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wbwood's avatar
wbwood
Explorer
May 07, 2015

Solar Finally

Finally ordered a solar panel. We decided to go with the Renogy 100w suitcase. Price was right. This will get us started for right now. We currently have two - 12v batteries at almost 100ah each. I think one might be 95ah and the other 100ah.

Next on the list will be to get a pure sine wave inverter. Will start researching that and installing it.

16 Replies

  • Congrats on going solar. Solar has been, by far, the best mod I've ever made. It has allowed me to sell my two Honda EU2000i generators and has given me the ability to go off-grid for as long as I want, limited only by holding tank and food and water supplies.

    As for your inverter, I'm not sure what you want to run and how much wattage you'll need, but I've found the Morningstar Suresine 300 more than ample for our electronics.
  • wbwood wrote:
    4aSong wrote:
    Brian,

    We have the Renogy 100W suitcase also and on our 1st. two week trip in Arizona we found it to work fantastic on keeping our two 12v batteries charged. Did not need to use the Honda 2000i generator during the two week adventure. Knowing this I would have purchased it sooner.
    I'm sure you will be very satisfied with the unit.


    Thanks...we will be sure we will like it.

    WE did get the one with the controller, but noticed they sell them without the controller. Can you hook up one without a controller to the controller on the one with it?


    get on their website during business hours. They have a tech chatline
  • 4aSong wrote:
    Brian,

    We have the Renogy 100W suitcase also and on our 1st. two week trip in Arizona we found it to work fantastic on keeping our two 12v batteries charged. Did not need to use the Honda 2000i generator during the two week adventure. Knowing this I would have purchased it sooner.
    I'm sure you will be very satisfied with the unit.


    Thanks...we will be sure we will like it.

    WE did get the one with the controller, but noticed they sell them without the controller. Can you hook up one without a controller to the controller on the one with it?
  • BigSkillet wrote:
    I'm looking at this as well. Since I have no knowledge, do you run it directly to the battery compartment when using it?


    You can get them with or without a built in charge controller. If you have the controller all you have to do is put the clips on the battery. The leads will be about 15 feet long.

    I have 2 of them without controllers that feed into a 30 watt pwm. Waiting to take the rig out and give them a try. I riggged up a 50 foot cable out of some wire that I have had for a while. THis lets me park in the shade and put the solar panels in the sun. In direct sunlight I was getting 21.5 volts and 11.3 amps at the end of the cable.



  • I'm looking at this as well. Since I have no knowledge, do you run it directly to the battery compartment when using it?
  • Brian,

    We have the Renogy 100W suitcase also and on our 1st. two week trip in Arizona we found it to work fantastic on keeping our two 12v batteries charged. Did not need to use the Honda 2000i generator during the two week adventure. Knowing this I would have purchased it sooner.
    I'm sure you will be very satisfied with the unit.

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