Posts

Posted on

Planning for Solar Panels part 9 – Wiring

It has been a long time since September last year when we where about to install our solar panels, we had almost all the parts ready (Except a few minor bits and bobs), now all we just needed a clear weekend for both me and the weather.

It is now the Easter weekend 2024 over 6 months later than expected, I have booked Steve Cowman to help as these panels as they are very very large and it has been over 30 years since I have tapped a hole…

But before Steve came to help, I had to route the wires back to the engine bay where I was mounting the MPPT Solar controller. On the Black Prince boats of this era they had used some skirting board at the bottom and top of the walls, so I removed the upper boards and found a wooden batten which the skirting board was screwed to, each side of this was two approx 1 inch / 25mm layers of polystyrene as insulation.

Note: Interesting thing about polystyrene is that it has a bad effect on PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) and over time it eats into the surface of the PVC making it brittle. A lot of wires used in boats and our homes are PVC coated or includes PVC as this makes the plastic coating more flexible.

see https://youtu.be/fArXX-u7uxs


Using a knife I cut out one layer of the polystyrene foam below the wooden batten to create a channel in this I placed some flexible nylon conduit, in which I run the solar cables back to my services cupboard at the back of the boat.

In the services cupboard I installed an 100 Amp dual pole isolator.

The cables from this then routed into the engine bay and to the solar controller PV in connections.

The red arrow will become important later, best to say this board is unfortunately mounted in a very hard to reach place.

Next Sonia (the super wife) and I moved the panels on to the grass and mounted the long aluminium slotted bars to the back of the panels as near to the edges as possible, then about 20cm in from the ends we attached the legs. unfortunately this was as far as we could go as the wind was making it almost impossible to move the panels. So for the next couple of days we had to wait for the wind and rain to stop long enough for us to complete the job.

Click the image to continue

Also see
Planning for Solar Panels – Part 1
Planning for Solar Panels Part 2 – Panel Mounting Options
Planning for Solar Panels Part 3 – Types of Panels
Planning for Solar Panels Part 4 – MPPT vs PWM solar controllers
Planning for Solar Panels part 5 – Cable sizes, lengths and resistance.
Planning for Solar Panels part 6 – Panels in Serial or Parallel
Planning for Solar Panels part 7 – Buying the cable and Circuit breakers
Planning for Solar Panels part 8 – Buying Solar Panels and Mountings
Planning for Solar Panels part 9 – Wiring
Planning for Solar Panels part 10 – Drilling, Tapping and Fitting

Safety Disclaimer

Posted on

Hall & Woodhouse Wichelstowe on the Wilts and Berks canal

On a trip out for Family business, we decided to go out for lunch, we had some of the children Nick, Jason and Mary with us, Jason recommended we visit a pub next to an area he had worked on as a Landscape Architect, the pub was the Hall & Woodhouse Wichelstowe which is on our map.

This pub is a little bit unique as sticking out the front is a canal boat, and behind is one of the remaining parts of the Wilts and Berks canal in which you can find a canal boat Dragonfly which it seems is available for hire from the Wilts and Berks Canal trust.

Jason had been involved after sorting out the exterior landscaping that included a footpath bridge over the canal.

The Pub, while clean and interesting looking was not the greatest for food, I had the Roast beef, which was not like the description, not much in the way of pink in the beef, and roasties left a lot to be desired, very soft no crispy crunch, but it was not expensive, and the décor was interesting and themed around the canal.

After our lunch we went for a quick walk along the canal, this is a short bit of canal and not connected as yet to anything else. It also seems to have sprung a leak at some time.

Even on a wet day it stills shows the potential the Wilts and Berks canal could have in the future if they can raise the money need to complete the project.

Visit The Wilts and Berks Canal Trust for more information

Posted on

UK Canal and River – Events, Festival, Markets and Music

I have started a new map for UK events that are near rivers and canals, most of them are canal related but some just happen to be on the network. I am looking for new events to add so if you find one missing please visit our Facebook page and let me know.

This is always a work in progress, so don’t expect it to be perfect. so far we have about 50 events listed on the map.

If this is of help please look at our other maps

Posted on

Canal Maps Progress Report 2023

Canal maps seem to have taken over during the winter and while I am not playing about with the boat, we have made a significant amount of progress. Soon I hope to return to playing on the boat as we are on the final stages of a Solar Panel project, with just the fitting to go. But cold weather, kids and decorating have meant I needed somthing to do on my laptop so we have had 6 months of mapping.

1100+ Mooring including:- Marinas, CRT Mooring both leisure and permanent, EA Visitor moorings and anything else I could find, thanks to all who submitted theirs.

1000+ Pubs, Restaurants, Cafes, Fish & Chip Shops, Coffee Shops, Tea Shops, Ice Cream Parlours, Pizza Parlours and many many more locations that I wanted to know about.

350+ Services Points, including Pump Outs, Water Points, Diesel and Petrol points, Elsan Points, Showers, Toilets, Calor gas, Solid Fuel and Refuse points. Again stuff we need to know where to find.

And in development but still accessable are:-

Hire Boat Locations – 122 so far

Things to visit near the Canal/River – 63 Atractions

Chandlers and Boat Yards – 47 Locations

Location buttonWe have also added a button on each map that will try to locate you on the map, so you can see what is nearby.

Facebook Group – At last count we have 4200 members of this group, which we hope will use the maps as well as contribute to them, it is also the best place to contact me.

We have had a few recommendations from users including the location of Petrol stations near the canals for the outboard users, the location of Charging points for the Electric Boat users, both of which will be researched and added.

Now looking forward to a few trips out this year, before we take the big one (for us) and spend a year traveling on the canals and rivers could be 2025/2026 if all goes to plan.

Back to top