The sun. A giant hot ball. It can be a yachtsman's good friend and enemy. After a few days on board, the helmsman may hate it, or he may bless it. The sun's energy can also provide much-needed electrical power. How do you charge your mobile phone, camera or GPS when travelling from the sun? We have a tip for you.
There's always a bit of a shortage of power on a boat. Today, there are fully "solarised" vessels that are completely independent of external electricity. You can even buy large, adhesive, and extra flexible solar panels. But unless you are a boat owner, you will hardly want to invest in them. How to harness the sun's energy profitably, simply and practically? We've tried one option for you.
Why use solar panels on your boat?
There are several portable, easily collapsible solar panels on the market that do not exceed the size of A4 office paper when folded. Anyone can afford these and pack them for a week-long charter cruise, for example, when they don't want to spend too much time in the marina connected to the electricity and water grid.
Nowadays, there are boats that are completely independent of outside electricity Good packability in a small size, easy handling, sufficient power - allare all things that you can rightly ask for in solar chargers today. Increased mechanical resistance and at least water repellency should be among the next ones if you want to charge at sea.
The highest efficiency of the solar panel is achieved by correct positioning Solar panel test
We put the Nomad 14 Plus panel from Goal Zero to the test. Its washable design and sufficient power combined with good price ratio directly lends itself to independent offshore sailing. The first advantage you will immediately notice is the absolute independence from any other devices - batteries, controllers, indicators... Everything you need is already in it. All you have to look at is the USB cable, to which you can directly connect, for example, your "dead" phone.
Of course, direct charging requires sufficient sunlight. The 4 blue LEDs let you know how the folding panel is performing at that moment. If a cloud arrives and the device being charged is disconnected, the panel will automatically reconnect it when the light conditions improve again. The panel's performance is electronically optimized to best match the directly charged device.
However, the panel also produces excellent results when placed in a sunny location (here a bimini). Read more lifestyle sailing articles:
How to preserve the energy gained?
If you still want to save the energy for later, you can connect a power bank. The manufacturer offers a range of these, the most sensible for this model are the Venture 30 or Venture 70 powerpacks with a capacity of 7,800 mAh and 17,700 mAh respectively, which we also tested.
These are so-called smart powerpacks that adapt charging parameters to the specific device connected. In addition, they have increased resistance to shock, dust and water. You'll also appreciate their rubberised body when handling wet hands.
Modern devices offer the ability to charge devices directly, store energy in a power bank, and daisy chain multiple panels for increased performance The manufacturer's charging times are true to life: the Venture 30 will fully charge in 5-8 hours under optimal conditions, the larger Venture 70 in 11-22 hours. In practice, we were able to charge the smaller powerbank in 1 day of rolling the panel on the bimini without any adjustment of the optimal angles to the sun. The larger powerbank took 2.5 days to charge under these conditions. The smaller powerbank can revive a fully discharged regular smartphone 2.5 times on a single charge.
The six large eyelets combined with the included four carabiners give you a plethora of options for positioning the panel on your boat. The bimini is pretty much undercut, or sprayhood or relink. The panel itself also has a separate stand combined with a mesh pocket for the necessary cables. The hinged stand is magnetically fixed, the whole thing is then removable - and held in place again by magnets. (This, of course, invites attention when working near the on-board compass.)
Large adhesive flexible panels are also available on the market Parameters of the Nomad 14 Plus solar panel from Goal Zero
Panel dimensions: two wings of 31 x 20 cm
Weight with stand: 862 g (635 g without)
Power: 14 W (18-22 V)
Output: USB (5 V, up to 2.4 A)
TIP YACHTING.COM Did you know that in our offer you can also choose boats according to whether they are equipped with solar panels? You don't need your own solar panels on these boats. In the boat finder, tick the "Solar panels" option in the "Comfort" group.
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