I’m going live my experiment over the next six months or so by sailing down the Pacific coast of Baja and cruise the Sea of Cortez.

Instead of adding more batteries, upping amp hours, and trying to install more and more solar panels to keep everything charged, I am going with a single 12v, 100 amp-hour Battle Born Battery that’s charged by a single, 110-watt Sun Power flexible panel and a Genasun MPPT charge controller. So far, it is keeping the battery at a comfortable 95%

Another 110-watt panel feeds the 48v, 50 amp-hour bank (four, 50 amp-hour batteries in series). Connecting the panels in parallel can boost the solar charging of the 48v side as the Genasun MPPT controller can handle that (and a panel more if needed).

This works as the electrical demands aboard a 24-foot sailboat are minimal (chart plotter, VHF, depth sounder, Maertron wind instruments and bilge pump if needed). The 48v side provides 4-hours of thrust and acts as a 3.5kw generator when sailing over 5 knots. The 48v bank can also put a float charge of 13.8v into the 12v via a DC/DC Sevcon converter.