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What size boat lift charging system is for you?
Please use the below chart as a reference for selecting the correct size boat lift charging system. We recommend that you error on the higher side to be safe. Not enough power will lead to dead batteries. Over powering will result in batteries being fully charged quicker. Some of our charging systems include a charge regulator and others have them as an option. Charge Regulators are a nice addition and will provide LED indicators to show what’s happening between the solar panel and battery.
Boat Lift Charging Analogy:
Think of boat lift charging systems like a bucket of water. The bucket of water represents the battery. The size of the bucket is equal to how large the battery capacity is. Now put a hole in the bottom of the bucket. The size of the hole will determine how fast the bucket will drain. The size of the hole is equal to the weight of your boat/boat lift and how often the boat lift is used.
Next use a garden hose to fill the bucket. The garden hose is equal to the solar panel. How fast or slow the garden hose flows will be equal to the size of the solar panel.
If the bucket is being filled faster than it is draining, the bucket will always be full! This is optimum (GOOD). If the bucket is filling slower than what its draining, then the difference would be equal to when the bucket will become empty.(BAD) The goal is to fill the bucket faster than what its draining so it never becomes empty. The bucket is the battery and we want to keep it full!
An undersized solar panel will not show the problem immediately, it may take several weeks until the batteries are dead. If the solar panel can’t replace what power has drained, eventually the batteries will die. The last thing anyone wants on a beautiful lake day is to dismantle the battery/batteries off the boat lift and have to place them on a house charger.
Lake Lite’s Solar sizing chart is a general guide that will result in batteries being fully charged. PLEASE understand there are numerous factors and this is a general reference only. If you have any special circumstances or questions please contact us so one of our experts can discuss or build a system suitable for your setup. Our experts are ready to assist! Please call: 260-918-2758
Our experts are ready to assist! Please call: 260-918-2758
NOTE: 1-Lift Cycle is considered a complete lowering and lifting of the boat. Please follow the yellow column for the number of cycles that most likely represents your weekly pattern.
