Solar Power to Burn

Now that's what I'm talking about!  Here is the latest addition to Belle's long term sail capabilities.  I had suffered with a large, ungainly and un-achored solar panel which frankly posed a safety hazard and simply wasn't charging well anymore.  So I decided to splurge and buy a set of stanchion mounted 85 watt panels.
This is quite an undertaking from an engineering standpoint and the electrical wiring standpoint.  I will document my findings as I go

The #10 cable is daunting to work with but the waterproof box and weather tight fittings handle nicely once they are managed correctly.  These kits come from eMarineSystems.com.  I don't want to say that the directions leave a bit to be desired but, I dare say they probably think that if you can't figure it out, you probably shouldn't be tackling the job.  Well, I'm just stubborn enough to think I can. So far, so good.

Here's the basis of the stanchion mount.  With the Stainless cross bar these babies are here to stay.  The are also fully adjustable for correct sun angle side-to-side.
Next comes the new Blue Sea modern three stage charging system.  It will handle up to 25 amps so I plan on mounting the old  solar charger (120 watts) on the bimini.  This will give me about 17 amps total charge under ideal conditions.  The batteries are well taken care of with the intelligent charge system.  More to follow.