Best place for Solar system purchase and install BC Alberta

[morley]

Thinking very seriously about solar panel and system purchase and installation next year before camping season starts for our 26 ft fiver. Just a simple system to be used when camping off of the grid in provincial parks, keeping batteries up(2-6 volt T105 Trojans), etc.
Anyone have any comments about where the best place, company, dealership, etc for this in the BC Okanagan, southern interior or Vancouver area may be?
Southern Alberta is also an option if a good place exists.
Thanks,
Morley

[hinterland]

GaryKH wrote:

hinterland wrote:

GaryKH wrote:
We have a 100W portable panel that works great in most locations. Camping in some locations restricts you to being in shade some, or all the time. With a portable unit, i can move it around to be in the full sun a lot more than if i had it just on the roof. Easy to connect also.

Hi there,
We would be interested in learning more about this. What brand is it and where can you buy it? Thanks

Hi there, we bought it at a local RV store 3 years ago. It is made by Carmanah Power. Google Go Power
Portable solar (did i do good Gary LOL!)
One has to watch out for cheap, offshore units that make false claims (saying they are UL, or CSA approved).I don't know how you would go about finding this out, other than cross checking all the approved products from CSA? Most people wouldn't. Nice if there are customer reviews, but they have to be taken with a grain of salt also.

Thank you for the info, will be on the watch for it.
Deb

[GaryKH]

hinterland wrote:

GaryKH wrote:
We have a 100W portable panel that works great in most locations. Camping in some locations restricts you to being in shade some, or all the time. With a portable unit, i can move it around to be in the full sun a lot more than if i had it just on the roof. Easy to connect also.

Hi there,
We would be interested in learning more about this. What brand is it and where can you buy it? Thanks

Hi there, we bought it at a local RV store 3 years ago. It is made by Carmanah Power. Google Go Power
Portable solar (did i do good Gary LOL!)
One has to watch out for cheap, offshore units that make false claims (saying they are UL, or CSA approved).I don't know how you would go about finding this out, other than cross checking all the approved products from CSA? Most people wouldn't. Nice if there are customer reviews, but they have to be taken with a grain of salt also.

[pianotuna]

Try these folks.

http://solarwholesaler.ca/

[hinterland]

GaryKH wrote:
We have a 100W portable panel that works great in most locations. Camping in some locations restricts you to being in shade some, or all the time. With a portable unit, i can move it around to be in the full sun a lot more than if i had it just on the roof. Easy to connect also.

Hi there,
We would be interested in learning more about this. What brand is it and where can you buy it? Thanks

[GaryKH]

We have a 100W portable panel that works great in most locations. Camping in some locations restricts you to being in shade some, or all the time. With a portable unit, i can move it around to be in the full sun a lot more than if i had it just on the roof. Easy to connect also.

[garyhaupt]

Morely...you don't say where in BC you are, so if you would? then some could offer outfits that are close enough, maybe.

There is a great RV shop in Burnaby that is the usual high dollar for work, but man, they do know their stuff and do excellant work. You could take them whatever you buy and they'd install. Travco.

If you are close to the border, you 'could' place a US order and have it sent to a reciever at any of the border towns. I do that with items and it's 5 bux to recieve it and they hold for pick-up. But, has been pointed out, the devalued Loonie is killer, right now.

One thing to bear in mind when calculating solar needs..if you are primarily a BC camper, the shade from overhanging trees will seriosly undermine your arrays ability. In this case...more is better. If you are looking at 100w? consider 200. That will take care of business unless you are a heavy wattage user.

I am a huge fan of solar and have 250w + 3 deep cycles. Having said that, there is no inexpensive way to do this. The bottom line costing will be the same as if you bought a 2000w Yamaha or Honda inverter.


Gary Haupt

[hinterland]

We would recommend Solaywyse out of Beaverlodge AB if you can. They have a website with packages and their prices. He will even meet you and will go the extra mile to help you out.
We had a cabin off the grid for years and Larry drove down 2x and helped us out with the solar install.

[BC_Explorer]

free radical wrote:

You should check Canadian tire sometimes they have good deals on panels

Canadian Tire solar panels are not cheap -even on sale. For example, they currently have a Coleman branded 100 watt panel on sale for $299.00 which is 40% off their regular retail price.

In the spring and summer months, some of their smaller portable type panels come on sale but they are still expensive as compared to others.

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

Maybe check out www.solarwholesaler.ca in Calgary. FWIW: The panels work out less than a Loonie a watt, and we found when dollar was on par that we still managed to get our Midnite Solar controller and magnum items through them cheaper than through the USA. We got our batteries through Costco way cheaper though than anywhere else. Canadian Tire didn't have large enough solar option for our wants at the time.

[free_radical]

morley wrote:
Thinking very seriously about solar panel and system purchase and installation next year before camping season starts for our 26 ft fiver. Just a simple system to be used when camping off of the grid in provincial parks, keeping batteries up(2-6 volt T105 Trojans), etc.
Anyone have any comments about where the best place, company, dealership, etc for this in the BC Okanagan, southern interior or Vancouver area may be?
Southern Alberta is also an option if a good place exists.
Thanks,
Morley

You should check Canadian tire sometimes they have good deals on panels

[free_radical]

fanrgs wrote:
Backwoods Solar just over the BC border in Sand Point, Idaho, has a great catalog; is one of the most respected US-CA resources for all types of residential/RV renewable energy systems; has done numerous residential solar installations in the Kooteneys; and, most importantly, has been in business for 37 years. They also have a couple of contacts/reps in southern BC, including Bob Watters at bwatters@igc.org.

To request a catalog, click Backwoods Solar. This Website also has lots of examples of a wide variety of solar systems that have been installed for several years and worked as designed.

Give Backwoods a call or send an E-mail and let them help you with ideas for your system. They will be happy to give you free advice and it will be worth much more than what you are paying for it!

Fwiw theres a downside for buying from the US as canadians have to pay customs duty on imported products,,not to mention the lower value of CDN
dollar it adds up,,,its cheaper to buy in Canada in most cases..

[fanrgs]

Backwoods Solar just over the BC border in Sand Point, Idaho, has a great catalog; is one of the most respected US-CA resources for all types of residential/RV renewable energy systems; has done numerous residential solar installations in the Kooteneys; and, most importantly, has been in business for 37 years. They also have a couple of contacts/reps in southern BC, including Bob Watters at bwatters@igc.org.

To request a catalog, click Backwoods Solar. This Website also has lots of examples of a wide variety of solar systems that have been installed for several years and worked as designed.

Give Backwoods a call or send an E-mail and let them help you with ideas for your system. They will be happy to give you free advice and it will be worth much more than what you are paying for it!

[morley]

Thanks everyone for your commeNts and recommendations, they are much appreciated.
Thanks,
Morley

[Johnny_G1]

Riverside Energy Systems in Kamloops is a super guy to deal with, Paul Fletcher @ 1-866-288-1517, I and fellow mh's have bought a lot of parts from Paul and you won't find better people to deal with.