News & updates

I'm not sure when they started rolling out the new packaging, but you will start to see less of the Victron Blue & Orange packaging as they switch to all Blue (or Blue & cardboard brown!) It does mean less plastic and a more recyclable package which is good news. Old Victron packaging v. New Victron packaging If you receive a Victron Smart product in one of these new eco-friendly boxes, please note that the default Bluetooth code of six zeros (000000

We only moved into our new house in June and wanted to go solar but bumped it up the list of projects to get in before the end of the year when the 30% Federal Tax Credits are expiring. There are also State Tax incentives we can take advantage of in Hawaii. Head to our Solar Tax Credits page to see if you can take advantage of going solar on your boat, but you have to be quick as it expires at the end of 2025. Our system was designed by Katie who has been helping homeowners

We wanted to share this update from Kevin, James and the PMDP Team looking back on the 2025 season cleaning up Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary: Aloha PMDP ʻOhana, As I write this, I’m filled with gratitude for our stewardship community. Thanks to your steady support throughout the past year, I’m happy to announce that another successful cleanup season is officially in the books. This year's efforts resulted in the removal of 184,940lbs (92 tons) of marine debris f

It was really interesting to read the Cruising World Article about a marina expansion at Nanny Cay on Tortola in the BVI. For several years I worked for World Cruising Club as an Event Manager and would visit Nanny Cay each May to start the ARC Europe. This is a west-east trans-Atlantic sailing rally from Nanny Cay - Bermuda - Azores - Lagos for around 30-40 sailboats taking part, an exciting time to be visiting the BVI. I recall it was a big deal when they completed the

You may have read our news post from back in May 2025 'Is SunPower back in business?' which was written not long after Complete Solaria (often seen as Complete Solar) acquired assets from the bankruptcy and rebranded as SunPower keeping the brand name alive. Now 6 months later it's time to see what's happening at SunPower today? In six months SunPower has completed some restructuring, cut costs and employees but also gone on to acquire two other solar companies: Sunder Ener

Two LEDs are flashing On the odd occasion we will receive an email from one of our customers that they're getting an error code on their...

Maxeon has been in talks to build a brand-new factory in New Mexico for a few years, and we have already written two news posts about this. Maxeon proposed to build a 1.9 million sq.ft. 3GW plant where it would not only assemble solar panels but fabricate photovoltaic cells, which the company said would bring up to 1,800 jobs to the area. Maxeon's proposed new 3GW factory in Albuquerque Unfortunately, this proposal kept facing setbacks but as part of Maxeon's strategy and c

Many boat owners will have installed a Victron Cerbo GX, or the new Victron Ekrano GX, aboard which are neat devices that help show power usage aboard. It can show how much power is coming in (from multiple sources including solar panels) and how much power is being consumed. The Victron Cerbo GX  (left) and Ekrano  (right) display your power usage aboard They monitor the solar panel production by having each of your MPPT controllers hardwired with a VE.Direct cable runnin

For the 2025 season Sun Powered Yachts has come onboard as a sponsor for Waiki'i Polo based right here on the Big Island of Hawai'i. With an incredible location set in the Western foothills of Mauna Kea the polo field is at an elevation of around 4,500ft, they don't call it 'polo in the clouds' for nothing! Fortunately, we enjoyed some incredible polo, weather (and local brews) this past weekend at the 'Battle of the Brews' sponsored by the local brewery Big Island Brewhau

We love #boothlife for the busy 4 days of the boatshow What a cracking Annapolis boatshow 2025, we enjoy being in the outside booths up in the O tents close to the Waterfront Hotel as it's a great to show off the panels in the sun and be outside. We were very lucky with the weather and it really only turned a little chilly and rainy late on Sunday afternoon. I think the forecast motivated more people to attend on Thursday & Friday as they were very busy days. It's a fun ti

Watt needs charging now?! When we were last aboard Blake and sailing in the Bahamas sometimes I started to wonder watt (!) needs charging now!! Something was nearly always dead and it felt like we were always having to charge something up with a USB plug we could never find! We use an Ecoflow Delta in the saloon as a kind of charging hub and with a whole locker dedicated to plugs/adaptors/wires/cables so we took a note of all the items that needed charging aboard. Laptop x

Not a headline we expected to see but it seems that Maxeon has run out of options. Since July 2024 they have had 156 containers full of solar panels detained by Customs & Border Patrol (CBP). The panels were coming from Maxeon's factory in Mexico to the US, as many shipments have done in the past, but this time Maxeon was asked to prove that forced labor was not used in their production. The main law prohibiting the import of solar panels and related materials made with for

In July we were invited to take part in a live Q&A with SeaPeople for their DIY episode and were joined alongside Kristin from TotalBoat...

So we're a month away from this year's Annapolis Sailboat Show and we are preparing our booth setup, dusting off our name badges and...

The Tax Credit will expire 10 years early! As a bit of an unexpected twist/turn on the "solar-coaster" ride the 'Big Beautiful Bill' will...

Microinverters are small devices that are attached to each solar panel in an array. They convert the direct current (DC) created by the...

A question we often get asked is what size wire should be used from the MPPT controller to the battery bank. We would suggest using the...

There are not many companies that will ship a single fixed frame solar panel or even small orders (1-4 panels). You will often find a...

Installation of 2x475W Maxeon solar panels - Taswell 49 David, June 2024 "Installation was a breeze, well, once I ran the new 8AWG PV...

We've had Starlink for over a year now as we live off grid in Hawaii and hands down it has been the best service yet. It's not our first...

Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia sailed into Hilo, HI on May 21st and will be in port for around a week before they set sail on a 3-year Pacific...

A new House proposal could eliminate the 30% residential solar tax credit by the end of 2025 In breaking news this week the House Ways...

You may have noticed recently that SunPower has their website back online www.sunpower.com and they're also listed back on the NASDAQ under the ticker SPWR . So you might think they have somehow bounced back from bankruptcy and are back in business, but it's a little more detailed/complicated/intricate/detailed! Who is TJ Rodgers? A key player in all this is TJ Rodgers who with his company Complete Solaria came in as a stalking horse buyer and was able purchase some of SunP

WASH ME! How much potential power is being lost from dirty solar panels? The short answer is yes you should clean your solar panels to...