I am going solar

westend wrote:

bill-e wrote:

danimal53 wrote:
critiques? hell no, that looks good, nice work.

i was thinking of getting a kit myself, does anyone know anything about ZampSolar? my newer TT came "pre-wired" with a zamp solar outlet, does that mean I can only use their panel/systems?

I just ordered the Zamp 200 watt portable kit and new batteries.

My guess is that Zamp uses the 12 gauge wire for portability purposes, remember there is virtually no loss between the panels and the controller so they can stand a bit more loss to the battery from the thinner cable....thus allowing a very small, easy to handle wire package.

You may rethink that theory about wire loss when your new batteries need a good charge.

Installing wire that results in harvest loss is one thing that is easily remedied and makes no sense. Why spend significant dollars on solar charging only to lose charge power for the life of the installation when a few dollars more could buy bigger wire?

I may add a portable panel for those times I'm camped in impenetrable shade but I will use the largest wire possible and have the controller as close to the batteries as I can (where it is currently located).

Yes, I understand about loss and if I were installing solar for extended boondocking I would have gone a different route. For me, my dry camping is 100% 2-4 days surrounded by fellow shooters who run their sometimes loud generators very often so this is more for the fun of it than anything.

When I looked at the Zamp the first thing I noticed was the cable size but unfortunately the Zamp controller terminals only go as large as 12 gauge. My thought was to eventually make a short pigtail/connector out of the controller and then run larger wire from there.