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Solar on a Boat

Konkan Explorers - Leading in Responsible Tourism approached me to provide all amenities on their boat from Renewable Energy.  Solar PV was the obvious choice, but we could not afford to use an inverter to power the devices.  After mutual discussions, we decided on a 24V DC system to run the Pumps for Faucets, Merceators, Lighting and fans.  Powering a small kitchen cumpantry, 3 cosy cabins, captains cabin and the deck area, we use 600 Watts of Solar Panel to generate energy from the Sun.  For storage two tubular batteries have been used.  A Phocos Charge Controller takes care of the battery health monitoring.
The star of the design is the LED Lighting that has been designed from scratch for the boat Lighting.
PCBs were designed with 5630 LEDs from Lumileds.  Warm white 300K LEDs were used in cabin areas and 4000K in the captains cabin and kitchen area.  6500K 3528 LEDs from Edison Opto were used in the Bathrooms and engine room.  All PCBs were designed and produced with Low Voltage DC Lighting in mind.  Changing just a few components, the PCB can be used for 12V or 24V operation.

Here are a few pictures















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