Costco Solar Panel 100W for $139.99 will it work

I really like those panels big Buford found. Those look like a good way to go. I have room for all 5, but may just use 4 & sell the extra one. If I use those I need a mppt controller what is the cheapest one I could use that would work, & not be junk!!
Also what is the advantage to series vs parallel when wiring the panels?
thanks so much for all the help

Anyone....can you mix and match solar panels as add-ons to existing systems? Do you have to find panels from the same manufacturer as the originals? I.e. could I add a Costco panel to an existing system installed by winnebago given that the controller may have to be upgraded for the additional power.

big buford wrote:
Saw this today while looking on solar blvd, 198 watt panels

While odd sized and odd voltage specs, I dont think there would be any issues using a mppt controler? Great price for alot of watts and mono panels?

Great price! You could get a Midnite Solar KID 30A (150V max input) and put these all in series.

Saw this today while looking on solar blvd, 198 watt panels

While odd sized and odd voltage specs, I dont think there would be any issues using a mppt controler? Great price for alot of watts and mono panels?

400W is more than enough for that fridge with those batteries. 24V panels are cheaper but the required MPPT solar controllers are more expensive than PWM controllers. You'll have to do some math to figure out if 24V panels works out.

Not sure where the idea of 2000w for 8 hours came from. Yes I may only need that much for 5-8 minutes/day for the microwave. If I have to I can run the generator for longer time frames. The main concern would be the 1.3 amps the Refrigerator would draw when not there. I will probably run that off a smaller inverter so there is less waste when then 2000w is not needed.
I guess the biggest concern is do you guys think 400 watts of solar going into
4-6, 6 volt batteries should be enough to keep that small of refrigerator running when left unattended for up to a week at a time or so. I realize there is of other variables.
It also sounds like some of you are having luck with the cheap ebay controllers vs the higher end Morningstar or Blue Sky.
For approximately the same cost do 24 volt panels give better results than 12 volt panels?
Thanks

If you load down a 2000WATT Inverter it will draw around 170AMPS running at 12.3VDC... Thats a lot of current... You will need a battery bank to produce around 200AMPS for 8 hours to get any use out of the 2000WATT Inverter.

Check the specs on your available batteries to see how many you will need in parallel to give you a couple hundred of AMPS for 8 hours and not drop your battery below 50% charge state. i.e. two 6VDC batteries in series of the GC2 quality will produce 25AMPs @ 12VDC for around 440 minutes but this will drain your batteries down to 0% charge state or around 10.5VDC so you really will only get 12 AMPS to use for 50% charge state.

Haven't done your math yet but I think you are going to be a bit short on batteries if you plan to pull a full 2000WATTS of 120VAC from your inverter for 8 hours a day... you may be short for even just four hours a day.

My only experience with something like this was running about 1500WATS for a trunk full of electronic test equipment from a rental car 105AH 12VDC start battery in my working days- It lasted about 10-15 minutes even with the rental car motor running at the time. Two batteries would double that an so on and so on...

Inverters love to eat up batteries.

Then after you run your batteries down you have to come up with a way to re-charge them in a timely manner. If you have 14.4VDC with a capacity of around 20AMPs of charge you can re-charge a single 12VDC deep cycle battery in just 3 hours time. If you have 13.6VDC with a capacity of 20AMPS of charge you can charge the same batteries in around 12 hours of time. Please remember your 100WATT panel will only produce around 5AMPs of usable charge in high sun. Four of them will only produce around 20AMPs of usable power. You will need several hours of full sun light to re-charge only one battery.

Just something to think about before jumping into things... The experts on here will have better info for you.

Need to talk with those guys that live in their MH full time and generally live off the power grid. PIANOTUNA comes too mind... Check out his profile on how many batteries he has in his motorhome....

Don't let me paint a bad picture here - There is just alot of planning to be done to be successful about it. Success to me is to be able to run all of the 120VAC Items we want to have on using an INVERTER and all of the 12VDC Dc items we want to have on direct connected to the battery terminals and survive the one day/night battery run and not deplete my batteries below their 50% charge state or around 12.0VDC by 8Am the next morning. Then be able to re-charge those batteries back up to their 90% charge state in my case by running my trailer from a 2KW Honda generator for three hours time using smart mode charging technology. Now I can do all of this all over again the next day/night run off the batteries. To me the added solar panels added to this picture will only hopefully keep me from running the generator as much during the high sun to re-charge my batteries. My inverter is only a 600WATT PSW unit. My battery bank gives me around 255AHs of capacity. I probably only use around 300WATTS of AC power for about 4 hours a day from 8PM to 11PM and then I add in the parasitic power drains for all day. My goal again is to have my battery bank reading around 12.0VDC at 8AM each morning.

If you do all of this in your CAMP BACK YARD before even going out off the power grid with your trailer setup you will quickly find out it is not easy to accomplish.

Generally my planned setups all get dark on me around 10PM at night then I am back to flashlights and candles and a bag full of D-CELL batteries haha...

Roy ken

If you have room up top you could consider larger 24 volt panels for around $1.00/watt. That would then require MPPT, but would be worth it.

Thanks for all the quick responses. I will have to add up how much power I will use. The primary thing I would like to keep running is a 1.3 amp 120 volt electric fridge running when I am not there. I also would like to be able to run a microwave a few minutes here and there without having to run the generator.

As far as the controller go I have seen the cheap ones on ebay and wondered how well they work compared to something like a morningstar or blue sky? I just want it to work, but don't need a bunch of extra features.

Also is there a benefit to going to a 24v panel over 12v for what I need?