Where to buy solar panels

[Freeesun]

i have a vrla battery and im not sure if that changes anything or not. its 70ah. the loads that i will be using mostly is a dewalt charger which is rated at input: .5amps and output:1.25amps

so i know to get watts you would multiply the amps by voltage so 120v x 1.25 or .5? im guessing 1.25 which would be 150watt per hour.

a 12v 70ah battery could do 840 but only 25% of that is 210watts per hour safely.

so 210 - 150 leaves me with 60watt per hour to play with where i will be using 4 leds which all take 9. 9x4= 36. so i should be good to go.

i will charge the dewalt batteries maybe once a week if that... the lights i will run when i am in there but i cant see me being in there for a long time.

and i should have 24watts to safely play with without going over the limit of my battery capacity if it stays at .25 even though its a vrla.

i know i have a lot of questions but i do a lot of reading it just leads to more questions. does anybody know of any inverter without a fan? a noiseless one. considering it will be in my shed i want it to be silent if possible.

also canadian tire is selling a solar panel and charge controller for $150.. what do u guys think about that. i know its probably a pos but it has a 25 year warranty and i think it would be a great stating point for me considering just that solar kid charge controller is i think $350 american.

[SunEagle]

thank you very much for the responce i will look into both of these and decide which one works better for me.

i have one final question lets say i have a inverter thats rated at 600 watts can a battery produce 600 watts? do i need more than one battery to prodce higher wattage? or will all batteries produce the same amount of wattage but i have i have more they produce it for a longer period of time.

A battery has an amp hour rating and a voltage rating. For example a 12V 60Ah battery has the ability to generate 720 watt hours ( 12V x 60Ah = 720Wh). But to keep the battery from dieing off early you should never discharge the battery more than 25%. Some batteries can discharge more and some less depending on what a "cycle" is defined by the manufacturer. But a good rule of thumb for an FLA type battery is about 25%.

So 25% of 720 wh = 180 watt hours. That could be a 180 watt load running for 1 hour or 3 x 60 watt loads running for 1 hour or a 60 watt load running for 3 hours.

The inverter doesn't care what the battery can provide or should provide but if it can only provide 720 watt hours then a 600 watt load would last just over an hour before the battery was dead.

I may have answered your question or maybe not. My question to you is what are the loads you want to run (in watts) and how many hours a day do you need to have them run? That information will determine the size of your battery and solar panel wattage along with the size of the inverter that will give you what you need without killing your battery and shutting down your loads.

[Freeesun]

thank you very much for the responce i will look into both of these and decide which one works better for me.

i have one final question lets say i have a inverter thats rated at 600 watts can a battery produce 600 watts? do i need more than one battery to prodce higher wattage? or will all batteries produce the same amount of wattage but i have i have more they produce it for a longer period of time.

[SunEagle]

what would everyone suggest for a charge controller to connect to a 265 watt solar panel and a car battery rated at 70ah? and a inverter?

I would go with a Midnite Solar Kid 30amp MPPT CC. It will do what you want and still allow you to increase your panel wattage and battery system if you wanted to.

As for an inverter. Go with a Pure sine wave type around 600 watts like a Xantrex Prowatt, Power Bright or Simplex

[Freeesun]

what would everyone suggest for a charge controller to connect to a 265 watt solar panel and a car battery rated at 70ah? and a inverter?

[SunEagle]

no im not comparing the same equiptment that the company is offering me, im ust wondering how does it go up to $2500.

the panel is $250
i seen a inverter a dewalt 1000 watt inverter for $150
i have my own battery
and a charge controller is $20 off of amazon the mot expensive i seen is $100

so lets say 250 + 150 + 100 = $500. i believe that a system like this would be great fo rmy needs. i really dont understand how solar packages are so expensive?

Because most companies that make those "kits" are in it for profit. Sometimes looking for 300%.

If you build it yourself you will save money. If you design it with a little knowledge you will save more. If you purchase something off the shelf you will pay whatever profit margin that are asking for because most people have no idea what it costs to build a similar system.

[foo1bar]

no im not comparing the same equiptment that the company is offering me, im ust wondering how does it go up to $2500.

the panel is $250
i seen a inverter a dewalt 1000 watt inverter for $150
i have my own battery
and a charge controller is $20 off of amazon the mot expensive i seen is $100

so lets say 250 + 150 + 100 = $500. i believe that a system like this would be great fo rmy needs. i really dont understand how solar packages are so expensive?

Why do you believe that it would be "great" for your needs?
From what I can tell you don't yet know what your needs are.

If you're not comparing the same equipment then you really don't know whether $2500 is a reasonable price or not.
$1500 in equipment and $900 in labor and $100 in profit is quite possibly what they've given you for an estimate. And would be a really small profit margin.

[Freeesun]

no im not comparing the same equiptment that the company is offering me, im ust wondering how does it go up to $2500.

the panel is $250
i seen a inverter a dewalt 1000 watt inverter for $150
i have my own battery
and a charge controller is $20 off of amazon the mot expensive i seen is $100

so lets say 250 + 150 + 100 = $500. i believe that a system like this would be great fo rmy needs. i really dont understand how solar packages are so expensive?

[Freeesun]

It

[foo1bar]

i just got a quote from a company for a complete system for $2500 how is that even possible? the panel is 280 a charge controller is 200 an inverter is another 200 and i have a battery? how could it even get up to 2500 am i missing something.

i sadly think that i might just get a tiny panel and hook it up to a goal zero yeti 150

Are you comparing the exact same items that were in the quote?
How much is shipping?
How much is it per hour for electricians by you? (It varies widely in the US - it may be $30/hr in one place and $150/hr in another.)


BTW what do you mean by "running 4 60watt leds which are 7-9 watts I believe"?
How many watts are they? How many hours will you want to run them?

And "charging batteries that are 1.5ah so maybe 3ah a week" - that's not a measurement of how many watt-hours or kwh you will consume in a day.
Go borrow/buy a kill-a-watt meter to see what that charger actually consumes when you charge a battery. And how much it consumes while it is in standby mode (both with a charged battery on it, and without)

[Freeesun]

i just got a quote from a company for a complete system for $2500 how is that even possible? the panel is 280 a charge controller is 200 an inverter is another 200 and i have a battery? how could it even get up to 2500 am i missing something.

i sadly think that i might just get a tiny panel and hook it up to a goal zero yeti 150

[Freeesun]

I would like the charge controller to have as much info on it as possible.

ill be charging batteries that are 1.5ah so maybe 3ah a week and running 4 60watt leds which are 7-9 watts I believe

[Freeesun]

Do you think that that solar panel will last for 25 years? After knowing that the inverter can drain the battery ill end up going with the Canadian solar 265 all black.

aby suggestion on a inverter or charge controller?

[littleharbor]

The only way to buy anything through Craigslist is face to face and cash or a pre agreed alternate payment form. ie; Paypal, Venmo, barter.

That being said I've been known to sell full sealed pallets of solar panels, as well as used panels on Craigslist.

Know how to spot a scam and walk away if you're not comfortable with any transaction.

I see sellers on craigslist with massive inventories selling at "wholesale" prices claiming they are new an unused. Does anyone have a 2 cents about this?