Harbor Freight 45 watt solar panel kit

[anm]

I've been thinking about getting the Harbor Freight 45 watt solar panel kit which is currently on sale for $149.00, included are 3 - 15 watt amorphous crystal solar panels, a charge controller, cables, and mounting hardware. If I add a battery, that can be the start of my house electric system (I already have an inverter, 600 watts I think). To my way of thinking it looks like a reasonable way to get started. I should add that I could come up with $150, but not much more.

Does anyone here use Harbor Freight's solar kit? Any problems?

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Also:
If I get a solar kit, I won't have to connect the house system to the starting battery at all! Which will also relieve the temptation to run the van's engine to just charge the house battery.

 

[Zil]

They work. They are small. I have two sets for sale at $200 both. new in box.

 

[Spirituallifetime]

I think Amazon has a better deal: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B8...1_8?colid=1ZQ9MMSNBUGS0&coliid=I3HE1KWYOSXKM0

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For $20 more you get a 100 w system!

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Do you know - or can you make a reasonable guess - how many amp hours you are going to pull out of your house battery on an average day?

Depending on your answer, you might still need to tie the engine and house batteries together and charge with your alternator.

45 watts divided by 12 volts is 3.75 amps. Depending on where you are and how much sun you get, you MIGHT get 15 to 20 amp hours out of this system. Maybe less.

The cables are probably the thinnest - hence cheapest - ones they figure they can get away with. The charge controller will probably need to be replaced with one that can handle more power, IF you need to add more panels in the future.

The panels and mounts are probably the only usable things you will be able to keep if you need to expand the system.

Regards
John

 

[Van-Tramp]

I would advise the $149 100 watt panel http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...le_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A05654602L3XUQ70M87BV

I use a few of these on my van and they are great. They are significantly superior to the film panels sold by HF

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

I bought the renology kit above (169), you should grab mounting kit too for like 12. 100 watt isn't even much for me so looking fwd to adding to it. Installing is real easy.

 

[Bela's Mom]

The Renogy kit mentioned above appears to have a 30 amp charge controller. If you plan to add panels in the future, this would be a good deal as you would not have to buy another charge controller unless you go over 400 watts of solar. Also, they are made well and have a great warranty.

I have Renogy panels and the 30 amp controller. Work great and customer service/techs are very prompt and helpful if needed.

 

[Spirituallifetime]

Yes the renogy kit is expandable, this why I'm going to get this kit. When I have the money I can add more panels and battery.

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And for the price you just can't beat this system from renogy!

 

[anm]

The Renogy kit mentioned above appears to have a 30 amp charge controller. If you plan to add panels in the future, this would be a good deal as you would not have to buy another charge controller unless you go over 400 watts of solar. Also, they are made well and have a great warranty.

I have Renogy panels and the 30 amp controller. Work great and customer service/techs are very prompt and helpful if needed.

Thanks Jo, it looks as though the Renogy kits get the vote, and I concur since there's a kit on Amazon that is over twice the wattage of the HF kit, but only $15 more. And as you mentioned it has a 30amp charge controller.

Now for the next question: where and how do people mount them? Screwed flat onto the roof? Or in some kind of frame that can be angled toward the sun? Or on the roof rack?

 

[Spirituallifetime]

If you have roof rack attach ply wood to it and then attach solar panel to the ply wood. Renogy has hardware to mount solar panels, have order them they don't come in the kit. When you put the ply wood on the rack make big enough to cover most of the roof to keep it cool inside the van, that will also give room to put more panels on later.

 

[anm]

Do you know - or can you make a reasonable guess - how many amp hours you are going to pull out of your house battery on an average day?

Depending on your answer, you might still need to tie the engine and house batteries together and charge with your alternator.

45 watts divided by 12 volts is 3.75 amps. Depending on where you are and how much sun you get, you MIGHT get 15 to 20 amp hours out of this system. Maybe less.

The cables are probably the thinnest - hence cheapest - ones they figure they can get away with. The charge controller will probably need to be replaced with one that can handle more power, IF you need to add more panels in the future.

The panels and mounts are probably the only usable things you will be able to keep if you need to expand the system.

Regards
John

I'm not planning to be a heavy user, no A/C, no refrigerator, mainly just led lights, a small computer (an old Mac mini), lcd monitor, and recharging various small electronic items like cameras and phone, and a car booster battery.

It sounds like the Renogy kit on Amazon would be the way to go, more bang for my bucks...

 

[compassrose]

Many people hate the HF (and similar) PV kits. I figure it's a good cheap way of finding out if you are really interested in doing solar. I wish I could find the website that gave info on the "break even" point on PV solar vs generator based on usage. It was from a pro solar person. If you are into shade (I am) you may want to try to set up the panels so they can be removed from the roof (easily) and set on the ground in the sun. I've always thought that solar panels needed to be hinged and used as window awnings. It would make it easier to clean the bird poop and dirt off of the panels too.

BTW, I looked at the amazon link. It's just for a panel and nothing else. HF is for a complete kit.

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Solar Panel Starter Kit 100W Monocrystalline:100W Solar Panel UL 1703 Listed+2 20' Solar cables+PWM 30A Charge Controller+ Uniquely Designed Z Bracket Mounts $184.99 (at the time of this posting)


One Renogy 100 Watt Mono Solar Panels UL 1703 Certified (Grade A high Efficiency solar panel)
One 30Amp Charge Controller which allows system expandable up to 400W(12volts) and 800W(24volts)
One pair of 20Ft MC4 Connector Adaptor Kit with MC4 Male and Female Connector
One set (4pcs) of uniquely designed Z Brackets for mounting
Withstand strong wind (2400Pa)/heavy snow (5400Pa); Excellent performance in low light environments

 

[LeeRevell]

I have the HF panel kit, intending to use it for 'a learning experience' for the S&B. I would not use it for the van - far too much 'realestate' taken up for too little output. I have recently bought two 145 watt panels for the eventual van conversion. They are 60" by 27"each.
Still need a controller - plans are to get a 40Amp controller for possible expansion.
I did get a separate 25Amp controller for the HF panels, figuring on expansion at the house. I had already read the controller HF supplies is garbage.

 

[compassrose]

Complete Solar 100 Watt Panel Kit: 100W UL 1703 Polycrystalline Solar Panel + 10A Charge Controller + MC4 Connectors + Mounting Z Brackets for 12V Battery off grid, RV, Boat $159.99 (at the time of this posting)

Complete kit includes: 100 Watt Polycrystalline WindyNation Solar Panel, 10-amp Solar Charge Controller, 40 feet of UL Listed 12 AWG Solar Cable, all necessary MC4 Connectors, all necessary mounting hardware and Installation Manual.
Designed for RVs, cabins, homes, boats, back-up and remote power use
Perfect kit for 12 volt battery charging
Kit will provide on average 300 Watt Hours (Wh) or 25 Amp hours of charge per day (depends on sunlight availability)
100 Watt solar charging kit provides up to 100 watts of clean, free, renewable power


This one is more like the HF one. It is non-expandable and the controller is apparently "crap" according to reviewers. IF, IF, IF, I were to try solar, I would get the first one I linked to. It's is still under $200 and you can add a couple more panels to it. To power the things we would need to power (two 4.4 cf refrigerators and a 12 cf freezer in addition to our lights) while freedom parking without needing to run the generator (needed for the air conditioners and water heater), it would need more of the $149 panels.

Expand to 200 watt (add $149 100 watt panel to the $184.99 kit listed in previous post) would work out to $334.98
Expand to 300 watt (add two $149 panels) $484.97
Expand to 400 watt (add three $149 panels) $634.96
Of course this doesn't factor in wire, mounts and meters. Just to give an idea of basic investment to expand the basic $184.99 kit system. The larger kits add in the wire and keep bumping up to larger inverters. I'm one of those odd people who would prefer to have multiple inverters for various circuits. Cheaper and better for me to replace one 800w modified sine wave (MSW) inverter than one single 1000w (or larger) MSW inverter or pure sine inverter ($$$$). We could do the expansion easier than buy outright. We have limited funds and could simply add a panel as we got the money. But we might only need 3 panels. DO we? I don't know, I have yet to figure out what we would need. But I do know we need to have a generator with several marine batteries (what will fit height wise in the battery bay) and that is what will go into the bus. Solar panels would only be for running the refrigeration and lights (plus maybe TV & DVD) while the generator was shut down.

If anyone wants to do solar, I strongly suggest you first read
handybobsolar. wordpress. com as this guy isn't selling anything just putting out good info.

 

[anm]

Many people hate the HF (and similar) PV kits. I figure it's a good cheap way of finding out if you are really interested in doing solar. I wish I could find the website that gave info on the "break even" point on PV solar vs generator based on usage. It was from a pro solar person. If you are into shade (I am) you may want to try to set up the panels so they can be removed from the roof (easily) and set on the ground in the sun. I've always thought that solar panels needed to be hinged and used as window awnings. It would make it easier to clean the bird poop and dirt off of the panels too.

BTW, I looked at the amazon link. It's just for a panel and nothing else. HF is for a complete kit.

---

Solar Panel Starter Kit 100W Monocrystalline:100W Solar Panel UL 1703 Listed+2 20' Solar cables+PWM 30A Charge Controller+ Uniquely Designed Z Bracket Mounts $184.99 (at the time of this posting)


One Renogy 100 Watt Mono Solar Panels UL 1703 Certified (Grade A high Efficiency solar panel)
One 30Amp Charge Controller which allows system expandable up to 400W(12volts) and 800W(24volts)
One pair of 20Ft MC4 Connector Adaptor Kit with MC4 Male and Female Connector
One set (4pcs) of uniquely designed Z Brackets for mounting
Withstand strong wind (2400Pa)/heavy snow (5400Pa); Excellent performance in low light environments

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And here's a
Kit without brackets $164.99 time of posting.

I like your idea of using the solar panel as an awning, though I'm planning on a tarp attached to the roof rack, covering the van side door, as a shaded patio area for sitting and cooking.

 

[akrvbob]

The HF kits are surprisingly good, but they have three big faults:

1) They are amorphous so they are inefficent. That means they are very large for the amount of power they produce.
2) Assembling the frame is a pain! You'll probably end up not doing it very often.
3) they use window glass and not tempered glass. Eventually a gust of wind is going to catch it and blow it over and the glass will break. The panels will still work, just with broken glass.

The Renology kit on Amazon is far superior!

1) They are either mono or polymorphouse so they are not much bigger than the HF but more than double the power.
2)They are not fragile and use tempered glass.
3) Little assembly required. If you make a longer cord with quick disconnects you can just lay them out on the ground while you park in the shade.

Buy the ones from Amazon!
Bob

 

[anm]

...
Buy the ones from Amazon!
Bob

That seems to be the consensus here. The Renogy kit seems to be the best buy, a little more money for a lot more power, and flexibility in the future.

 

[anm]

Addendum:
Right now I'm leaning towards Compassrose's suggestion that I leave them removable so they can be deployed if I have the van sitting in the shade...

 

[TucsonAZ]

Start with your power needs and work backwards from there.

Avoid HF at all cost, total crap. Renogy seems to make good panels but remember the charge controller you get from them is going to be **** and certainly not 30 amps.

If you call them, you will be able to talk them into a better price, I had them at $115 per 100w mono panel with some effort, $120 with no effort, that included shipping. So you may be better off buying a panel alone and a better charge controller.

With a single battery you're going to have say 70ah or 840 watts, of that you can use 420 watts without impacting battery life too much. With a single 100w panel on a PWM controller there is no place in the US you're going to replace 420w a day so keep that in mind, if you're in AZ in the summer, you may get close but doubtful still. Two panels would be better for sure if you have the room and adding a second panel later would be all the more reason to get a slightly better charge controller. Do some research on it, many of them do not get the charge levels correct for the battery.

Good luck on the system and enjoy learning it!