[Boatanchors] OT Another Harbor Freight Bargain

[Ron Trepka]

Comments about the HF solar Panels

The charge controller works well where it gets off the battery when it has reached it's limit.
The little voltage display is real nice and turning it off is a great idea too.
The CFLs are junk.  They use a instant start ballast with a rapid start lamp so it eats the filaments away during start and life was very short.

It would be hard to beat the $50 each price for the three solar panels so it's a bargan at the $159 price.
---
Ron



--- On Fri, 2/25/11, J. Gordon Beattie, Jr., W2TTT <gordon.beattie at att.net> wrote:

From: J. Gordon Beattie, Jr., W2TTT <gordon.beattie at att.net>
Subject: RE: [Boatanchors] OT Another Harbor Freight Bargain
To: "'Ron Trepka'" <w8ron at sbcglobal.net>, "'John Flood'" <kb1fqg at yahoo.com>, boatanchors at mailman.qth.net, r-390 at mailman.qth.net, "'Bob Peters'" <rwpeters at swbell.net>
Date: Friday, February 25, 2011, 12:08 AM

Ron, John, Bob et al,

I have two of these kits and they work really well!  In a fully sunny day,
you get the rated output, but there are times when you won't.  This is to be
expected.  The charge controller is very good with several output voltages
less than 12V including a USB charger port.  It has no capability to prevent
the overcharge of your battery bank, so if you are not going to be keeping a
close eye on the charge level of the battery bank, you will need to get
another charge controller.  

What we do is use two sets in parallel to charge a 155AH deep cycle 12V
battery while in camp.  This keeps the battery topped up during a weekend or
during a week or two at summer camp.  At the National Boy Scout Jamboree
last summer we had to keep a pile of phones, four laptops and an Amateur
Radio Station going.  We did have one day when we had to be wise about our
power budget, but it all worked out fine by the next day, and all essential
items received a full charge.  We even ran a few of the included 5W 12V CFL
lamps in our gateway entrance area for safety and site identification.  We
located the two 4x4 ft mounts on wooden shelving to keep the supplied metal
frames in alignment and placed them into spots within our gateway where they
could get light and be out of the way.  

We are going to redo the frames using aluminum angle stock from a local home
center and eliminate the cheap steel originally provided.  

One other improvement that we are working on is to replace the very light
gauge, high-resistance wiring with some number 12 wire and Anderson
PowerPole connectors.  Given our use, I'm not sure if we are going to
replace the charge controller, but time will tell.
 
Thanks & 73,
Gordon Beattie, W2TTT
201.314.6964