Solar Panels Brands - does it matter?

I am a little skeptical of the Phocos controller but have not heard any bad from an actual user. Does include a nice display.

I would tend to ask about upgrading to a Morningstar controller but that might be unneeded and you may not get the display.

CVD wrote:
SolarBlvd had dropped the price on the 140w panel to $1/watt. I bought one last week. It's my first and only experience w solar, so I'm no expert - but it does seem to be doing what it should. At 10:00 am, and tilted slight away from the rising sun, it was putting out 17v and 5a.

http://www.solarblvd.com/Solar-Panels-&-Systems-12-Volt-Solar-Panels/c1_269/p2668/Solar-Cynergy-140-Watt-12-Volt-Solar-Panel/product_info.html

Are their "kits" any good? What might one substitute? I am looking at charging a couple of group 24 batteries, which, when worn out, I will probably go with some Costco 6v Golf cart batteries. Is 140 watts at 14.1 v close to a 10 amp charging rate? With portable mounting, what should I expect in terms out ampere hours for recharging? Days are rather long where I camp when in the summer and northern tier states.

While I have a Honda Eu2000i, going in to town and buying gas is not my idea of a good time while dry camping.

And for the Electrical Engineers among us, help a non engineer newbie out and use less acronyms, spell it out.

I am not that far from Norco, CA could save on all the shipping costs.

Solar panel kits from Solar Blvd

smkettner wrote:
Mena, 50-90 would seem to be a different issue. If this is truly the case Lifeline does not belong in any RV and yet many swear by them. Boating may have its own issues no covered here.

My comment was not to fret too much about charging at a little less than 60 amps. As close to 100% every day should always be the goal and I thing the OP with 500+ watts will do fine even while in use.

Indeed. Good points smk.

As the OP you can take this thread wherever you like.
If it get too unwieldy then by all means start a new thread.

I owned a group 27 Lifeline to power a trolling motor. Worked fine but never really ran it very hard or very much before I sold the whole outfit.

lifeline in the search box should give a weeks worth of reading.

steveexplorer wrote:
Yes, my sense of reading various threads is that the experience of RVers in these forums is very good with Lifeline. Has anyone had or reported a problem with them?

I bought a new Lifeline battery 100 amh in Vancouver BC,that lasted exactly 6 months and thats without any deep discharges,unfortunately couldnt return it as theres no dealers in all provinces..

Yes, my sense of reading various threads is that the experience of RVers in these forums is very good with Lifeline. Has anyone had or reported a problem with them?

As the OP for this thread, I am appreciative of the people who took the initiative to see that more was required, and to spend the time and energy addressing the wider needs and issues.

Can that be done better by starting a separate thread for each solar component and/or issue, or by commenting on what seems needed in the thread at the time, or both? But that is also off topic.

I thought this thread was about brands of solar panels? What happened?

Mena, 50-90 would seem to be a different issue. If this is truly the case Lifeline does not belong in any RV and yet many swear by them. Boating may have its own issues no covered here.

My comment was not to fret too much about charging at a little less than 60 amps. As close to 100% every day should always be the goal and I thing the OP with 500+ watts will do fine even while in use.

smkettner wrote:
Any issue with charging an AGM slower will be on a sliding scale. A few amp low will not have the capacity fall off a cliff. The issue will be if you get 9.5 years out of them or 10 years.
JMHO. Contact Lifeline for best answers.

I don't know smk. These particular batteries seem to display an immediate dislike for anything other than their recommended charging specs. Granted I'm just going by their total dislike for 50-90 style recharges without regimented 100% charging. Those sailing blogs I posted a while back displayed that pretty clearly. I don't know if I'd take that chance with repeated under charging.