Opinion on solar panel kit wanted

tenbear wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
You can get 100w panels here for $125 plus tax if you pick them up yourself and that controller is $20, which makes JiminDenver's kit example look decent for price.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/30A-Solar-Regulator-Panel-Battery-Charge-Controller-12V-24V-Auto-Autoswitch-PKE-/400490453900?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d3f175b8c

BFL, your link takes me to a charge controller. I was expecting to see 100w panels. Wrong link???

No, I didn't think you would want to pay shipping from here to there. I just wanted to show what that kit's controller was worth bought separately. Anyway here it is:

http://www.islandlifewholesale.com/100w-Mono-Crystaline-Solar-Panel-PWM-100.htm

Edit--BTW, A lesson learned by me is that you are better off with two or three 12v panels than one big panel for max flex. You can put the 12s in series for 24 and MPPT or parallel with PWM. No choice but MPPT with the one big panel.

Then if you want to expand you can get another 12v panel or so and just get another $20 controller or two and put all the controllers in parallel on your bank. You can't add a 12v panel to a 24v panel so to expand your one big panel now you have to go way bigger than you might want to, and your controller costs sky-rocket.

The big limitation on 12v in series and MPPT is the Vocs adding up to more than the MPPT controller's Voc limit, so eg, the Tracer at 100v limit is way better than the EcoW at 42v limit (which isn't enough for even two 12v panels in series)

I have a 130w panel and a 230w panel so I am stuck, where before when I had two 100s instead of the 230, I had more choices. I could have still gone MPPT but with the Tracer instead of the EcoW to get the Voc limit. As it is I am good with the EcoW and the 230 and no plan to expand. If I did expand now it would be to add to the 130 with more 12v.