[Elecraft] The Thoughts of Young Men

[John Zaruba Jr]

Bob,

I wrote an article on this very subject for QRP Quarterly, which should 
be in the next issue. I'm not familiar with Don's charge controller, 
but I would buy a panel with a short circuit current rating (ISC) about 
the same as what the controller will pass safely (possibly erring on 
the low side for the panel output. For example, if the controller will 
pass 6 amps, then shoot for a panel in the 5.5 to 5.75 amp output class.

I'm running an all solar station here with a K2, FT-817 + Z11, Kenwood 
TH-D7A, and some other assorted bits of kit. I have a 500 Amp/Hour 
battery bank, a 6 amp charge controller, and 4 PV panels with about 100 
watts of generating capacity.

I would also tend to favor UniSolar panels; while they are amorphous 
silicon instead of single crystal(read a little less efficient), they 
are a triple junction/diode bridged design which is more shade tolerant 
than some of the single crystal designs like Solarex, Kyocera, and BP.

You might want to look at Northern Arizona Wind & Sun:
	
	 http://solar-electric.com

No connection, just a satisfied customer.

73,

John AA2BN

My K2 slurps sunlight...