Costco solar panel

billharr

billharr

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Jun 30, 2009
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Location
Stockton CA
Thinking about adding a panel to the roof of the hawk. I have a 120w solar in the bag but when parked somewhere (with people around) it would be nice to keep the change going. I am sure the solar in a bag would walk off is some most tourist areas.

Saw this panel on Costco.com $139 shipped for 100w does not sound too bad. Is 19.66# to heavy?
I would add a charge controller so I could feed it from the solar in a bag panel and have 220w total if needed.


Good deal or not?


Bill
 
Bill, when I was researching this with FWC, Brenda said if the panel was too heavy they would swap out the standard strut (40 pound) for a 60 pound. I didn't get a price for the upgrade.
.
I am thinking of having my 60 watt installed on the roof (15 pound weight) then bringing a 30 or 40 watt portable for the winter time.
as the 60 watt easily keeps up with our needs.

I have yet to camp with the portable panel deployed in a place where it can "get legs and walk away". So far the truck alternator is running the refer and "trickle charging the aux battery" (I think). Anyway the voltage for the aux battery truck running is 36 volts. Shut off motor voltage slowly drops to 12.9 over a couple of hours and holds over night.

Panel on the roof: When we were at the rally in April we deployed the panel is the fog and rain and it maintained 12.9 volts while it was light out....And never dropped below 12.2 for the 3 days we were there engine off. You will probably be pleasantly surprised at its efficiency even in shade.

I top off the battery with "Battery Doctor" before leaving on a trip which may positively affect bat performance.
 
I'd advise the roof lifter strut thingys. We have a 100W panel on the roof and I can feel the weight difference every time I move the roof up or down. I should add the struts myself, but for various reasons I'm not too excited about any of the mounting location options.
 
I already have the inside struts. After I push up the back the front can be lifted with one hand. 20# should be OK on the top.

Bill
 
NTSQD, both Bill and I have the inside lifters. Lifting my front is awkward because my top loading refer is positioned in the front of the Eagle just below the window . It is a bit of a back strain for me so I will probably upgrade my struts. Still it is much easier with the strut.

If you have the Hawk model the struts don't block access to the bed...in fact friend Terry says they help his balance getting down
 
We have a Phoenix which has side roof supports rather than FWC's end supports. The supports are upside-down 'U's' of 1/2" EMT hinged to the wall at the ends and captured by sliders on the horizontal portions between the bends. There are a pair of enclosed springs that traverse from side to side at each slider rail. With all of that going on in the middle third of the roof I've thought about putting a pair of struts at each end, but then the soft-side becomes entangled. Going outside isn't appealing from both the esthetics and the resulting turbulence.
 
neither can Phoenix. It's OK though, I'm used to it. Most of my projects are "unsupported" like that.
 
I have the 160 watt grape solar panel and I find it to be a very nice panel. It weighs about 26 lbs and definetely added weight to the roof, but I can lift it easily and I don't have the lifter thingys.

I am thinking of getting a secondary portable panel and the one take-away I got from a solar dealer was that I'd need two different controllers for the two panels.
 
What size controller do you have? 160 watts would 13.33 amps @ 12 volts. If you had a 30 amp controller you could run two 160 panels in parallel. If you run in series you would have a higher voltage so a lower amp load. I plan on wiring in parallel so I can just plug in the portable panel. If you wire in series you will need some type of switch. Yes I know series is more efficient and will give you more. You will also need an MPPT controller to take the higher voltage. I would go with more panel and the a PWM, better bang for the buck.
 
I have the Sunsaver MPPT 15a controller. I don't stare at my battery monitor, but the most I've seen coming from the solar panel is about 9 amps. I checked with a lot of different solar folks before choosing this panel and controller. I'm sure it'd push more amps with the right situation.
 
The Grape Solar 160 watt panel produces 8.65 amps at 18.5 volts. Remember a nominal 12 volt battery is charged at about 14.5 volts.and float voltage is about 13.5 volts. Three of them in full sun would be 480 watts and just about 26 amps on that 30 amp controller. That is a lot of battery charging power. You won't get that much except when the full sun is directly overhead which is for a relatively small part of the day.

My Renogy 100 watt bendable panel that I use as a portable panel produces near 6 amps in full sun when aimed directly at the sun. Mine was still working fine when I last had it set up about a month ago.

Paul
 
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