Late this morning Alex and Dan from Sea Tek came by to install our new lithium house batteries. The worked all afternoon and into the evening installing the 400 amp hours of batteries, a computer and two battery monitors. One of the monitors can be paired with an app on a smart phone so it can be monitored anywhere within Bluetooth range. The only battery monitors we have had were those connected to our solar panels. We could tell how much solar power was going in but couldn't tell how much power we were drawing. These batteries are more efficient than our old ones so they should charge more quickly. If Alex has time before we leave here he will install new rigid solar panels. 
How many watts of solar do you have to charge your Lithiums? How un-efficient are your semi-flexible panels? This is how I am about to set my boat up.
ReplyDeleteHi Jim. We have 400 watts of solar power with the semi-flexible panels (4 100 watt panels). The best we have ever done is about 5 amps per panel during the middle of the day. Usually it is less than that (1-3 amps per panel). Alex, who installed our lithium batteries, suggested 2 360 watt rigid panels. They would each put out about 30 amps. Our semi-flexible panels were fine while we were in the Chesapeake Bay but not enough in the Bahamas during the winter.
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