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Solbian solar panels are a unique product that fill a great niche for the marine market. They are thin, light and efficient. They are also semi flexible making them quite versatile in mounting options.
In this photo a Solbian CP-125 panel is being laid out on a used bimini. My canvas maker Richard Hallett of Hallett Canvas & Sails (LINK) decided on Velcro for the fastening of the panel to the bimini. Because the entire panel weighs just 5 pounds direct mounting to most soft bimini tops makes this a very neat and tidy fitment.
Very, Very Thin!
As you can see by the photo the Solbian panel is very thin. Unlike previous armorphous "flexible" panels the Solbian's are a monocrystalline panel. This makes them about half the size of a comparable armorphous panel and very efficient for the real estate they take up.
The benefits of a Solbian panel can be unique and necessary for some installations. Are these panels more expensive than traditional panels? Yes certainly, $820.00 vs. approx $350.00 (for CP-125), but you can often save more money using a Solbian than by using a traditional rigid panel.
Things to consider:
#1 Light weight means it can be affixed to most any Sunbrella type bimini or dodger (consider shading on dodgers).
#2 This weight savings usually means the original bimini frame is more than strong enough for the added weight of the Solbian solar panel. The last rigid solar panel I installed, in the 125W range, weighed 28 pounds. This was just the weight of the panel alone and did not include the extra stainless tube, fittings & aluminum framing needed for attaching it to the bimini. When all was said and done this single 125W panel added over 40 pounds to the top of the bimini. The Solbian CP-125 added perhaps 6 pounds total. That is a huge weight savings.
#3 When fitting a traditional rigid panel to a bimini, a frame needs to be custom built at the expense of the fittings, stainless tubing and the aluminum support frame for the rigid panel. This can run into the hundreds of dollars in just supplies not including custom tube bending/crowning etc. etc..
#4 When fitting a rigid panel to a bimini the bimini often needs to be converted to a full strapless type bimini. The fittings and stainless tube for this add even more money to the install.
Prime Example Of Solbian Benefit
Sorry for the grainy photo.
In this photo you can see two 130W Kyocera rigid panels installed onto a custom built frame. The owner had this fully custom frame built to fit over the existing bimini in order to support the weight of this 260W array. The cost of this installation far exceeded what the cost would have been to install two Solbian CP-125 panels. For the 10W difference the savings on this install would have been quite large even with the Solbian panels costing twice as much.
The Solbian's can also easily be removed and stowed where the rigid panels become bulky, tedious and can damage your vessels interior..
Velcro Attachment
Richard of Hallett Sails decided that dual Velcro, both top and bottom, with a lapel was the best method to attach the panel to the bimini. Suffice it to say it is a very, very robust attachment.
The owner of this boat, an avid offshore voyager, has been caught in off shore storms before and wanted a solar option that allowed the easy removal of the panel. He also did not want a panel with a bulky, sharp aluminum frame to try and stow below in rough seas or for storm prep.
This Solbian CP-125 panel will easily stow below a berth cushion and not even be noticeable. He also did not want to re-invent his bimini frame which was simply not strong enough to support the weight of a rigid panel.
Velcro Lapel
This picture shows the panel bottom Velcro and the top Velcro. The lapel is simply folded over the panel to button it up.
Also take note of the slim profile of the panels junction box compared to my fingers. When stowed beneath a berth cushion you are barely able to discern a bump in the foam. This is a very nice feature for a 125W panel. There are also no sharp edges to scratch a beautifully varnished interior!!
Ready To Go
Here you can see the Velcro lapel affixed to the panel and the junction box connected to the feed
wire via MC4 connectors.
While I am not usually a big fan of MC4 connectors, in the marine environment, they do make sense for this type of installation. Coating them with a terminal grease helps prevent corrosion..
Yes Sunbrella Can Fade
This owner is going to eventually replace the canvas but this gives an idea of just how much it can fade in 7-8 years or so.
Rather than reinvent the bimini around the new panel the owner opted to just re-stitch for now and add the panel. The cost was minimal for the canvas work.
The primary role of this panel is to keep his Lifeline AGM batteries charged on the mooring. This boat is not sailed off a dock. Because his boat is mooring sailed getting his expensive AGM's back to 100%, as often as possible, was the main goal.
The owner also has a high output alternator and external regulator so the panel is only really taking his bank from 80-85% state of charge back to 100%. This was accounted for in the sizing. His bank can go from 85% SOC to full in about 2-3 days with this panel.
Wire Lapel
Here is another boat with a similarly aged bimini. What we are looking at here is the Velcro lapel to cover the wires. If the canvas was not so faded it would look much better!
Wire Lapel Access
This just shows the wire access. It is Velcro on two sides and sewn on two sides. I find it best to trim the heavy jacket from the wire and just use the inner conductors coming up through the bimini.
Bimini & Frame Before
Not all bimini tops are created equally and there are vast differences in canvas makers and their ability to produce a quality product. This bimini was a prime example of a canvas maker who should consider serving Slurpy's at 7 Eleven instead of making canvas.
The owner was not yet ready to invest in a new bimini so I modified the frame to tighten & stiffen the bimini to accept the Solbian panel.
What was wrong with this bimini & frame?
**Elcheapo support straps that stretch when wet and cause tripping hazards the rest of the time.
**Bimini over 10' wide using thin walled 1" tubing.
** No support struts to prevent yawing side to side. Under sail this bimini was moving almost 6" side to side at the top curve of the bimini tube.
** The middle bar did nothing but pull the canvas down in the middle thus creating a great spot for a puddle to drip on the owners head.
** Cheap thread was used and the bimini needed a full re-stitching in less than 4 years.
** The bias of the fabric was not considered and one panel had the bias going entirely the wrong direction.
** The fit of the fabric to the crown and curve of the bimini frame was HORRIBLE!
In short a third grader with a Playschool sewing machine could have done better work.... NEVER choose a canvas maker based on price choose them based on ability! Canvas work is an ART FORM.....
Bimini & Frame After
The raw reality is that no matter how much frame work you do you're not going to turn a childs preschool drawing into the Mona Lisa....
What I had to do to this frame was run angled supports to the stern pushpit in order to help minimize the side to side sway. This was still a 1" OD X 10' plus wide bimini using cheap, thin walled tube. The cross braces helped immensely but a proper frame, in thick walled 1.25" tube, is really in order. Who ever paid for this canvas originally, got royally screwed.
I next installed a strut between the aft frame and the fore frame to tension the fabric. Because the fabric never fit right to begin with it still was not a perfect fit. I was able to get it tight enough for the Solbian panel. This bought the owner some time until a qualified canvas maker could build him a new bimini. The aft eye-end jaw is adjustable and Gemini stand offs were used for the fore to aft strut.
Once the fore and aft frames were tensioned the third (middle) frame was still pulling the mid point of the fabric into a puddle forming dip. I used a third short bracing strut to force the third frame into doing its job. Again, because the fabric never fit right to begin with, and this bimini was horribly made, I did the best I could with what I had to work with.
Most bimini's will require some additional support when you add another 5-10 pounds on-top of them. By going to rigid supports, as opposed to stretchy nylon, you lose the forward tripping hazard and you can properly tension the fabric. Once tensioned the fabric should not stretch any further, unless the bias is incorrect.
Consider working directly with a qualified canvas maker when designing your bimini to accept a semi flexible panel. The bimini should fit drum tight and be well braced both fore and aft and side to side.
Coupled With a Genasun GV-10
For a charge controller I coupled the Solbian CP-125 with a simple but very effective Genasun GV-10 MPPT controller.
For more on charge controllers etc. please see this article:
There are many ways to get your solar wires into the boat but few are as elegant and reliable as the ScanStrut watertight deck glands. I prefer the robust stainless versions but they also make them in a plastic body version as well. This one is a ScanStrut DS30-S.
Installed
Here's a photo of the panel installed onto the bimini. The bimini will also get a Velcro lapel to cover the panel feed wire. We wanted to get the panel installed and the wire run before laying out the wires lapel.
On top of the lapel we will be adding a "Strapless bimini Kit" making the bimini nice and taught. In this pic the straps are not even installed. It was purposely take this way to show just how light this panel really is. There is no tension on the forward bow at all other than gravity.
While no sailboat has the perfect spot for a solar panel, to 100% eliminate shading, on this boat the bimini top was still the best bet.
The Solbian panels are a tremendous option for those needing light weight, high output per sq foot and easy stowage. In a price per watt category they are not winners, however they can save installation costs so all these factors need to be weighed.
Solbian vs. Knock-Offs
Solbian vs. the Knock-Offs:
FACT: None of these semi-flexible panels are going to outlast a well made aluminum framed glass panel. This is just a reality. You are paying a premium for the light weight, watts per square inch and the laminate technology.
Good quality semi-flexible panels can however yield a decent service life. The key here is "good quality". Solbian invented this technology and the Chinese manufacturers have ignored the patents and essentially stolen the technology. What else is new? Solbian is simply too small to fight them all.
The cheaper Chinese semi-flexible panels however have proven, rather widely, to be hit or miss under performers and even dangerous, sometimes developing hot spots, due to micro-cracking of the low grade cells used in them.
I've yet to find a semi-flexible panel that I can stand behind other than Solbian or Gioco. If I find one, you can bet I will add it to the list here, and likely sell them myself, but most of them are using low grade cells, poor junction boxes, sub par construction techniques, knock-off cell interconnects and poor quality films/laminates.
The Sunpower cells, just the solar cells alone, that are used in Solbian panels, far exceed the retail cost of most of the Chinese "Sunpower" complete assembled panels. When you see a Chinese knock-off company stating "A Grade Sunpower Cells" this is a sure sign of pure unadulterated BS. I call it dishonest marketing or snake-oil. A google search as of two minutes ago yielded multiple pages of hits on the words "semi-flexible A Grade and Sunpower", all from Chinese knock-off suppliers. Just remember that "A Grade" Sunpower cells don't exist.....
As of the May 2015 pricing sheet Sunpower had 10 grades of solar cells, none of them were or are labeled or sold as "A Grade". The cells many knock-off companies are using were running $1.33 each (1500 cell quantity column). The cells Solbian uses in the SP panels were running $12.20 (1500 cell quantity column) for each cell.
Even among the "knock-offs" we have the regular dishonest sleaze balls and the f*cking dirt-bags. The f'ing dirt-bags are using Sunpower cells sold for as little as 65¢ (1500 cell quantity column) each. But hey they can still claim they are "Sunpower Cells"...... Caveat emptor!!!
Sunpower also requires the use of their proprietary cell to cell interconnect straps something most knock-off makers are simply not using.
In short there is a definite difference between "looks alike" and "performs alike". The knock-off makers are good at "looks alike" but often not performs alike. I have physically tested far too many knock-off panels that don't meet spec right out of the box. Once customer bought six 100W knock-offs and none of them had the same output and none of them could meet short circuit or OCV spec. For this sort of testing I have a known good "control" panel I can compare against for the conditions. The control panel met its spec during this testing, none of the six knock-offs could.. The eBay seller refused to take them back, go figure.
125W of Invisible Solar
Once again the bimini has not yet been tensioned to illustrate just how light weight these panels really are.
Another benefit for this installation is the minimal disruption to the vessels aesthetics. The owner of this beautiful custom built Able 42 preferred not to add any more visible "junk on the trunk" so to speak. The Solbian CP-125 sewn to the bimini is all but invisible power not further degrading the vessels lines at anchor...
Unless you've gone to great lengths to mount & secure rigid aluminum frame solar panels they will likely need to come off and get stowed below in rough weather while at sea.
One huge benefit of the Solbian panel, over a rigid panel, is that it stows neatly underneath a berth mattress. It stows so flat you won't even know it is under there and does not impact sleeping on it.
With a rigid aluminum frame panel the last thing you want are the sharp edges gouging up your woodwork or a 40 pound panel flying around the cabin in rough seas. This is not an issue with a lightweight Solbian panel.
Where's The Panel?
The 125W Solbian panel is under this berth mattress hidden, out of sight and protected from gouging up woodwork.. I laid down in the aft cabin and was unable to tell it was even there. This is one great unadvertised benefit of the Solbian panels.
Purchasing Solbian Solar Panels:
After numerous requests from readers asking to buy these panels from me I have finally become a Solbian & Genasun dealer. If you are interested in purchasing a Solbian Solar panel or Genasun MPPT controller please email; compassmarineservices AT gmail DOT com
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