Solar Panel keep batteries alive

One of the things you quickly have to come to terms with if you sail on Lake Harriet is that that you have lots of ways to use electricity, and few ways to replenish it. The electric motor is the biggest draw, and the lack of shore power or a generator-equipped gas outboard rule out the obvious choices. That leaves you with taking the heavy battery home with you to charge, or solar trickle charging. With a solar panel and a little care, you can get through the entire season without having to remove your battery for recharging. Although you could mount it on the stern rail, or get a flexible unit that can mount to the cabin roof and be walked on, we figured that a inexpensive rigid panel, that can be used when at anchor and stowed while sailing would be best. This works great because most of the time, boats on Lake Harriet are at anchor and can be charging. If you were cruising full time, you might go another route. On our boat, we use the Coleman CL600 panel. For us, it's a good compromise of size and capacity. Also, because of the 600 mAmp charging rate, it does not need a voltage regulator to prevent overcharging. It runs about $70 at Amazon and other places. A link to it on Amazon is HERE. It plugs into a cig lighter, or wires directly to the battery.
It is also a good idea to have a battery monitor to keep track of your available power. There is a post on a very nice little unit HERE.
Tech Note - If you get a panel, make SURE that it is equipped with a diode that prevents the battery from discharging back into the panel at night. Net-net, this will render the panel useless. Most panels will say on the box if the are so equipped, or you can add the diode easily to the circuit yourself if you are handy with basic wiring. Want more info? Read HERE.

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