Well… dear diary…
Yesterday I went alone to shore to try and work on finding a temporary solution to my solar panel problem. As I was wandering around I ran into another solo sailor named Vince, (a cool guy like maybe in his 50’s). We were chatting and he asked me if I needed help with finding anything. I explained my mission to find a solar panel.
We set off together to find the local hardware stores. As we were talking, getting to know each other a bit, Vince called me a Unicorn.
Well I thought that was interesting and asked him to explain further. He said that he has been out here solo sailing for about ten years now and in that time he has only ever found 3 other Female sailing captains. That there are many men out here sailing alone but so very few women soloing on yachts out here they are almost mythical among the male captains. I guess the solo men joke that finding a solo woman out here is so rare that it is a bit like finding a unicorn for them.
He was kind of proud he found a unicorn that day.
Funny… I learned that I am a unicorn… ha ha ha.
I thought I was a mermaid… (giggles)
or maybe an afraidy cat… (Laughing like a silly)
or how about emotional jello… (rolling on the floor now)
Funny girl…
__________________________
So as to why I was looking for solar panels in the first place. That has to do with the Monkey I used to have on the boat.
Time to learn more than you ever wanted to know about solar panels….
WildChild has an independent battery to run the Windlass and it charges from 2x 50 watt semi flexible solar panels mounted on the front side rails. Well my monkey had been damaging them for months and they finally failed about a month ago, so we had been lifting the anchor by hand.
I got distracted by the end of the relationship in the last few weeks and I had put off solving this problem, but now that I am alone, and I am not strong enough to lift the anchor by hand, I really need that windlass to work. Two days ago I got out my tools and set to work to diagnose the problem. It was weird and stumped me for a while. Both panels gave voltage and reacted to the sun (voltage drop when shaded). I proved the wiring was ok. I proved the battery was ok. I proved the charge controller was ok. BUT… the battery was not charging anymore…. hmmmm….
As I looked further into the problem I found that the panels had a dead short circuit current of 0.00amps. hmmm… so they had voltage but not current… weird. Further investigation I found that the solar cells inside were fractured. I knew immediately what happened.
Monkey kept leaning on the panels when he walked forward. I kept telling him hundreds of times not to do that, he kept ignoring me and telling me how it was fine and it was not going to damage the panels, he’d proclaim they are flexible panels they are supposed to be able to bend. One of a million past arguments on the boat.
Well upon further more detailed investigation… I had screwed the bottom edge of those panels into the side board for support. This would keep them flush and
strong when they get washed by waves and support them. The top of the panels were zip tied to the top wire of the lifeline.
Well every time Monkey leaned his weight on the top lifeline it bowed the panels outward and I guess at some point… more than they were intended to bend. I have since learned that the rough surface panels are poorly made. They do not
have enough plastic encasing them to support and protect the solar cells inside (which are as thin as paper). The cells inside my 50watt panels were fractured and no longer able to work collectively. They still reacted to the sun but had no umfff to push any energy.
Okay… so I am the queen of backup plans and I have 2 extra brand new 100 watt solar panels carefully stored under the
pilot berth. No problem… I got this… I will just easily side mount a 100 watt panel and wire it in today. WRONG…! they both have also failed. And they were stored flat under a mattress on a board for protection. Neither one of the replacement panels work. #1 gives no voltage and no current and the #2 gives voltage but no current. Brand new freaking $350 panels and they both don’t work. Grrrr…. I am now out a thousand dollars worth of solar panels.
Further investigation of the replacements found the same thing… micro fracturing of the solar cells. So this puzzles me. I have 600 watts of smooth plastic panels side mounted to my rails for 2 years now and they all work great. Strong and never any issue. BUT… every one of these new rough surface panels has failed. As I was testing on the defunct rough panels that failed I noticed they made crispy crunching noises as I handled them. And I was careful not to bend them much at all… hold them as flat as possible. They are still fracturing even under normal handling conditions.
It seems as though the manufacturers in China (probably under the directions of their American corporate masters) have found a way to maximize profits by laying the solar cells in these latest production panels even thinner. But they are now so thin that they lack physical integrity. After like 6
months they start to break down. You can spot these new (cheap crappy ones) by the rough texture on the surface. Also that rough plastic overlay is too soft to provide any support either. The older smooth ones are more rigid and do not fracture.
I cannot blame the manufacturer for the failure of my 50watt panels… those were abused by my monkey…. but my spare 100watt panels were stored properly. Grrrr….
So now I find myself alone on my boat and needing to
be able to use my new $4000 windlass and I cannot charge the battery. I have to throw out $1000 worth of panels. I am desperately stuck and in need of replacement solar panels.
The exciting news is that my hunting in Marsh harbor with Vince yesterday did bear fruit. I found the one and only small
solar panel on the island… but it is only a 20watt panel.. encased in glass… will be hard to mount… but now I am pushing 1amp into the windlass battery. So at least I can now probably use my windlass maybe twice a week. That is something positive.
Sailing… not half as fun and romantic as those other YouTubers told me it was going to be.
BUT… on the bright side… without a monkey on board… many less things will get broken. So that’s a positive thing too.
As brother Ryan says…. not my monkey and not my circus anymore. (Grin)
Cheers sailors
Captain Lexi
….. the unicorn.