Sunforce 50044 60Watt Solar Charging Kit
May 13, 2010 by SolarInfo
Filed under solar panels
| Brand: | Sunforce | ||
| Average Rating |
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The Sunforce 50044 60 Watt Solar Charging Kit gives you another reason to love the sun -- it'll help keep your batteries charged. This kit is excellent for cabins, remote power, back-up power, and 12-volt battery charging. The kit includes a PVC mounting frame, 7 Amp charge controller, 200-watt inverter, and wiring/connection cables. And with the built-in blocking diode technology, this charger kit is designed to protect against battery discharge at night. You can also use this kit to maintain the charge on any 12-volt battery for clean, silent operation of various electronics, such as deer feeders and landscaping pumps. The 50044 features a built-in ultra-bright blue LED charging indicator, and is a great choice for automobiles, recreational vehicles (RV), tractors, all terrain vehicles (ATV), boats, electric fences, telemetry and more, and it is even effective on cloudy days. This battery charger kit is made of durable ABS plastic and amorphous solar cells and has a maximum temperature range of -40 to 176-degrees Fahrenheit. more info
50040 solar charging system
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
shipped promptly & installed in may 2008 and so far it’s been flawless, working on upgrading storage capacity now to see full benefits.AS
great buy
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Right now I use these to charge two batteries and power the living room lights and TV at night. I just ordered two more panels.
Impressed
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased this kit to charge the battery on a travel trailer that I have up in the woods. It does exactly what I need it to do. I haven’t tried the inverter yet, so my satisfaction is based purely on it’s ability to keep my 12V battery fully charged.
60W Sunforce Solar System
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I received the system quickly. It was easy to install with all the cables and necessary hardware. During peak sun days the panels put out 4.5 watts. This is enough for the lights that I am using.
do not use the supplied inverter
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
works as advertised, DO NOT USE ENCLOSED INVERTER the inverter burned out after a week, after it was fried I opened it up, I’m now glad it was only on when I was home. very cheap and possible fire hazard, the panels are great for older technology and keep my small battery system charged.
Neat package.. Good demo for beginners.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The panels themselves are of excellent quality. The stand, goes together in quickly and neatly.
Good deal for the price.
Studies suggest these panels may dissapoint
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Shenzhen Topray Solar Co. Ltd. claims that, “The worldwide retailers, Wal-mart, HomeDepot, K-mart, Sunforce look to Shenzhen Topray Solar Co. Ltd. for Solar Products.” It’s a pretty fair bet that these Sunforce panels are manufactured by Shenzhen Topray, as are similar amorphous 15W panels marketed by Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, Brunton, and others, though Shenzhen Topray doesn’t always label their products so some deduction is necessary.
So what does it matter who manufactures these panels? Because Shenzhen Topray has an almost singular reputation for manufacturing panels that are less than their rated capacity and are prone to failure. In a 2005 study by Arne Jacobson at Humbolt University of amporphous silicon solar panels sold in Kenya, all five brands of panels dropped from their nominal power ratings after a few months of exposure to sun, but the Shenzhen Topray panels lost 57-61% capacity whereas the others lost only about 15% capacity. After six months of study, the only manufacturer who had panels fail entirely (max power below 1 watt) was Shenzhen Topray, at a failure rate of 50%.
This is not the only study indicating Shenzhen Topray panels may not meet consumer expectations. A 2005 certification by Bodycote Materials Testing Lab of a different Shenzhen Topray amorphous solar product (that seems to no longer be in production) showed a Pmax of 10.2 watts rather than the nominal 15 watts. A 2004 Loughborough University study of four brands of panels sold in Kenya resulted in such outrage against the Shenzhen Topray products that a law was passed requiring testing before the importing of panels, and as a result very few Topray Solar products have found their way to Kenya according to Sass Peress in August 2006.
That was then, this is now. I read the more positive reviews here of this Sunforce product and hope things have changed. But the design of the very similar (if not identical) Harbor Freight 15W panels hasn’t shown any obvious changes in the three years I’ve been aware of them, and in the three years following the publication of the first studies very little was done to improve their products to address concerns over capacity and longevity (again according to Sass Peress). I recently found a sale on the Harbor Freight 15W panels and bought a kit containing three of them, but I’ll be taking them back even without testing them. I don’t want to experiment with these for a year or two when known reliable panels are really not that much more expensive. Polycrystalline and monocrystalline panels by major manufacturers are typically warrantied to 80% of their rated power in 25 years. What do you suppose the chance is that these Sunforce panels will last that long?
I have not purchased this product, but have only read about others who have used similar products. So if you can prove me wrong with your real-world data of Sunforce PV arrays withstanding seasons of rain and sun and still putting out the rated watts, please do!
Screen Saver
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
At $288 it was a great price with free super saver shipping. They are delicate panels. The plastic around one of them already broke when it hit -10 below zero. I am waiting to see what happens next. The charger is very cheapo and delays the charge, but this was explained in the item description. It will run a boat trolling motor just fine on a sunny day hooked directly to the motor. Can’t complain too much, unless the glass starts beaking too. THE SOLAR PANELS THEMSELVES ARE SUPER DELICATE and break very easily. Wind will blow the thing over with just a breeze. Quality doesn’t come cheap. It’s a great starter if you are looking to experiment into solar energy like me. I use it to light my chickens coops.
Poorly made
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Do not waste your money!! These panels are poorly made. Receiving broken panels is a common occurence, as mentioned by the other reviewers; I had three in a row arrive broken. These panels are made in China and are rip-offs of ICPsolar solar panels. I have three ICP amorphous silicon type panels purchased in 2002 that have been in constant use and are still working at 90% efficiency. The Chinese panel’s frame came unglued within 1 year, then the amorphous silicon film delaminated from the glass and two of the three panels no longer work at all. Keep in mind that these panels break very easily and would not be a good choice for a RV or camping. ICPsolar makes all types and sizes of solar panels under the Suncei and Coleman names and their products are very well made. You may want to do a little research on solar energy to learn about the different types of solar energy collecting available. With the economy in the emergency room and energy costs rising, your best defense will be education. If you avoid these panels, you will save money by not adding to the landfill problem and buying replacements. Keep in mind that if the panels fall apart too soon or you had broken ones replaced then the power used to build them will far exceed the power they produce.
Excellent product and it arrived safely
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was so nervous after reading so many of these reviews. But I am happy to say that the box arrived intact and not one issue with the equipment inside. Took me about 30 minutes to assemble everything with a few quick looks at the instructions. I look forward to exploring the potential to this kit..
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.
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.