Rowboat electrical system

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The electrical system consists of:

  • One Solbian SP23 AllinOne 23 watt solar panel with built-on controller, which charges one 9Ah 12V AGM lead battery.
  • One Solbian SP52Q 52 watt solar panel, with external Genasun GVB-8 MPPT controller, which charges one 12 Ah 12V lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery.
  • An on-off-on toggle switch to select between batteries
  • A fuse block to power the circuits listed below. There are also in-line fuses between each solar panel and its battery, and one in-line fuse between the lithium battery and the battery selector switch that goes to the fuse block.
  • Two dual-USB charging ports, one of which has a voltmeter built in
  • One 12V socket, cigarette lighter style
  • One 360 GPH electric bilge pump with an on-off rocker switch in the cockpit (no float switch); it draws about 4 amps.
  • One Lunasea LED masthead light, controlled by two switches: one for all-around white, one for tricolor, or if both switches are on, the light will strobe. Unfortunately for me, the all-around white has a photosensor that turns the light off when it’s daylight (it’s meant for sailboaters who forget to turn off their anchor light ’cause it’s so far away they don’t see it).
Dave was vacuum sanding and George was yowling, and I went to my happy place of making electrical connections.
A close-up of my electrical panel (yes, I did later turn the voltmeter right side up)
And here you can see the two batteries as well as the panel. The electrical tape is there to insulate the studs; it’s not structural. 🙂
The tricolor light is very bright (although I confess there’s also a downward-pointing worklamp in the picture, but look at how the walls glow brightly!)