JiminDenver wrote:
$675 for a $300 inverter is outrageous. Find someone that isn't trying to prey on ignorance and will give you a decent components for the money.
This is why the smaller portables have become popular. You can get a usable amount of solar for a affordable price and it is plug and play, you don't need a degree in solar to not get ripped off.
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner here.
Find a 160W portable solar panel kit, like what used to be sold by Solar BLVD for $240, and be done with it. 9 amp charge rate, and it will keep that rate going by aiming it at the sun 3x a day, unlike a fixed mount on the roof. Cheap, cost effective. Buy a better PWM charge controller on Ebay, where you can adjust the charge voltage, mount the charge controller as close as possible to the batteries, with thick copper wire charging cable, and be done with it. 10 gauge wire from controller to battery on a 9 amp charger should minimize your voltage losses.
Set your adjustable charge controller for 14.8V at the battery, not at the charge controller, for bulk charge rate.
Maybe try this from Home Depot, though their price isn't the very best. Fabricate something to prop it up against to aim at the sun.
160W mono crystaline solar panelNeed more amps, cause you're power hungry? How about 210 watts with a pair of these, you supply the piano hinges so they fold up for storage, and the trunk latches.
Grape Solar 105 watt panels pair them up for 210 watts /12 ampsAdd in one of these, it's adjustable voltage for bulk charging, set it at 15.0V, get 14.8 at the battery at that setting.
Solar 30 PWM 30 amp charge controller, adjustable VoltageAdd wire, ring terminals, and you now have your own less expensive, more functional kit.
