Solar for kayak - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Fiskadoro · 11-03-2013, 05:13 PM

The traditional problem with solar for a Kayak is the size of the panel you need to put out the power required.

For instance I have a mono-crystalline solar panel for my truck to keep the battery up when I'm not using it. It's about the size of a piece of paper and only weighs a few pounds but it also only puts out 5w or .28amps.

It would charge a battery that's sitting but won't keep up with a fishfinder and bait tank.

A 50w mono-crystalline panel would put out 2.8 amps. That would be enough power to run a Hummingbird combo and a Hobie baittank but it would be roughly 2 ft square and weigh over 20 pounds.

More realistic would be a poly-crystalline 50w panel. Once again that's only 2.8 amps but I've seen some of those that were only like 12 pounds but they were still big something like 20x30 inches.

Pete you got me rethinking this though. I think most of the newer Hummingbird finders only pull half an amp. Having a variable voltage setup where you can step down to a 6v for the bait tank and that would pull less amperage about the same half an amp. 1.5 amps would probably do it.

I have several friends who are into bike touring and they are using combinations of 5w panels to make 20w and 25w systems for charging phones lights GPS etc...

I'll look around and see what I can find.

Jim

PescadorPete · 11-03-2013, 08:52 PM

Jim, it will be interesting to see what you come up with. Maybe a 12V panel to feed the ff directly and also feed the 12V to a PWM to power the pump. I built a PWM for my 1st bait tank setup and the 12V battery lasts almost as long as running the pump on a 6V battery. I didn't measure how low the 12V battery can go before the PWM quits. pete

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11-03-2013, 05:13 PM	#1
Fiskadoro ....... Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,509	The traditional problem with solar for a Kayak is the size of the panel you need to put out the power required. For instance I have a mono-crystalline solar panel for my truck to keep the battery up when I'm not using it. It's about the size of a piece of paper and only weighs a few pounds but it also only puts out 5w or .28amps. It would charge a battery that's sitting but won't keep up with a fishfinder and bait tank. A 50w mono-crystalline panel would put out 2.8 amps. That would be enough power to run a Hummingbird combo and a Hobie baittank but it would be roughly 2 ft square and weigh over 20 pounds. More realistic would be a poly-crystalline 50w panel. Once again that's only 2.8 amps but I've seen some of those that were only like 12 pounds but they were still big something like 20x30 inches. Pete you got me rethinking this though. I think most of the newer Hummingbird finders only pull half an amp. Having a variable voltage setup where you can step down to a 6v for the bait tank and that would pull less amperage about the same half an amp. 1.5 amps would probably do it. I have several friends who are into bike touring and they are using combinations of 5w panels to make 20w and 25w systems for charging phones lights GPS etc... I'll look around and see what I can find. Jim

11-03-2013, 08:52 PM	#2
PescadorPete Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Leucadia, CA Posts: 261	Jim, it will be interesting to see what you come up with. Maybe a 12V panel to feed the ff directly and also feed the 12V to a PWM to power the pump. I built a PWM for my 1st bait tank setup and the 12V battery lasts almost as long as running the pump on a 6V battery. I didn't measure how low the 12V battery can go before the PWM quits. pete