gemsworld wrote:
I bought the 120W kit. I used the 100W pics for demonstration purposes since both of them are practically identical.
BTW, the specs on the 120W kit from Solar Blvd incorrectly states the kit weighs 13 lbs. The actual weight is closer to 27 lbs. Solar Blvd is going to correct the mistake.
The kit weighs 13 kilograms. About 29 pounds. The 5 meter wire in the kit is a bit small gauged for 7 amps, and pinches you with maybe 3% and a voltage loss of maybe .2 to .25V from the controller to at your batteries. Since the controller only puts out 14.4V, you are down to about 14.15 to 14.2 at the terminals. While this is great, fine and dandy for plug and play... when you get serious, some good 10 gauge wire, as short as possible from the controller to the battery, will minimize any voltage losses and up your Vbat to a higher state of charge.
Once every 10-12 days of camping, you'll need to get 15V or more into your battery bank, to work on the sulfation on the battery plates from too many 50 to 90% charge cycles. Otherwise, if just weekend camping, top the batteries off once you get home, with a good smart charger that will really get the voltage, just to the batteries, up to 15.7 to 16.0V to equalize and desulfate them.
