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[Music]  [Music]  you  all right solar solar is definitely not  a gimmick it is not a feel-good oh I'm  just doing things for the environment  it's kind of useless but it makes me  feel good now Solar is real it's  tangible  it gives actually real benefits it might  be environmentally conscious but that's  not the only thing that's good about it  it's an absolute real way to convert the  sun's energy as a means to recharge your  batteries it's here it's not a dream  it's a we see it right and it's possible  on a boat I'm trying to show some  examples with solar panels which we do  two kind of real popular ways there's  also in parallel although I rarely  recommend in parallel single solar panel  solar panel in series and we've got a  controller the controller is essential I  get this question all the time Jeff  they're like oh do I need a controller  I'm just gonna cook my solar panels to  my batteries well first of all solar  panels rarely if ever give output  voltage that your battery needs there's  no such thing as a 12-volt full panel  some solar panels are 18 volts some  solar panels are 5 volts some solar  panels are I've got we put a raise in  that are almost 100 volts you're taking  a hundred volts DC you need to convert  regulate this power and you go through a  controller to give what the batteries  need because your batteries might be  full like on my boat for example in the  summer months I could be connected to  shore power and I have six controllers  that are each connected to a solar panel  and those controllers have to say you  know what I don't need to work the  batteries are full so they'll disconnect  the solar panels from the battery  because the batteries aren't being  discharged because I'm not using the  boat people that connect apps or panel  directly to a battery are the same  boaters that are complaining that their  batteries are being cooked and their  batteries don't last  you can't look you need a gate keeper  the gate keeper is the controller okay  we'll talk about will dial in a little  bit into the implications of all this  so when you're gonna be purchasing solar  panels you're gonna have a big choice  the first one that you're gonna make is  am I gonna go with mono or Paulie and  realistically what it comes down to is  that a mono panel is more efficient than  a poly panel what does that mean it  means that if you have a solar panel  that is let's call it four feet by two  feet that panel let's say well let's  make it easier yeah four feet it's  generally it's about 48 inches by 26  inches so let's call it 4 feet by 2 feet  that panel might be a hundred watts if  it was Paulie but if it's mono it's 125  walk so generally you get about a 20%  25% increase in wattage for a known  dimension so two panels exactly the same  same size one panel is going to be about  25% more power output for the same size  so what is why is that important well  first is that the one that has less  output guess what is actually the less  expensive one so it's the best value so  that's one reason the mono higher  efficiency is more expensive okay well  that makes sense otherwise we wouldn't  be talking about 100 the other and when  we tackle boats and I've got a boater  that's got a large surface area huge  surface area right maybe it's a power  boater with a huge Bimini and they need  let they need way less solar panels they  may have space meaning that I could do  an array for a thousand watts and they  only need 500 because we've done the  math and we'll talk about the math I'm  gonna recommend most likely that we'll  go with Paulie it's sort of like when  you're in the country you built a  rancher when you're downtown you build a  high-rise right energy debt density is  what is gonna maybe make the decision  for you on your boat on my boat I have a  sailboat that's from the 1990s that has  a very narrow transom right my transom  doesn't have a being that is crazy like  modern sailboats therefore the canvas on  top of my boat is limited so when I made  a choice  solar panels I had limited space  therefore if I wanted more solar panels  or I wanted as much solar panels as I  could fit on my small limited canvas I  went with mono panels right because the  I just didn't have a lot of surface area  to spread so mono and poly that's pretty  much the big difference there's other  differences but definitely best value is  with a poly panel the goal is ultimately  with solar is to be here longer by the  way that's pre no desolation sound  anybody who hasn't been there yet  version of heaven right here 100  nautical miles maybe from here so that's  frito right so basically why would we do  about and let's say last year we did  probably about 100 solar arrays so when  people come to us and say Jeff how do I  go about choosing a solar array I want  solar for my boat but I don't know where  to start what should I do the most  common things that we end up doing is  I've got a boat on a boy at salt spring  on an island and I want to keep it  topped off just to meet the man just to  make sure because I can't plug in and I  just want to keep my batteries topped  off I want a charger to recharge my  batteries but not a lot just to keep  them on flow that's reason number one  reason number two Jeff I remember the  days when I didn't have refrigeration on  my boat or when I voted without  refrigeration and without refrigeration  my demands are very minimal I just want  a sore array that's gonna offset  refrigeration if I can offset  refrigeration I'm good that's probably  the number one most popular thing close  to that is an order that says or boater  that says Jeff I want to be able to stay  another day in Ankur I'm currently  staying one day ice but I'd like to be  able to stay too and I don't want to run  my engine with an alternator at idle to  recharge my batteries and I can't add  more batteries on my boat because I  don't have the space for it or I don't  want to I don't want the weight or I  don't want to spend the money on  batteries right could be multiple  reasons so they're gonna say okay  perfect or they might be what some of my  boaters are doing we did a large  cameraman like myself I don't have a  large camera but I said I was like okay  you know of course I went sold it I'm  like we're gonna offset all amp-hours  our solar array four months of the year  I don't need to plug in if I don't want  to plug in I'm actually gonna be what is  my daily a power consumption on my boat  it's one about a hundred and eight  hundred and ten oh my I'm gonna have an  array that will meet my daily  consumption and in the summer I never  have to run my alternator never have to  connect to shore power I could stand to  hook four months of the year that's done  so people that are going offshore for  example that can Moran we did a fourteen  hundred watt array why because they want  to be off-grid never plug in again and  1,400 watts  that's breeze is gonna give them and  we'll talk about the math about 300 amp  hours a day of power that's it  they're they're self-sufficient they're  off grid forever their batteries are  gonna be cycling at night but in the day  time they're going to completely catch  up and they're able to stay two days  that anchor without even worrying about  Sun and if it happens and they can run  their alternators but they won't need to  right you got lots of mounting options  we got flexible solar panels which we  sew onto canvas and and we even glue on  to hard tops you can actually peel and  stick solar panels like I even mount  solar panels on the deck you can walk on  so we did that on a sailboat just  recently and then basically on a rigid  we do a lot of solar panels on arches  all right I'm doing a 44 foot sailboat  we're doing a bunch of solar panels the  Catalina 50 that we're also doing that's  also having an arch we're doing solar  panels on that or you can install like  tubing stainless steel tubing the  challenge is with rigid is that it makes  you know or let's rephrase the advantage  with flexible solar panels is that they  can follow the curvature of your boat  and that is important to some of us  right some people like I had a power  boaters tell me he has a power boat he  says I don't want a solar panel that  looks like a solar panel I don't want to  lie a straight line on my boat  I'll do solar but only if it follows the  curve of my boat and that would be a  good advantage of doing flexible because  you'll actually make it follow the  canvas nobody knows it's there right  that just the curvature the profile of  your boat looks the same as soon as you  put rigid ultimately you're gonna have  straight lines some people are not  burdened by aesthetics as much as others  and for them that's a huge advantage  because a rigid solar panel is generally  at least half the price of a flexible  right a flexible solar panels about the  thickness of a dime right it's about the  tenth of the weight but it's about at  least double the at least double the  price at least so you know it depends on  budget it depends on aesthetics but  there's a lot of choice so if you've  decided that you're gonna do solar this  is actually a really cool takeaway and  what it tells you is that ultimately  there's a long version of a formula but  the short version of the formula which  gives you the same result is if you're  actually wanting you're wondering how  much is a 100 watt solar panel I'm gonna  give me an amp hours right like what's  gonna be my daily output in amp hours  you if you want to be realistic right  not optimistic not conservative but kind  of like on average what is 100 watt  solar panel gonna give me it's gonna  give you 25 amp hours in this latitude  in the summer months obviously not in  winter but in the summer months between  May to August you're looking at about a  factor of 4 another way to look at it is  you could say Jeff I want a hundred amp  hours of daily output from solar how  big's for my array with V well you do  100 amp hours times 4 gives you 400  watts and then you can do that 400 watt  panel in mono or poly obviously a poly  400 watt array is gonna be bigger than a  400 watt mono array okay  but that's how the calculation happens  we're actually lucky in the Pacific  Northwest and if you read blogs this  won't make sense to them  because in the Caribbean the sunlight is  even in the summer months only about  1213 hours in the Pacific Northwest in  the winter we don't have 1213 hours it's  much less than that  but in the summer months we get 16 17  hours that longer sunlight makes for  better output not at any given moment  but overtime that's why in the summer  months in the Pacific Northwest at this  latitude we're actually able to get more  output from our solar panels than people  would in the Caribbean  not many people boat in the winter here  so it's not like a lot of naysayers will  say Walsh solar panels are useless in  the wintertime  oh my oh yeah have you seen how empty  the Anchorage's are last weekend  probably one of the most gorgeous  weekend's like this weekend I was in the  Gulf Islands Wallace is got no boat on  Monday no if this was a long weekend  Pirates Cove is empty Montague is  completely empty there's not a single  boat no boat in Ganges that are coming  in out  nobody's boating so nobody boats in the  winter except a few crazy people myself  included so for the most part I would  say Solar is great because most of us  vote in the summer and that's when you  need solar when you're boating not in  the winter when you're connected to  shore power so a large different  selection of solar panels this is only  like an earth shop we probably have 60  different sizes of solar panels so it's  a way to every deer all come in  different shapes  well not shapes are all rectangular but  different lengths and widths and that's  how you can cover the surface area on a  boat and originally the same thing  there's a lot of choice so to recap you  do the shorthand formula wattage divided  got times 4 equals your daily at power  make sure these are lots of selection  and rigid and popular flexible gioco  Solera  which are really German they're really  good to their walk on think about what's  the difference between mono and poly  right if you're going to go best value  or more efficient those are probably the  selection criterias you really get with  solar by the way you get what you pay  for with solar  you really do so here's a little slide I  decided to throw in there I was thinking  about this because I get this question  all the time and based on feedback from  YouTube  I had a boater that was commenting oh  you know what this is so stupid why do  you say MPPT all the time look at this  guy he's saying pwm is better and I was  like oh god I'm like yeah absolutely if  you've got a solar array made of solar  panels that are very inexpensive rigid  pauly and you're doing a huge array loss  of efficiency won't matter to you so  much because I mean how big is your  house or your roof I mean it's limit  almost limitless on a boat the challenge  is it's very hard to find a good  location to mount a solar panel it's  gonna be hard more of more reasons than  not you won't be able to do everything  you want to do with solar and if you  spend money on flexible solar panels  which are some of them are up to five  six times the price of a rigid panel on  the high-end quality ones my argument is  that it doesn't make sense to buy a pwm  controller pulse width modulation and  lose 20% of that array when you can lose  only about 3% with an MPPT controller so  the takeaway here is that if you end up  buying expensive panels per watt for  whatever reason quality you know it's  the only ones that could fit you want  and walk on whatever if you end up  buying expensive panels it doesn't make  sense to buy a PWM controller and to  lose 20% of that array when you can lose  only maybe 3% of the array if you went  with an MPPT the other big advantage  with MPPT especially with power boats or  boats that I don't we don't experience  shading is well put the panels in series  and then series the voltage can start  adding like you might have one solar  panel 20 volts another one panel 20  volts another panel 20 20 so now we have  80 volts coming in pwms will only allow  to about 18 volts in on average most  controllers the MPPT will allow up to  and I'll show you some of them actually  have up 200 volts coming in right DC and  then they convert that hundred volts DC  - whatever battery voltage you have your  battery voltage could be 12 volts or it  actually could be 24 volts so here's an  example 75 in 15 amp maximum ampacity -  the panel the maximum of amp isset e  generally is going to be because most of  the time we're actually downgrading the  voltage is generally going to be the  battery side but if you were having a  boost controller the boost controller  would actually have higher amperage on  the input and then lower amperage on the  out so what do you want to look for when  you're getting controllers well first of  all make sure you buy a controller  that's for your battery voltage sounds  silly but not all of us have 12 volts  some of us have 20 for some boats even  have 32 volts so make sure the output is  match to your battery voltage people  that do hybrid you know like engines  with 40 48 volt batteries you want a 48  volt battery controller make sure that  the controller can handle the amperage  and the voltage from the array is really  important and that you can also  customize it to fit the battery profile  because you can actually tail you can  say I want a controller with a Firefly  profile  I want a controller that does AGM and so  make sure that if you're gonna buy a  controller and if you have not flooded  batteries that you can actually choose  the charge profile that really makes a  difference so here's an example this is  interesting we've got a lot of solar  panels that are less than 10 volts  you're thinking why would I buy a less  than 10 volts or panel what is a watt  right it doesn't matter if it's a  hundred amps at 1 watt right or 10 amps  at 10 watts like its power is volt  Prime's amps so some solar panels the  way they're done is they're 100 watts  115 Watts but the output is actually  less than 12 volts so you need what's  called a boost controller bringing the  voltage up to what your batteries need  ok I get owners that sometimes are  stubborn don't believe me and they're  like ah yes you're just making this  stuff up and then they end up buying the  solar panels they use their controllers  and oddly enough completely out of the  blue it doesn't work  how am i okay well there you go full  loop now let's put can we put the boost  controllers in now oh so it really is  yeah I'm like that's why it's I didn't  invent the product there's a reason like  you really need to think about what is  your solar array gonna be so basically  that's kind of a recap on a little bit  solar panels here again just put it into  context does anybody have any questions  on solar for their boat okay yeah I  didn't bring that that question that's a  good question  question is why would you choose the  wire panels in parallel or in series or  dedicated controller a few reasons first  might be in a situation where you have  no shading possibility right so not a  sailboat because elbows have lots of  shade power boat fly bridge no radar  arch much higher or if the radar arch  it's really back you know there maybe  they have a radar tower and it's way  back right so the Bimini is completely  empty of any shading potential putting  the panels in series makes good sense  there because a we're gonna save on the  wiring and the install because I could  start actually having the series jumper  and instead of coming back all the way  down to near the battery where this is  gonna be mounted those wires I only have  to have a pair of wires coming down and  two wires are actually going to be able  to handle maybe two panels three panels  four panels the voltage goes up as I put  things in series think about a golf cart  battery you buy a golf cart batteries  six volts you put two in series the amp  power stays the same but the voltage  went up to 12 volts or for some motors  have 30 to 24 volts so you put four golf  carts in series it's still always a 220  amp hour battery but it's 220 amp hours  now at 24 volts right so here the  voltage would increase but the amperage  stays the same so you you're not  increasing the wire size doesn't need to  be bigger and then you need a controller  and here is a  hundred volt controller that can take up  to 30 amps so that would be a reason on  boats that have a lot of shading you  want each panel you don't want one panel  to bring down other panels now good  panels will also have what are called  diodes bypass diodes so that if one is  really shaded it's not gonna take down  the whole array but still be that being  said when we were doing sailboats or  Bimini for example on a dodger on both  side of a mass on a sailboat we've got a  port and starboard solar panel on a  Dodger we're gonna end up doing a  controller per panel but then we'll have  two wires on each side coming down and  two wires why because two wires because  it's a circuit right with electricity  you need a one wire in one wire up  otherwise it's not connectivity and you  know what's really confusing and I was  thinking about it the other day I was  trying to explain to someone I'm like I  think what's confusing is that at home  we have a cord and we call that a cable  right and when you plug into something  you just plug in one what you say you  say we call it colliculi a wire but it  actually is a cable and one is a cable a  cable is actually made of multiple wires  right you plug that in there's actually  three wires in that plug so that's why  it's kind of misleading it's only one  cable but that one cable has three wires  in it with DC you need two and they're  generally not duplex they're generally  separate so that's why it's sometimes  confusing so for shading areas we do  control or dedicate controllers and for  non shadings we do series but at one  point you have to ask yourself and I do  stop at one point when the panel voltage  is too high nobody expects DC volts to  be that dangerous all right you touch a  12-volt battery with your hands you're  not gonna get electrocuted right there's  not enough potential to go through your  body but if you have a solar panel  that's outputting a hundred or 120 volts  DC and you're out there being the  MacGyver and you're down below thinking  everything's fine 120 volts of DC is  gonna hurt so at one point I started  making a trestle I'm like well you know  what I  no it works but nobody on a boat expects  a hundred volts DC so I'm like we're  gonna put two controllers one port one  starboard and the reason you got to  think about this too is that controllers  are not one controller size to  everything if you're gonna have a  controller that's going to be able to  have four panels it's not going to be  four times the price of this little one  but it might be three times so it's not  like one controller does everything  because you need a controller that can  handle either the input voltage or the  input apps right and as they get more  the voltage gets higher that controller  is more money so there's not a magical  controller that does everything you're  sizing the controller per array so  there's no real cost in true cost  incentive to go one controller for  everything and the other reason too is  for people that go offshore if you have  one controller that is everything if you  lose that one controller you lose  everything it's called a single point of  failure again engineer I'm like I don't  like single point of failures right I  like I like to have redundancy right I  geek out so if I lose one I lose just  one panel and that's why it's both  they're going offshore that really need  their solar array then I'm probably  going to end up putting more controllers  to limit single point of failures other  questions yeah yeah that's it why do you  need a controller closer to the battery  some controllers actually are  temperature compensating with some not  all inside the unit  they want the ambient temperature not  all of them and some of them also have  leads to go to therefore temperature  compensating like on my boat my  controllers aren't temperature  compensated so my controllers actually  went what I ended up doing is I went for  solar panels are coming in the after the  boat and then I have four controllers  literally on the aft bulkhead aggregated  to one pair of cable that goes to the  batteries so I'm trying with these  slides to go with what's the most common  rule there's most times exceptions  those rules yes so short of maybe  keeping the system under fifty volts for  safety is there a sweet spot for our  solar panel voltage like you could have  it all the way you could have a boost  controller and have low voltage panels  or step-down hot yeah yeah your question  is valid I think it's really good I mean  what's there is no sweet sweet spot I  think other than electrocution from just  because people think 12 volts is benign  even 24 realistically other than a dead  short but you're not going to be  humanely if you touch a 24 volt battery  with your hands on the positive negative  post you're not going to be electrocuted  there's not enough potential there other  than that it doesn't matter if it's  lower because we'll talk about that a  little bit tomorrow power is V equals I  so if you bring V down eyes  directionally just simply higher so you  could have a hundred watts one volt  times 100 or you could have a hundred  volts times one amp it's the same thing  powers power right wire size yeah yeah  any other questions yeah go ahead  yeah connectors have to be so funny I  deleted that I was like we got to go  forth because Veck so mc4 connectors are  essential with solar panels you  absolutely need to use these waterproof  connectors they're actually the ability  to be done and redone there's it's black  and white  there was no reason not to you just need  to special crimper to do the ends that's  the only thing you can improvise of  course MacGyver does everything under  duress but to do it right you need a  special crimper to do the ends they're  not that expensive like when we did  solar we started solar I did solar my  boat six years ago and now we're full in  like like we do solar like crazy like  it's it's a big part of our business  every one of my technicians has solar  crimpers and we have solar crimpers at  the office because people say I don't  have them can you do cables for me  because I'm gonna be interconnecting and  I don't have them so we have the  crimpers and it's called MC 4 it's the  standard and it allows it's actually  waterproof and you can do them outside  you can actually undo and redo because  some people are removing their solar  panels  and then reinstalling them on the canvas  they'll take them off and they'll put  them back on again so you can do that no  not at all actually this panels good  question has that's a fear right I'm  spending money today but tomorrow it's  gonna be so much better so I'm not gonna  spend any money I put on my boats solar  panels on my boat nearly six years ago  they are selling that solar panel today  and still to this day because obviously  I'm inclined to do things right the  first time are still the best solar  panels you can buy and I still have  incredible output like I measure my  output of my solar panels because I geek  out and I use it to justify to my  partner why we did this huge investment  in time and money right and I'm like Oh  have you seen how amazing this output is  isn't it incredible justifying the  purchase right it's a really it's a  great way for you know to help other  purchases in the future and so I think  it's really good idea to go with quality  and honestly there is people always talk  oh yeah look at what the University of  Austin did I'm like do you know how long  it takes to bring something to market in  this like it's just Paul your motto  that's it there's nothing the only big  innovation is that there is ridiculous  flexible solar panels that you can buy  at Canadian Tire those are ridiculous I  mean it's the panel's this big it gives  you like 10 10 watts  those are a joke our real solar panel is  totally and there's China makes them  there they're made everywhere the best  ones in flexible no doubt are from  Germany and Italy they make the best and  then basically try not copies them and  makes replication of them for about half  the price or less depending on the  quality of the manufacturer  yeah the the question was what about the  surface of the panel  I like the smooth one because I don't  walk on mine they're on top of the  bimini and and a Dodger I never actually  I've washed my solar panels with any  detergent anything because it's so  perfectly smooth and I've made sure that  I don't wash them with a rag or anything  or a rag I'm not scratching the surface  that even bird droppings don't hold on  to the panel there's bird droppings on  my boat everywhere drives us crazy that  canvas the deck the solar panels there's  nothing to a deer - it's such a smooth  epoxy surface then it dries and it just  probably blows away like there's nothing  to hold on to because the this panel is  perfectly smooth so now the ones that  you walk on you have to there's no  choice otherwise you'd slip so the ones  that are from Solera  I have the German one yeah it's gonna be  it's gonna be like it looks like an  anti-skid right but they're also big  money like I mean this is not this is  this is a real deal like this is not a  cheap panel like if you're buying  something from Germany like cheap and  German don't probably go together that  much right so you need to have the  budget and you know what you're buying  like I have very few people that come to  us and say I want a solar panel and then  they end up getting a Solera they come  to us and said they've done all their  research and like I want Solera I'm like  great decision I agree yeah here's why  but I'm not gonna convert someone  looking at a Chinese panel that's  looking at 300 watt 300 dollars and he's  gonna buy an $1,800 panel like it's  never gonna happen like it's they're  just not gonna convert okay I'm gonna  let go solar panels for the purpose of  time but feel free to ask me more  questions on Soler's I'm pretty  passionate about it because it actually  is a real thing and it gives real  results