http://www.navagear.com/2007/08/free-electricity-for-the-next-25-years-the-solar-stik/ Tech and Tools for Cruisers Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:43:08 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 http://www.navagear.com/2007/08/free-electricity-for-the-next-25-years-the-solar-stik/comment-page-1/#comment-3039 nick Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:05:31 +0000 http://www.navagear.com/2007/08/free-electricity-for-the-next-25-years-the-solar-stik/#comment-3039 2 times 50 Watt, at 12 Volts (but 14.4 required at the beginning of the charge and 13.8 later on) with about 1 Volt drop (regulator, cabling, diodes, etc.) may give 6.5 A, in optimal conditions. The tropical day is 12 hours long. If no overcast, one can count on 7 +"full" solar hours. In real life though, it is hardly ever this good. A single passing trade wind cumulus now and then will reduce this to 5 hours. Thus I believe one is likely to make 30-35 A on a good day. 2 times 50 Watt, at 12 Volts (but 14.4 required at the beginning of the charge and 13.8 later on) with about 1 Volt drop (regulator, cabling, diodes, etc.) may give 6.5 A, in optimal conditions. The tropical day is 12 hours long. If no overcast, one can count on 7 +”full” solar hours. In real life though, it is hardly ever this good. A single passing trade wind cumulus now and then will reduce this to 5 hours. Thus I believe one is likely to make 30-35 A on a good day.

]]> http://www.navagear.com/2007/08/free-electricity-for-the-next-25-years-the-solar-stik/comment-page-1/#comment-527 Aaron Tinling, Publisher Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:13:17 +0000 http://www.navagear.com/2007/08/free-electricity-for-the-next-25-years-the-solar-stik/#comment-527 Thanks for sharing your experience! Have you written up your observations on the web? I think our readers would be interested in your real world results. 50 amp hours/day sounds about right for non-optimized conditions with 100 watts worth of panels. The rule of thumb I remember is you'll get about half the wattage in amp hours/per day from non-aimed panels. If you regularly re-aim your panels throughout the day, you can do a bit better. Thanks for sharing your experience! Have you written up your observations on the web? I think our readers would be interested in your real world results. 50 amp hours/day sounds about right for non-optimized conditions with 100 watts worth of panels. The rule of thumb I remember is you’ll get about half the wattage in amp hours/per day from non-aimed panels. If you regularly re-aim your panels throughout the day, you can do a bit better.

]]> http://www.navagear.com/2007/08/free-electricity-for-the-next-25-years-the-solar-stik/comment-page-1/#comment-525 hebe Tue, 21 Aug 2007 23:50:15 +0000 http://www.navagear.com/2007/08/free-electricity-for-the-next-25-years-the-solar-stik/#comment-525 PS just reviewed it on land and found that 70-80ah's might be possible under optimal conditions. Their best measured hours were 7 amp/hours...you'd need 10-11 BEST hours just to hit 70. Not gonna happen. You are quoting marketing hype if you think people will reasonably get 80ah's out of these under normal conditions. 50-60 is more realistic in good weather. PS just reviewed it on land and found that 70-80ah’s might be possible under optimal conditions. Their best measured hours were 7 amp/hours…you’d need 10-11 BEST hours just to hit 70. Not gonna happen.
You are quoting marketing hype if you think people will reasonably get 80ah’s out of these under normal conditions.
50-60 is more realistic in good weather.

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