School me on these solar packages
I'm trying to do some more research on investing in portable solar panels. From prior discussion I've come to basic feeling that maybe 200 watts sitting in the sun for the day would suffice to offset...
Forum Discussion
Hi Katoom,
The second kit looks good--just upgrade the wire from the controller to the battery bank. It may be possible to "beat that price" from other sources--but watch out for shipping charges.
Here is a simple flow chart.
Budget-->Energy Audit-->Battery bank size-->number of watts-->PWM or MPPT.
One rule of thumb is between 60 and 150 watts of panels per 100 amp-hours of storage. The smaller the battery bank the high the wattage needed (per 100 amp-hours). Here is a link to the rather special spreadsheet which includes an energy audit, that N8GS has created to help size solar battery charging systems!
Solar Spread Sheet N8GS
For a nice explanation of solar, try this link: Golden rules of solar
The second kit looks good--just upgrade the wire from the controller to the battery bank. It may be possible to "beat that price" from other sources--but watch out for shipping charges.
Here is a simple flow chart.
Budget-->Energy Audit-->Battery bank size-->number of watts-->PWM or MPPT.
One rule of thumb is between 60 and 150 watts of panels per 100 amp-hours of storage. The smaller the battery bank the high the wattage needed (per 100 amp-hours). Here is a link to the rather special spreadsheet which includes an energy audit, that N8GS has created to help size solar battery charging systems!
Solar Spread Sheet N8GS
For a nice explanation of solar, try this link: Golden rules of solar
