How To Power An Electric Motor With A Solar Panel

Alternatives to electrifying your boat like gasoline powered generators require purchasing fuel on an ongoing basis.

How to power an electric motor with a solar panel.

Connect the two positive wires from the solar panels to the positive terminal of the dc motor. Under direct sunlight the solar panel generates up to 6 volts of electricity with maximum current up to 270 ma. This is the reason your motor is not working providing your solar panels can supply the rated motor current and voltage. Although it s not an established fact it seems that the currently available trolling motors draw more power than today s solar panels are able to put out constantly.

For 24v trolling motor batteries it becomes even more difficult to recharge the battery pack with a solar panel. And we used a suite of panels for testing including. 2 watt 6 volt 3 5 watt 6 volt x 2 paired in series to get 12v 6 watt 6 volt 9 watt 6 volt 9 watt 18 volt 17 watt 18 volt panel. Diode protects the panel from negative current.

Switching to solar power can cut down on these purchases while protecting you against rising fuel costs. Special schottky diode is used as it has minimal voltage loss going through it usually less than 0 2 v. Place the dc motor and solar panels outside in direct sunlight and look for the motor to start turning. You can run an engine from the outlets in a solar powered house or from the power generated by dedicated solar panels.

Connect the two negative wires from the solar panels to the dc motor. If you are using a group 27 to 31 battery you need a panel double the wattage of the 12 volt solar panels mentioned above. Use either a capacitor or a small battery in the circuit to get the motor started then the solar panels keep the motor going. In order to power an electric engine with solar power you must match the capacity of your solar power system with the requirements of the engine.

Another benefit of marine solar panel systems is the quietness of operation. So a 24v 140 watt solar panel at minimum up to a 24v 300 watt solar panel ideally is what would be needed. So how do you get around this. Unfortunately it s not possible to get a solar powered trolling motor.

However not all solar power configurations can power all engines. Here is the electrical diagram of the solar panel connection to the motor.