Solar arch for 52’ sedan bridge

[RalphD]

Hi, We have a 2006 52’ Sedan Bridge. I have mounted some flexible and semi flexible solar panels to the bridge roof for a total of 540 Watts consisting of 1 - 175 W , 1 -70W, and 6 x50 W panels. The number of small panels is due to the topology and features of the roof.
My question to the community is this - has anyone made a structure to mount rigid solar panels over the cockpit of a Sedan Bridge? This would provide the benefit of shading the cockpit and generating power. If this has been done please provide pictures and the name of who fabricated the arch.
Thank you in advance,
Ralph

 

[tshannoz]

Very interesting. Do you have some pics of your setup?

 

[carterchapman]

Ralph,

I have a fairly rigid fly over my cockpit to provide shade. I don't know how much the panels weigh, but I'm sure it would hold them. See my sig pic. I can send you some more photos if you want them...

 

[stg099]

I would think that with the solar arch located at the floor level of the flybridge that there would nearly always be significant shade cast on the panels from the bridge. Not sure how much efficiency you'd sacrifice on a given day, but worth evaluating to see if the juice is worth the squeeze.

 

[RalphD]

Very interesting. Do you have some pics of your setup?

The picture below shows a 175 Watt Semi-Rigid panel in the middle with a 55 Watt Semi-Flexible on either side. The Semi-Flexible panels are held down with 3M VHB tape. The 175 Watt Semi-Rigid panel slides into two aluminum extrusions on either side. I put a "Z" extrusion across the front to lock it in place and keep wind from catching under it.

Looking back there are four 55 Watt Panels. In front of the Glomex antenna I have a 70 Watt Panel.

The six 55 Watt Panels and one 70 Watt Panel are wired in parallel to prevent the shading of one or more panels from pulling down the output of all seven. I ran 10 AWG wire to terminal strips located in the console above the helm (Pictures below). I put fuses in line with each panel so that I could isolate them during installation and for troubleshooting if needed. From there I ran 2 AWG to a panel in the bilge that contains a Victron MPPT charger. The 175 Watt panel has 6 AWG wire pulled to the bilge with its own MPPT since the voltage is higher than that of the other panels.

This is the panel in the bilge that contains the two Victron MPPTs and breaker switches at the input and output of each.
There is also a Victron Cyrix-ct to which ports the charge to the starboard battery bank once the port batteries are charged. I added two additional AGM batteries to the port bank to provide additional capacity. I located them between the holding tank and DC breaker / distribution panel.
I addition to the solar system I added a Victron Multiplus II inverter / charger and located it in the compartment under the stairs. (I left the old charger in place for a back-up but will remove sometime since we have had 2 full seasons on this system). I tied all of the Victron equipment together with a cerbo GX and mounted the flat panel in the salon.

 

[RalphD]

Ralph,

I have a fairly rigid fly over my cockpit to provide shade. I don't know how much the panels weigh, but I'm sure it would hold them. See my sig pic. I can send you some more photos if you want them...

Hi Carter,
Yes, if you could send some more pictures that would be great! Also, do you know who fabricated it?
Thank you,
Ralph

 

[carterchapman]

Hi Carter,
Yes, if you could send some more pictures that would be great! Also, do you know who fabricated it?
Thank you,
Ralph

Two of us here have the same aluminum frame. It was done in Fort Lauderdale, but I don't know by whom - sorry.