Forum Discussion
- $161 for 230w is pretty close to the Black Friday sale prices, not too shabby.
It will need a MPPT controller but you don't have to break the budget. A $102 Eco-worthy controller, a pair of solar cables from ebay along with a few other bits and you can have a nice set up that will run your basic rig functions plus some inverter use for TV, phone charging and such for around $400. It's exactly the same system we used last year and we never ran out of power. RoyB wrote:
Boy all of these panels sure are heavy it seems.
Yes, they are getting heavier. When I bought my 245W REC, I thought 39 lb was heavy. Seems that there is nothing under 43 lb now, unless it's smaller than 150W.
Btw, I don't think that this is something to hurry up for. In this store they have "sale" almost non-stop. $161 for 230W is the cheapest of their big panels, but I would rather buy something known, like Trina or Solarworld. The difference of $50 or 70 is nothing when spread over 15-20 years.
Joe - no, "common" controller can only handle 12V nominal panels. With 24V nominal panels you would need MPPT controller.- 30V max though... Will a common controller handle that?
- Id order in a heartbeat 4 of these panels but shipping will kill you. ROADTRIP!
LOL - Boy all of these panels sure are heavy it seems. I am just now thinking about putting three 120WATT panels on my off-road POPUP roof. It has electric winch and it is already making noises raising the roof.
Making me think I will most likely have to remove the heavy panels when setting up and then putting them back in place.
I will use the lite weight aluminum unistrut strips to secure the panels too I guess.
I may have to start looking for some of those flexible solar panels and glue to the roof maybe...
I have the perfect spot for this 5ft x 3ft Solar panel between the air conditioner and the rear of the roof. It weighs almost 50lbs however not counting the unistrut strip haha...
360WATTS of solar sure would help me out big keeping my big battery banks going all night when camping off the power grids. I am going to need to generate 14.4VDC around 18-20AMPS of usable DC current to be able to re-charge my batteries within the 6 hours or so of usable high sun.
Roy Ken - If I had any more roof space I would. Things are getting cheap!
