Solar Panels for Fish House???

[Poutwhacker]

Has anyone out there used a solar panel set up to charge and maintain the

12 volt batteries in their fish house? I have heard varying stories of success.

If you have, what size panel, purchased from where and any other good info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

'Pout

[Swimmer]

I know there are some nay-sayers out there, but I think it is a very viable idea especially if combined with low voltage applications like LED lights and LED TV ect. I'm not sure how you would set up a shack with photovoltaics, but I use a single small panel on the back of my boat seat to keep the trolling motor battery charged up on vacations. I think it is 7 watt output and with careful trolling motor use I was able to keep the battery charged on a one week vacation where I used the t-motor at least an hour a day. Go for it.

[Nick Kuhn]

The problem is during winter we get at most 1/4 of the total solar energy we receive during the summer months. That 7 watt panel just became 1.75 Watts, or 146 mA at 12V. That's barely enough to keep LEDs on, and it'd take forever to charge a battery. You would need something quite a bit larger.

[yaggie]

The ones I have tried have not survived the bouncing that a fish house endures being drug across rough lakes.

[Swimmer]

Sorry, I guess my post wasn't clear. You could never power a perm with a 7V panel. If you had the proper setup on one side of the slanted roof facing the right direction, there is no reason you couldn't charge batteries. As far as the bouncing around...I'm sure somebody has figured out how to cushion/protect the panels.

[LightningBG]

I think if your going to go solar, its more of a trickle charge during the week, when you might not be using the house. As for while your using it for a couple days, its not gonna cut it. You might as well bring along a vex battery or a hand crank flashlight, because thats all the power you'll be getting from that panel over the course of a weekend.

As for bouncing, if its only in use while its sitting empty (per above) you might as well just get some type of quick connect and install it after its in its place.

If you want more power while your out there, wind might be a better option. (and it works during the night)

[colty045]

I agree wind would work better I think. You're in an open area and really how many days do we have without any wind compared to days without the sun.

[Tom7227]

I got a unit for about $140 at Northern and use it to pump up the batteries on my boat and boat lift motor during the summer. Handles things very well. Check with them and you'll find what you need. As far as bumping around - something that you'd probably want to take down if that were going to be an issue unless you nailed it directly to the roof I would think. Might want to do that anyway so it would have a low profile and be less likely to disappear.

[chad220]

I bought one for ours this year From northern. 15 watt for around $80, comes with a few differnt connectors. Seems to work fairly well, our trips go from fri nite to sun. We run 3 florecent lights 2 computer fans, radio and tv vcr with an inverter on one battery in that time. When we get home and I put the charger on it say around 50% charge left. Last year without the panel we ran less stuff and battery was getting pretty weak buy sun morning [same battery this year]. So I think it does something. I just run the cord in through the wall and lean it up against the house, then on bathroom breaks just keep turning it to follow the sun during the day.

[nytelyter]

harbor fright has a great deal on a three panel set up. and do not worry about putting an angle on them the snow and ice will reflect the sun to give them enough solar. however. i have a 45watt three panel setup and if i were to do it over again i would mount 45 watt panels and go with atleast three of them but you are talking a few bucks there. one 45 watt panel and the amount of available daylight in the winter does not quite doit for a good deepcycle for those of us that have all the toys in our houses. tv, lights, fans, ect.....

[nytelyter]

i would not roof mount them. like said the sun will reflect from the snow and ice. i have all three panels on the south facing side of my house.

[olbaidhh]

I tried the solar... it was a trickle charge solution at best. go wind... you wont regret it.

[Swimmer]

I think if your going to go solar, its more of a trickle charge during the week, when you might not be using the house. As for while your using it for a couple days, its not gonna cut it. You might as well bring along a vex battery or a hand crank flashlight, because thats all the power you'll be getting from that panel over the course of a weekend.

As for bouncing, if its only in use while its sitting empty (per above) you might as well just get some type of quick connect and install it after its in its place.

If you want more power while your out there, wind might be a better option. (and it works during the night)

A wind generator does sound intriguing. I know yachtsmen use them out on the water. I wonder if you could find one for a few hundred dollars? One drawback is that they are kind of noisy, but if you were inside the shack that wouldn't be an issue. If you were in a house city and a bunch of people had them, it could be real annoying. And you are right, the obvious advantage is that they charge at night.

[olbaidhh]

They are not too noisy... they sound like a snowmobile way off in the distance. The key is to get the hub and PMA spacing right with the proper shim and you won't get as much vibration making it a LOT quieter.

PoutWhacker

$200 is doable $250 for a good setup $400 for SOTA.

I have a got a lot of data out here on the subject just do a search on wind generator... (you may have to go WAY back though)

[Ron Vroom]

I've got a 15W panel which sits inside the south facing window of my wheel house and (2) 12v deep cycle batteries. I probably average 10 days between 2 overnight trips and just run lights at night. When I leave the batteries are probably down to about 12.2 volts but when I return they are back up to 12.85 volts or so. So the panel does the job of keeping my batteries up and eliminates the need to take them home to recharge. If I were using a higher electrical load, I would go with a 1000W Honda which is super quiet and runs on hardly any gas. The 15W panel does not need a controller or regulator since the rule of thumb is that if the panel puts out 1 amp or less, you don't need a controller to prevent overcharging.