About to buy this solar equipment:

[emmen]

I've got a Camp-Inn Raindrop with a nice flat spot on top for a solar panel.

I have about 4' x 2' of room available, so I think 80/85 watts is about the largest panel I can fit easily.

I've heard good things about Kyocera, so I am considering this panel:
Kyocera KC85T 85watts 39.6 L 25.7 W $429.00

and this controller:
Morningstar 12V SunSaver-10

1) Does anybody here have any experience with this equipment?

I would like to use a tilting frame mounted onto a Lazy Susan bracket.
2) Any comments, suggestions here? Are there lazy susan brackets that will handle weather well?

Thank you!
Evan

[astrotrailer]

Check out www.solarblvd.com. I see a 48x21 inch Solar Cynergy 80 Watt 12 Volt Solar Panel
for $230. They sell the same charge controller for $45. I purchased a pair of 80 watt
Sharp panels from them last year.

[Engineer Guy]

Real Goods has been in the business for a while, and is well respected. Divide PV Panel price by maximum watts output in ideal conditions to get the price/watt. A more powerful PV Panel might be the best value, depending on size restrictions and budget.

Both Sharp and Kyocera are good Panels. See a selection here:

http://www.realgoods.com/category/solar ... +panels.do

See other resources here:

http://www.backwoodssolar.com/

http://www.happy-wanderers.com/technica ... lar-system

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago108.html

http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volta.htm

Morningstar also has a good rep, as do Sunny Boy and Xantrex.

http://www.sma-america.com/en_US.html

http://www.xantrex.com/

http://www.campingworld.com/search/inde ... Ne=1000002

Lots of new and retrofit Residential installs are going in all around us since Colorado has good rebates besides the Federal Credits. Some Rebates total 50% of the system cost.

PV Panels don't output significantly less energy when facing up to 25% east or west of due South. The lazy susan idea may be unnecessary and tough to keep solid, though not impossible, while driving. That said - yes - tracking systems that follow the arc of the Sun in a day output more wattage, and a lazy susan would be great for that. Most PV Panels are rooftop fixed. Life's a series of tradeoffs, as the saying goes. It's more important to tilt up the PV Panel at the optimum angle for a given latitude, and for Winter vs. Summer angles. Solar bounce off of water or snow create more wattage output. Tree branches don't have much negative effect, but leaf obstruction and other shading does. PV Panel output on cloudy days may still be >50%.

Check out commercial PV rack systems and copy those, since most racks are designed to withstand high winds. Note that towing + a strong head wind could equal ~130 MPH or more. There may be plenty of 'lift' turbulence while towing since the PV Panel may act as an Airplane Wing with a vacuum effect over the top of it. While I don't know the wind loading spec on the install below, it is to strict Code only few miles from the base of the Rocky Mountains in a periodic high wind zone.

See below part of a 10 kW Residential System; the largest wattage System for which a local Utility Rebate is possible. These are Sharp NE-170U1 +24 VDC 170 Watt PV Panels. While perhaps too large for your install, 'higher' voltage PV Panels are one method to get more wattage out of a given PV Panel footprint. Note the mounting hardware, however. It's deep C channel Aluminum that captures the nut of a [high strength?] machine bolt to then hold lipped right angle brackets that capture the PV Panel.

[Shadow Catcher]

I have a 180W panel which is currently on top of our garage hooked into a grid tie inverter, generating power and off setting one of the highest electric rates in the US. We still do not have our new trailer where it will be mounted during the camping season. Ya got it ya might as well get benefit year round.

[eamarquardt]

.... and how about using for plane?
it could help to lift up or reduce the weight?
Cheers

Nice thought but wings create drag which consumes gasoline. You might be able to reduce the weight of your trailer (I doubt it will fly though) but your gas mileage will go down a bunch. There is rarely a "free lunch", ha.

Cheers,

Gus

[bdosborn]

I've got a 135W kyocera panel and an eBay 85W panel on mine. Here's a write up on my solar setup.

Boxcar Solar

I'm a big fan of kyocera and morningstar, you can't go wrong there. I've bought a lot of stuff from here:

NAWS

Super great customer service with middle of the road pricing, except they have a smoking deal on a kyocera 135W panel (if it will fit on your roof).

Bruce

P.S. I built a tilting rack and it gets me around a 10-20% increase in performance, depending on the time of year. I use the trailer as a lazy susan.

[emmen]

Thank you all for the very helpful posts and links.

I did a lot of reading and research based on your comments and have a few followup questions:

1) Why would the Solar Cynergy panel cost about $200 less than an apparently comparable Kyocera panel? - the same with the UL-Solar panel. They appear to all be about the same size, shape and watts, but huge price difference? Can anybody tell me why these two panels in particular are so much cheaper? It makes me afraid to buy them...

2) In this article http://www.happy-wanderers.com/technica ... lar-system he talks about a Maximum Power Point Tracking charge controller.

It also has the advantage of being a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPTT) charge controller. Basically, this technology can increase the charge current up to 30% compared to a traditional controller. Simply put, the solar panels put out 16.8 volts. But the batteries use a maximum of 14.3 volts to charge. MPTT technology converts this extra voltage to additional amperage for charging. For example, the solar panels may be putting out 20 amps, but the charge controller could boost this to 26 amps to the batteries.

Is this a real deal? If so, I could forget about the 30 to 40% power increase I would get by angling the panel, and just mount it flat to the roof with one of these controllers... ?

Thanks for your input!
Evan

[bdosborn]

1) They're made in China. You pays your money, you takes your chance. My eBay panel doesn't have the factory support I can get from Kyocera. You're on your own if you ever have a warranty issue. The eBay panel is working fine and seems to be of good quality but I'm not going to expect much help if it fails. I got the Kyocera from NAWS and I know I can call them with a warranty claim, if I ever need one.

2) I have the Morningstar MPPT controller and it's about 15% more efficient than a PWM controller like the Sunsaver. Batteries like to be charged at 14.3 volts or so. My solar panels have maximum output when they are running at 17.7 volts. The MPPT is a high efficiency DC-to-DC converter that allows the solar panel to run at its most efficient voltage while charging the battery at a lower voltage.

Here's a link to a discussion at the solar power forum discussing the differences between the two types of controllers.

MPPT versus PWM

The drawback to MPPT is the significant expense and there isn't much of a performance gain on small systems. 15% of 80W is only 12W so most people add another panel for the additional $150 the MPPT costs. I think I'd stick with a PWM controller if you're planning to use a single panel at 80 watts.

MPPT does have an advantages over PWM if you are combining multiple panels as you can wire the panels in series to minimize voltage drop from the panels. It also has superior performance in cloudy and cold weather. Finally, the Morningstar MPPT does have a serial out that you can hook into a laptop or meter to monitor performance if you're into that kind of stuff ( like I am )

Bruce

[dreadcptflint]

I might as well pipe in as I have a 135W Kyocera panel. I had the space on my roof and went for it and was very pleased with it's performance so far. I have a tilt package and I can say that I probably won't be needing to spend the time tilting it as I am a bit on the lazy side. (I would rather be camping than futzing with where my panel goes).

1. Why does one panel cost less than another. Well, which one has the warranty? Is one being sold by a dealer who has been in business longer than five years? If you are comparing panels then compare everything about them. I picked mine because it was about as cheap as I could find with out compromising quality.

2. I am in the MPPT camp. The less that you have to play with a controller and get more power then I am all for it. I will switch over when I can afford one. Right now I have a PWM and it works just fine. I picked a digital display model so that anyone can easily read it.

[emmen]

Thank you both for your replies.

I have very limited space (about 50" by 26" max) - so I can only fit one panel. I'd like to get as many watts as possible, so I'm considering these two panels: 100w panel by Solarland or this 90w panel by UL Solar.

http://www.emarineinc.com/products/sola ... L10012.pdf

http://cgi.ebay.com/90-WATT-90W-SOLAR-P ... 3a59937e76

I don't know enough about the technical jargon to know if all the specs add up, but they both have a 25 year limited power output warranty. The 100w is sold by emarineinc.com for $419. Not as good a deal per watt as the other but it is more watts per space than anything else I have found. The 90w is sold on eBay for $250.

Any comments on these? I'm leaning towards the 90w because of the price difference.

[bdosborn]

I have an 85 watt panel from UL-Solar. The specs are good for charging a 12V battery and its about the same as a Kyocera, which means you could parallel it in the future. The panel itself is a clone of the 85 watt Kyocera I had on the tear. It was packaged adequately and they shipped it right away. I didn't try and talk to UL-solar so I don't know how good their communication is. Check their return policy, I think they're pretty unforgiving on returns.

Bruce

[emmen]

Thanks, Bruce.

I am very familiar with your build because I have studied it several times while considering how to do my rig.

I went ahead and ordered the 90w from UL Solar.
Glad to hear that you have one and it has worked well.

Thanks again!
Evan

[bdosborn]

Evan,

No problem! Now don't forget the pictures! I love the Raindrop,I was very tempted to build a clone.
Bruce

[Grid Runner Adventures]

I need to figure out what panels to get myself. The biggest thing I need to run is a 12v 32 watt netbook at 2.6 amps and a little 12v dc computer type fan at 0.20amps

what panels do you guys suggest. I have 450 for the panels, and controller and wiring I also need two golf cart batteries, not sure I can do all of this for 450 though

[bdosborn]

You really should do an inventory of your usage to tell how much battery and panel you need:

Solar Worksheet

Bruce