Power tilt

 Since leaving the wet dock we have spent a few days at Tixall Wide.

 I tilted the solar panels for the first time since they were fitted eight years ago. From March to October, the sun gets high early enough that the panels always get the leisure batteries up to 100% charge each day without inclining them, the hook up in the marina combined with a Mastervolt charger looks after the batteries during winter. 

Tilting them towards the low sun today increased the input from 5amp  to 12amp  - quite a difference. 

The panels are 125W each which is quite small watts compared to new panels of the same dimensions that are on the market today, the five 135amp leisure batteries are six years old, cheap Albion wet sealed units that appear to be as good today as the day they were fitted.  They are around the 12.8-volt mark (give or take 0.1 of a volt) first thing in the morning. 

 I don't use an expensive MPPT controller but a PWM which is supposedly 30% less efficient but more reliable (old tech) and maybe kinder to the batteries.  

When there was a break in the downpours we have been experiencing lately I had a circular walk from the Wide down past Tixall Lock and Robbie's mum's gaff to Tixall Bridge, then took Holdiford road over the railway line to an entrance to Shugborough estate, through the grounds, passing the Hall, crossing Essex bridge and on to the Trent & Mersey towpath, left at Haywood bridge and back home. Approx 4 miles.

In Shugborough Estate