Reddit reviews Renogy 100 Watts 12 Volts Polycrystalline Solar Starter Kit w/ 100w solar panel,30A Charge Controller, 8ft 10AWG Tray Cables,Solar Adaptor Kit
We found 4 Reddit comments about Renogy 100 Watts 12 Volts Polycrystalline Solar Starter Kit w/ 100w solar panel,30A Charge Controller, 8ft 10AWG Tray Cables,Solar Adaptor Kit. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
The kit now includes an 8ft 10AWG Tray Cable to connect your charge controller and batteryHigh solar cell efficiency : Polycrystalline 18.6%；Ideal output: 500Wh per day; can fully charge a 50Ah battery from 50% in 3 hours (depending on the availability of sunlight)The charge controller has been upgraded to Renogy' s new 30A PWM Negative-Ground Charge Controller - the Renogy WandererWith the Renogy Wanderer 30A PWM Charge Controller, you can expand your system up to a maximum of 400WNegative grounding controller with battery reversed, overloading, short-circuit and over charging /discharging protection ensures the broader off grid applications and safety. Especially can be used on a vehicle which has battery negative on the chassis
Renogy sells good kits for cheap. This one is more powerful that the biggest thing they have at Harbor Freight for less money.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DCEKKQ0?psc=1
Well it just seems strange to have way more inverter capacity than generating capacity. So in this case you have a battery that has 900Wh of capacity, so your little 50W panel will take 18h of full sun to charge it (figure you can get 3 or 4 equivalent hours of sunshine a day, so we are talking most of a week) if you don't have any other load connected. Then if you connect your 1kW inverter and use it at full capacity, you'll discharge the thing in less than an hour. In some specific cases this may be desirable, but in general you need at least as much generating capacity as you have loads, or even more, depending on the load profile. But maybe in your case it makes sense just to have the ability to run the odd 110V appliance off your battery every once and a while, while mostly running DC loads like your light and radio
But I think your biggest problem right now is that you are pairing a panel with 18V Vmp with a 6V battery and a 12V inverter. At the least you need to switch to a 12V battery to use that inverter, but even then you will be wasting alot of solar power by forcing the panel to work at 12V (ie you'll only get around 30W out of it), so you would be better off finding a panel intended for use at 12V, like this one
Edit: you may want to look at this exchange from a few days back. /u/MrCloggy was offering some helpful advice to someone looking to set up a system similar to what you want. Actually, now that we've summoned him, perhaps he'll chime in over here.
You are cheating yourself (and imposing on others) by not learning the math. A better way to do this is "Here's the math I came up with -- can I get some feedback?"
Some observations: Renogy stuff is perfectly fine but that kit is, IMO, an unforced error on their part. Mono panels are wasted on pwm controllers: the poly version of that kit is cheaper and will deliver more power via PWM than the equivalent 100w mono.
> and I'm driving say 1h/day
When you drive makes a huge difference in this scenario. Solar + isolator charging is a great combination because they can cover each other's weaknesses. You would get the most benefit from the combo if you are driving in the mornings when the battery bank is at its most depleted. The reasons for this is given at the link above.
If you are not driving in the mornings for errands, work, etc, then a DC-DC charger (a special kind of isolator) would suit you better, as /u/211logos points out.
> how long could I run these devices per day?
When you run them matters, too. If you wait until the right time you run those loads without affecting the batteries at all.
This is basically what I have. I bought a different battery and inverter because I have an account at batteries Plus but this is a widely accepted quality battery and a decent inverter. I would recommend buying at least the battery local as shipping them is expensive.
NOTE I did not include fuses/breakers in this list but you definitely should build these into your design.
https://www.amazon.com/Renogy-Watts-Volts-Polycrystalline-Starter/dp/B00DCEKKQ0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1487256044&sr=8-2&keywords=renogy+100w+starter+kit
https://www.amazon.com/Trojan-T27-AGM-Group-Purpose-Battery/dp/B00NY0RAW4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487256242&sr=8-1&keywords=trojan+12volt
https://www.amazon.com/34-97-2-15-17-ENERGIZER-Inverter-charging/dp/B01N5LUMDF/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1487256346&sr=8-16&keywords=500w+inverter
Depending on what you really want to power this may be way more than you need. You really should start by figuring out the load you want to power and then design your system around that number. This is a great little tool for figuring out how much power the devices you want to power will use and it's certainly cheaper than buying too much system and finding out you could have done what you wanted with half as much as you bought.
https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487256555&sr=8-1&keywords=killawatt
I'm certainly not an expert at solar but am learning so feel free to PM any other questions.