Solar panels

[chessie4905]

Anyone used this panel yet? Considering getting into solar.
https://www.harborfreight.com

[richard5933]

Your link just goes to their home page. Which panel were you looking at?

[luvrbus]

Anyone used this panel yet? Considering getting into solar.
https://www.harborfreight.com

I know people that like the panels but say the controller/charger sucks 

[freds]

Your better off going with a full size house panel and fit as many of them in as you can.

[Dave5Cs]

Santan Solar in santan AZ has used house panels with a warranted. About 50 to 70 a panel for 250watts ea. some even higher 340watt.

[chessie4905]

#57325 Thunderbolt 26x36" mono crystaline, 100 watts.
100 bucks. looks interesting. May consider trying solar. Their other older 100 watt array is 3 times that size.

[dtcerrato]

We went with brand new Renogy solar. Great customer service. Just did supplemental and hardly visible on the roof center. 400W house & 100W start batteries. It doesn't sound like much but we don't rely on the genny anymore for battery charging... The 2800W inverter runs the AC roof air otr too so now genny rests a lot more. 

[lovetofix]

#57325 Thunderbolt 26x36" mono crystaline, 100 watts.
100 bucks. looks interesting. May consider trying solar. Their other older 100 watt array is 3 times that size.

$1.00 per watt is high.
Top of the line brand new residential panels should run $0.60-0.70 per watt.
Cheap branded (mass produced in China) panels can be found for quite a bit less and good used ones for as low as 15-20 cents per watt.

[lovetofix]

The only real benefit to buying top of the line, mono crystalline panels is that they do give a higher output per square inch. So if space is a premium then you can get more power with the available space. Otherwise just go with the cheaper ones and keep the sun off your whole roof!
Some of the higher quality panels do better at bringing in power under less than ideal solar exposure as well.

[freds]

#57325 Thunderbolt 26x36" mono crystaline, 100 watts.
100 bucks. looks interesting. May consider trying solar. Their other older 100 watt array is 3 times that size.

A 100 watt panel is a waste of time; even if they gave it to you for free. You only have some much space to install it and it's a lot labor to do it right.

[chessie4905]

Maybe using more than one to get desired output.

[Dave5Cs]

Have 6, 250 Watt house panels run in 2 ea series and all through a combiner box in Parallel. Have 8 6 volt SLA batteries which can be in any position for 24 volts at 2 banks for 400AH. Magnum inverter 4024 M hybrid. Works well with 1500 watts on Bus roof.

[windtrader]

The little folding portable ones have their place but on a bus conversion, it'd be pretty limited to running some battery chargers to keep the house and starts fully charged. It could also run plenty of LED lights but not much more.


You need to make a rough design of what you want to run directly from PV or via an inverter. That will get you in the ballpark for sizing your PV system. Then depending on how you want to use the power, that will take you to do a energy storage design which then also involves sizing inverter.

[richard5933]

We've got big folding ones - three 180-watt panels. They are great when we set them up, but in reality they prove to be a royal PITA. Mainly I carry them as a redundancy in case we can't charge batteries any other way. Eventually I'll add 600 watts or so to the roof. Waiting for someone to start selling high-quality high-output flex panels.

[Dave5Cs]

Just a note here that you should also attach the panel well or they could fly off your rig and hit another vehicle so a separate cable attached to them and the roof would be a good idea. Just saying...