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Long Beach Marine Electric connects boat owners with licensed, insured marine electricians for marine solar panel installation: rigid and flexible panels on biminis, arches, rails and decks, MPPT charge controllers, and wiring sized for low loss. Solar keeps batteries topped up for boats on moorings, boats that anchor out, liveaboards and sailboats, and Southern California's sun makes it one of the best places in the country to do it.
What happens on the first visit
- An energy budget: what runs while you're away from shore power (fridge, electronics, lights, anchor light) and for how long.
- Mounting survey: bimini, arch, hardtop or rails, and what shades them. Masts, booms and radar arches shade panels, and shade costs output.
- Battery bank type and capacity, and the existing charge controller if there is one.
- Cable route from panels to controller to battery, which sets wire size.
- A written design with panel wattage, controller model and a fixed price.
How much power solar makes in Long Beach
Long Beach has a strong solar resource even with the marine layer. Solar.com's modeling puts a well-oriented array at about 1,674 kWh per kW per year, or roughly 4.6 kWh per kW per day on average. A 400-watt array works out to about 1.8 kWh on an average day, close to 150 amp-hours at 12 volts, before losses. Boat panels are rarely angled perfectly and are often partly shaded, so a realistic design figure is lower, often 50–70% of that.
That's enough to run a fridge and electronics on a mooring indefinitely, or to replace what an anchor light and instruments use overnight.
MPPT controllers and wiring
An MPPT (maximum power point tracking) controller converts the panels' higher voltage into charging current more efficiently than a basic PWM controller, especially in heat and partial shade. It also needs the right charge profile. Lithium and lead-acid batteries need different settings, which is why solar often goes together with a lithium conversion. Wiring from panel to controller to battery is sized for low loss, fused at the battery, and routed through sealed deck glands.
Mounting on a boat
Rigid panels on an arch or hardtop last longest and run coolest. Semi-flexible panels on a bimini are lighter and less visible but run hotter and wear faster. Rail mounts that can tilt help sailboats. The mounting has to survive wind loads and not interfere with the boom, the radar or the people working on deck.
Insurance, warranty and who pays
Solar is an owner-paid upgrade. Panels, mounts, controller and wiring are priced together with labor in a fixed written quote. See the boat solar panel installation cost guide for typical system prices.
What's included
- Energy budget and array sizing
- Shade and mounting survey
- Rigid or flexible panel installation
- MPPT controller install and setup
- Sized, fused PV wiring
- Sealed deck cable glands
- Charge profile set to battery chemistry
- Output test in sun
DIY vs cheap fix vs proper solar install
| Factor | DIY | Cheap operator | Proper marine work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sizing | Biggest panel that fits | Rule of thumb | Energy budget + shade survey |
| Controller | PWM, default settings | MPPT, default settings | MPPT set to battery chemistry |
| Wiring | Undersized, unfused | Unsealed deck entry | Sized for low loss, fused, sealed glands |
| Mounting | Zip ties | Off-the-shelf brackets | Engineered for wind and the boat's layout |
| Result | Low output | Uneven output | Measured and documented output |