Zamp 200w portable panels

[bill-e]

I bought a 200w portable solar panel by Zamp and brought it with me to The New Hampshire State Championships Cowboy Shoot this weekend.

Of course it rained for 4 days and there was zero sun but on Friday I set it up for about 4 hours and even with the extremely overcast sky pulled in about 6.5 AH.

This panel is supposed to generate up to 90 AH in a 7 hour day which is more than enough to keep my batteries charged and will allow me to install an inverter for my coffee.

It is heavy and big but it does fit through my passthrough hatch, if I decide to to store it in there.

I also brought with me a 700w Keurig K-Cup coffee maker which only draws about 5 amps. It makes just as good a cup of coffee as my large one and allows me to only start one generator to make a cup in the morning. I'm hoping that eventually with an inverter and the panels I don't even have to do that.

[SoundGuy]

GordonThree wrote:
Holy moly, almost a kilobuck for 200 watts and a generic PWM controller?

I think I'll just keep burning gasoline when I need electricity.

Having owned (and sold) two different Honda EU2000i gensets and having struggled with the noise even a well designed inverter genset can make I think I'm finally caving to the idea of solar. :W Like many though I'm not interested in mounting anything on the trailer roof and see a moderate size, all-in-one portable system like the 200 watt Zamp as a reasonable alternative. I'll first have to upgrade my battery reserve but at a similar price for an EU2000i this Zamp system looks pretty good, costly as it may be. 🙂

[goducks10]

I've been looking at portables, but they seem way more expensive than the roof mounts. I really like the portable idea though.
We solved our no 120v for coffee dilemma by getting a French press coffee pot. Just boil water on the stove and pour it in the French press. Wait 4 mins and press. Best coffee I've had. We use the same coffee in our home pot and the French press tastes better.
Anyway, nice setup.

[GordonThree]

Holy moly, almost a kilobuck for 200 watts and a generic PWM controller?

I think I'll just keep burning gasoline when I need electricity.

[WyoTraveler]

I also have the Zamp. Pricey but they work well. Noisey but that is the problem with a lot of solar chargers because of pulsing. Unless you have amateur radio equipment you'll never notice the RF noise.

[SoundGuy]

bill-e wrote:
I bought a 200w portable solar panel by Zamp ...

A link to the particular panel you purchased would be helpful ... is this the panel? If so, it looks like a good general purpose solution for many of us who aren't interested in a permanently mounted roof system or regularly camp in shade. Since it comes with it's own carry bag I'd just plonk it on the bed for travel. 😄

FWIW, it would also be helpful if you'd decrease the size of your pic as it's way too large as it is.