Gear On Test
SOLARA SM120M SOLAR PANEL £401.17
HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED
RECOMMENDED
SOLARA SR60UL REGULATOR £23.44
FIRST LOOK
BEST BUY
PREMIUM
PRODUCT
BUDGET BUY
UPDATE
UPDATE
W
hen we began choosing
gear and equipment
7
for our Cornish Shrimper,
Gypsy, over the winter of
2007-08, one of the first
items decided on was a Solara
SM120M solar panel with its
accompanying Solara SR60UL
charge regulator.
This was the same pairing
we had used on our previous
boat, but this time, instead of
its backing up the charging
provided by the Yanmar
1GM10 diesel, the solar panel
would be pretty much on
its own with just a smidgen
1. Earning its keep. The
of help provided by the 6hp 1
Solara panel sited on the
Mariner 4-stroke outboard.
main hatch keeps the
I had been so impressed battery topped up, despite
with the performance of
the areas of shadow cast
the SM120M that I had no
2 4
by the mast and shroud.
2. Passing the wires
hesitation in choosing it again,
through a watertight deck
particularly when I found that gland. 3. Connecting
it would fit very neatly on top
up the Solara charge
of Gypsy’s main hatch. To
regulator, which prevents
damage to the battery
have a bigger panel providing
or loss of charge from
more amps would have been
it. 4. Once installed, the
good, but both space and price charge regulator works
prohibited it and I was pretty
between the solar panel
confident that the SM120M
and the battery with a
3
light indicating battery
would be sufficient, given our
condition. 5. Fixing the
pattern of sailing and quite deck gland. 6. Drilling a
modest power use.
wiring hole beside the
The only headache came 5
hatch. 7. Screwing the
solar panel in position.
with trying to sort out the
wiring for a fixed panel on
a sliding hatch, but once we you like, but we chose to put
had the panel in our hands, screws in at the four corners.
the solution was clear. All we
6
The Solara SM120M is
needed was a loose length quoted as having a peak output
of cable, roughly 1ft long, to of 34W, providing up to 136
enable the hatch to slide open. Watt hours per day. So far
In the closed position the cable this has proved to be perfectly
forms a loop only 6in deep that adequate for running sailing
tucks down against the cleated instruments, a chart plotter and
genoa reefing line. (We had LED nav lights. The battery
thought about holding it down PhoTos Colin Jarman has not dropped below 12.2V
with shock cord, but it hasn’t and has been re-charged quite
been necessary.) can be trodden on without quickly. Between visits to the
The panel itself is semi- suffering damage and it has a boat it always returned above
flexible, so it adapted easily bobbly surface that enhances 13V or so. Running the engine
to the small amount of grip (which is not the same for short periods helps, but
athwartships curvature on as saying it’s non-slip). You not hugely. During the winter
the hatch. It’s built so that it can glue the panel down, if it was interesting to find that
46 Sailing Today July 09
ST147
Gear_RTG.indd 54 11/5/09 19:20:14
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148