sun Electronics has, of course.

Just planning to keep the batteries charged on your sailboat or cruiser? Save money with so-called 24 volt panels instead of 12 volt panels. Use an MPPT charge controller and the 24 volt panel charges your 12 volt battery bank at top efficiency. By: Neal Collier