Comments for SolarInfoSource.com

Comment on Sunforce 7 Amp Charge Controller by Dan

Dan — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:26:48 +0000

Works Well!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have had this for a yr and works great to charge my RV batteries during the winter and to add juice to my inverter batteries during the dry camping trips I take. I takes too many panels to fully charge batteries but it helps on dry camping trips. Very Nice!

Comment on Sunforce 50044 60Watt Solar Charging Kit by SADIE

SADIE — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:08:41 +0000

HAPPY CUSTOMER
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
WE HAVE BEEN USING A GENERATOR FOR YEARS TO KEEP THE BATTERIES CHARGED ON OUR CAMPER. HAD TO RUN THE GENERATOR 1-2 TIMES A WEEK WHEN USING THE CAMPER. WE INSTALLED THE SOLAR CHARGING KIT A MONTH AGO AND HAVE NOT HAD TO RUN THE GENERATOR SINCE. IT WAS EASY TO SET UP. I USED THE INVERTER TO RUN A SMALL FAN. GREAT VALUE. VERY HAPPY.

Comment on Sunforce 50012 1.8Watt Solar Battery Maintainer by Lynn R. Porter

Lynn R. Porter — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:52:41 +0000

difficult to see if product works
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I have been using the solar panel for a couple of weeks but no apparent value to the battery. I tried to measure the voltage output with a multimeter but it did not register on my multimeter. Dubious value. And no way of determining if the charge is working correctly.

Comment on Sunforce 50032 15 Watt Solar Battery Charger by Russell A. Greenberg

Russell A. Greenberg — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 06:48:57 +0000

Power for tent trailer
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have purchased and installed solar panels before on my motor home but they were not the quality of the Sunforce I am happy to say, the package arrived on time as always from Amazon orders. It was packaged very well with no damage and all parts were included.

I installed the panel on my eight foot tent trailer, the minute I allowed the sunlight to hit the panel the volt meter jumped to 24 volts as specified. Install was easy on the flat surface, I put butyl tape along all the edges that will make contact with the roof for an added seal then used the screws provided in the kit. They give you three wiring options with battery clips, hard wire leads, or a lighter plug in. I went with the hard wire as I installed a charge wizard in line to the batteries. Just to check the system inside I turned on the overhead light and got an instant charge on the meter.

So far so good, I will be leaving for the SW doing work in the desert of Arizona for a few months and at this time believe the panel will keep my batteries charged for computer use and a few other small items.

Comment on Brunton Solarport 4.4 Watt Foldable Solar Charger with by Eric Crampton

Eric Crampton — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:44:56 +0000

Expectation Eclipses Performance
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Unfortunately I have had no success with this solar charger. I acknowledge that I have only tried to charge two cell phones, one via the USB port and the other through the built-in adapter. However, neither one charged to any noticeable degree. While Indiana winters do not supply a surplus of sunshine, I attached the charger to a south-exposed window with suction cups and failed to get results on nearly 100% sunny days. In fact, once the phone ran out of juice on me and in every case the battery indicator stayed the same or dropped. Of course, the phone was on and thus using some battery charge, but to only maintain the charge, at best, is unacceptable. I have a coil/shake flashlight and a crank flashlight, so I desire to utilize renewable energy, but it has to work and I can’t recommend the product when it can’t charge a cell phone with its relatively low consumption/demand.

Comment on Sunforce 50012 1.8Watt Solar Battery Maintainer by Phillip Tompkins

Phillip Tompkins — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:11:41 +0000

Provides volts
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Volt meter does show 2 – 4 volts, but honestly the product only maintains, so if you think your battery is being drained by something then figure out what it is. This might work at an airport where you leave your car for a few weeks. I purchased it because during the winter my car battery always seems to have a hard time, I’ve had little to no success with this product.

Comment on Sunforce 50044 60Watt Solar Charging Kit by Josh Wakefield

Josh Wakefield — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 02:56:23 +0000

good to tinker with
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought one of these kits from Amazon.com. One of the panels was broken in the first shipment. Amazon had UPS pick everything up and sent me another kit. Everything was in good order in the second shipment.

I went to my local Wal-Mart and bought two EverStart Marine 27DC-6 deep cycle batteries (115 amp hours each - $143.62 total with tax) to use with this kit. I also purchased four heavy duty battery terminals for #2/0 wire ($12.82). I went to Home Depot and bought two 2ft strips of #2/0 wire ($14.17). I connected the batteries in parallel with the #2/0 wire.

In theory, this gives me 230 amp hours of storage. I mounted the panels onto the PVC pipe and put it on the roof of my house. The panels are facing East at an estimated 30 degree angle. I chose this location because you can't see the panels from the road (minimizing chance of theft).

However, the general guidelines are: solar panels should face South in the Northern Hemisphere and North in the Southern Hemisphere; A solar panel's angle should be set to the equivalent of your your latitude plus 15 degrees during winter, or minus 15 degrees in summer.

After installing the kit and hooking it up to my batteries, I left it alone for about one week. This gave it time to fully charge the batteries. Today (9-24-2008 -- sunny) I tested the output with a digital multimeter at 12:08pm CST. I am located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The charge controller output voltage was 14.19 volts; and the amps measured 2.61.

In order to measure the amps, move the red wire on the multimeter to the 10A DC plug. Turn the multimeter knob to 10A. The multimeter needs to be in between the battery and the charge controller. Imagine a Mom holding a child's hand and a Dad holding the other child's hand. The child is the multimeter. The Dad is the positive battery termial. The Mom is the red wire coming out of the charge controller and going to the battery.

Watts = Volts x Amps. So, the charge controller was outputting about 37 Watts. In order to maximize my batteries' life, I do not want the percentage of charge to ever drop below 80%. This is equivalent to a 12.46 volt meter reading with my digital multimeter. I got this kit to tinker with. This is my first solar kit. Right now I have the included 200-watt inverter hooked up to the batteries. It is providing AC power to my fish tank water filter. I am going to add more devices to the inverter each week until I start getting close to the 80% battery charge. I recommend buying a device called Kill-A-Watt by p3international (about $20). It will show you all of an AC device's power comsumption information.

Comment on Sunforce 50032 15 Watt Solar Battery Charger by Jonathan Ryan

Jonathan Ryan — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:46:45 +0000

BAD PRICE-150% price change in 2 days
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I was considering buying this item when it was listed for 44 bucks. I put the item in my cart and two days later I checked back and the vendor had increased the price of the charger and controller to 129 bucks. Now I will not pay 100%+ more just because 2 days have passed. I do not know what the hell these guys were thinking and I might consider buying the product if they bring it back into a reasonable price.

FYI you can find this at the kragen stores and other auto retailers for approximately 60 bucks. I was going to buy it thru amazon because it was 30 bucks.

I complained to customers service and all I got was a bunch of crap about how prices are not guaranteed or anything.

DO NOT BUY THIS FOR 99 BUCKS. You can get it for about half from other internet retailers.

No wonder amazon is having so many stock problems. Trying to choke down 150% price increases is BS and I will not support a vendor who does that.

If they lower the price back to where it was and offer me a 10% off for the hassle I might consider it.

I bought one for 52 dollars from another internet retailer.

Maybe if they dropped the price to 38 bucks you can buy it. Do not get ripped off by these jerk sellers.

Comment on Sunforce 52013 1.8Watt Solar Battery Maintainer Twin Pack by Stanley North

Stanley North — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:31:56 +0000

Hope it works
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
These solar panels arrived in a timely fashion. Pckaged protectively. We’ve parked our cars for a year and plugged them in, one to the cigarette lighter, the other directly to the battery. Nicely thought out alternative hook-up provided. Hope it works. Stan

Comment on Solar Water Heating A Comprehensive Guide to Solar by Diego Martinez

Diego Martinez — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:15:50 +0000

solar hot water
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great collection of information on the subject of solar water heating. I love how the author doesn’t pull any punches. There are definite reasons why we don’t use more solar hot water in this country. Regan led by example in the 80′s when he pulled the solar collectors off the white house roof. While the author spends a bit on the history of solar heating this is definitely a manual on how to design and install a system. The author obviously has had a lot of experience with these systems and he knows what works. read this book and get a high quality solar hot water system up and running in your home. Our planet depends on it.

In fact he dedicated the book for our earth.