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Thread: Folding Solor panels

  1. 18th September 2012, 12:22 PM #1
    DBKDISCO's Avatar
    DBKDISCO
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    Folding Solor panels

    Hello,

    have decided to get a 120W folding solar kit to charge my battery when bush camping to run the fridge and lights etc,

    Question is has anyone got opinion about the ones on e bay ?
    you can get 120W for $199 25yr warrantry sounds great compared to 4X4 store selling a simlar product for $400+

    any thoughts
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  2. 20th September 2012, 11:10 PM #2
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    Rok_Dr
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    Prices for panels seem to be all over the place at present, but the trend is downwards.

    I would be cautious if the price is wildly different, quality is normally the trade off for lower $. As for a 25 year warranty that is normally the panel life and if the eBay seller is no longer around where will you go to get it honored?

    Still if the seller has a good reputation and the panels are a known brand with local support go for it.
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  3. 21st September 2012, 08:30 AM #3
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    rangieman
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    I have a 120w folding mono panel off ebay , Great bit of kit i have used it on my camper trailer to run a 12v fluro light and my engle for 3 days , It charged a 130 amp hour AGM comfortable , I have no drama recomending one , Although i bought mine from a seller in Melb i have put a few friends onto the seller and they all have praise for the panel and the seller
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  4. 21st September 2012, 09:41 AM #4
    PhilipA
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    Whichever you buy, the leads at 5 Metres are IMHO too short.
    I ended up buying 10 metre marine tinned leads 4SqMM. I also replaced the alligatror clips with better ones, and shifted the controller to the battery end, and placed an anderson plug between the controller and the panel.

    Also it is probably worth paying extra for a MPPT controller if the extra is less than $100.
    IMHO , the panels all look the same or similar, and the differences are in the stand quality and controller.

    Mine came from Dreamrider who do not have any listed at present and I picked it because the shape fits in my camper trailer underbed area best.
    Regards Philip A
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  5. 21st September 2012, 09:37 PM #5
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    pawl
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    Yeah I got a 120w folding panel from ebay too, one of the best investments for camping. I tossed the el cheapo PWM reg it came with and put a decent PWM reg with LCD display on. I didnt care as I was mainly interested in the quality of the panels. MPPT or PWM ? do your research and decide is it worth the extra expense for your use, as some cheap ones aren't true MPPT regs (I've been told).
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