solar panel choice

Man, are you sure you need stereo 4 hrs AND laptop 4 hrs AND satellite TV 4 hrs? I'm not questioning the whole purpose of camping out, with this kind of lifestyle. Just curious when you are going to eat and sleep...

I'm running solar panels from a place in Oregon: AM Solar

Papsolar was the guy I was thinking of on the Mainland.

We are on our site up-Island now off and on, so my internet activity is spotty. Once in a while I catch up. Got to watch the time on my Telus key gizmo! :)

I don't know what your camping situation is for the period this summer, but we get by just fine on four batteries and in summer about 200w solar is plenty, where the panels are pointed South and tilted up about 25 to 30 degrees. You can do better if they are mounted in a swivel contraption, but that is not really necessary.

Many folks just do "portable" and stick their panels out pointed South propped up on a lawn chair or whatever. You don't need anything fancy and "proper" to get by in the solar racket.

That 200w is based on using the furnace for maybe half an hour in the early morning per summer routine, and so 50-70AH usage /day including some minutes of 100amp draws on inverter for kettle , toaster, and microwave, with also a couple hours of Tv/dvd thrown in. (On mostly nice days--once in a while in summer here, solar gets behind, so you have to run the gen and converter /charger to catch up)

No point in getting "extra" solar for those cloudy days either. When it is cloudy, it doesn't matter how much solar you have--none of it works!

I am a big PWM fan and consider MPPT an expensive "fashion" designed to empty your wallet more than fill your battery bank. :(

I bet you could get by just fine with a pair of 100w panels, a 20 amp controller, and some jumper cables for wire from panels to battery--and a lawn chair to prop up the panels of course! :)

Hi BFL,

do you happen to know the company in Langley you suggested for solar?
windturbine has good prices but to far, I can only find http://www.papsolar.ca/
out here with decent prices but dont compare with Windturb...

BFL13 wrote:
Don't pay $400!!!

This guy sells 150w panels for $162 tax included and delivers to the Mainland. You need a controller so that could be $39 for a 20amp.

http://www.windturbine.ca/sun_panels.html

There is another guy in Langley somewhere with similar prices on craigslist usually.

You will expand your array, so you need more controller amps depending how big the array will be in "expected amps" A 30a controller is about $130. I use two 20 amp controllers at total cost of 39 x 2 but there are several ways to go on that. Takes a bit of figuring out. Best thing is get a 'starter" controller for under $50 till your have a real plan.

smkettner wrote:
Canada might be a bit more than $150 for that 230w panel we have down in the sunbelt.

Indeed but BFL found a good place in his neck of the woods that's not much more money.

Canada might be a bit more than $150 for that 230w panel we have down in the sunbelt.

mena661 wrote:
The biggest problem with Kyocera is the price you pay for what you're not getting (watts). There's no way in hell I'd pay MORE for less watts. Right now you can get a 230W panel for $150. And likely to be even cheaper as time goes one. When one fails and the company is gone, $150 or less is cheap. There are Chinese solar companies that will be (have been) around for awhile but personally I could care less. As long as the panel keeps working it's all good.

Right on! Module price is not the biggest expense of solar installation, anymore. The wiring and switching is often more than module price with charge controller sometimes being more, also.

The biggest problem with Kyocera is the price you pay for what you're not getting (watts). There's no way in hell I'd pay MORE for less watts. Right now you can get a 230W panel for $150. And likely to be even cheaper as time goes one. When one fails and the company is gone, $150 or less is cheap. There are Chinese solar companies that will be (have been) around for awhile but personally I could care less. As long as the panel keeps working it's all good.

I would go with a known quality product from a company that is likely to be in business 5 years from now. Kyocera comes to mind in this regard.

Also the charge controllers work best when the outputs in Voc are within .5 volts for your panels. I went with 100 Watt panels from AMsolar.com as they are the "largest" that would fit on the roof without shading problems. They are 17.7v panels as are the 140 Watt panels from Kyocera.

In general a 24t o 37 volt output will get a greater percentage of the output from the panels to the charge controller with most gauges of wiring and definitely a concern if using the solar pre-wire provided by the RV manufacturer.

HiTech wrote:
Do you have other charging sources like a genset? If yes how much can/are you willing to use it? Where are you camping with only 12 hours light in the summer? Or are you thinking 12 productive hours?

I have a 22' TT. If yours is like mine I have room for one largish panel in the middle and 2 long stripes of space down the sides, but layouts vary a lot. What matters is the specific shape of the spaces you have open, and how they will be compromised by shadows from things like AC.

A lot of people run a ratio of between 60% to 100% watts in panels to amp hours of battery capacity.

Jim

I have a 2000i honda for backup. 12 hours was on the low end but yes avg, pro hours... probably more because i will be far north.

I think I will shoot for 200 - 250 to start.

NOW, with all the junk and non junk, china made etc. it seems impossible to know what brands are ok to go with. Is it simply looking at construction?

the only dealer that seems ok and close to me is
http://www3.telus.net/public/tps.x/Powerplus.htm

his products are described above..