Customer Reviews

Sunforce 50033 15-Watt Solar Charging Kit

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Hi- I bought this set-up to keep my Motorhome charged when not using it. It is only 15 watts so can barely keep the battery up to charge if I am actually using any lights or other stuff but it will keep up with the draw of the refridgerator and minimal stuff. My only beef is the controller wires could have all been pre-terminated with connectors rather than having me do that. This was bought as a kit so it would have been nice if there was a connector on the input side of the controller that mated witht he connector on teh solar panel and a different style connector on the output that would be compatible with the cigarette-lighter adapter, etc. In other words- all set up to just plug in and go.

Once I soldered and shrinkwrapped the new connectors on I'm pretty happy with it. Not everyone has the ability to properly terminate the wires.

Thanks

I purchased this combo for off grid minimal lighting needs with high hopes. Package arrived dented, but contents appeared OK. Open circuit voltage on solar panel OK at 22v. However, max power output on sunny day was 1.6w (130mA@ 12.3v). This was on a day that my conventional 2.7kW system was producing 1.8kW. My plan is to return and try again, but purchasers should definitely check output.

This product has worked out well for me.
As I haven't isolated my truck battery its charging both truck and camper.
The vehicle has been unpluged from my 115V house access all summer.
I will say that it is a slow charge.

Works as described. Handy to get the charge controller with the panel. If you are just using it in a set-it-and-forget-it application to keep a battery topped up, it should work great and you can stop reading here. If you are using it for a frequent use application or want a quick charge, I think you may want more juice and may want to consider the multipanel unit. If that is the case, the following may be of interest.

I have seen reviews with varying performance from these units. After buying this I additionally purchased the 60W kit(4 panels exactly like this one). Of the 5 panels I now have, the best 3 I can get around 1 Amp in strong unobstructed sun angled directly at the sun (per my $6 multimeter), and the other 2 seem to top out at around .7-.8 Amps. In combination however the result is not quite the sum of the individual. I get a max of about 2A out of 3 panels or about 2.7 out of 4. Charge controller drop seems to be about .2 A, and the rest is probably due to sun angle. Perhaps with brighter sun or better angle to the sun perhaps my 3 best panels would exceed 1A each and the other 2 would be closer to the 1A mark. Has been fun experimenting.

I am extremely pleased with the performance of this solar panel. We have one installed in a small cabin style 12-volt system intended only to charge personal electronics at a remote location. Just add a deep cycle battery and a DC to AC 120 power inverter, such as the Cobra CPI 480 400-Watt 12-Volt DC to 120-Volt AC Power Inverter with 5-Volt USB Output. It is great!

One WARNING for those new to such systems like we were. The charge controller that comes with this kit is just fine, but it is only for *MAINTAINING* a 12 volt battery. If that is your purpose, buy *this* kit.

But, if you want to add an inverter so that you can have AC, USB (and we even added a 12 volt car socket which is the most efficient), then buy the same panel *without* the charge controller and wiring kit. What you need is a charge controller like the Kintrex SPC0601 7 Amp 100 Watt 12 Volt Solar Power Charge Controller, and various connectors of course. The Sunforce controller only has connections for the solar panel and the battery. The Kintrex adds a load connector for power output which isolates the charge controller and gives you usable power output to your inverter. If you try to parallel the battery connection to your devices like I naively did, you risk overcharging your battery. (I vented a little hydrogen and oxygen, but did not do it long enough to ruin my battery.)

I will definitely be buying more of these panels for other projects. Once you understand the fairly simple wiring you can easily create a great low power system for a cabin. (Next, we will build a 60 or 90 watt system...)

Ordered on Saturday and was delivered Tuesday morning via UPS.
I had went ahead and built the battery bank and had the roof S-5 Clamps in place.
I secured the panel to the roof and ran the wires to the controller. Was fully functional by noon. Took the battery reading (2 125 amp hour deep cycle marine batteries for 250 amp hour total)and had 12.2 volts. Checked the voltage from the panel and had 17.6V.
By 4pm the batteries read 12.9.

The unit shipped fast and is very (extremely) well packaged. The panel is sturdy and well built. Very simple to connect all the wires and simple terminal connections.

This setup will power my little workshop with light/stereo/small power tools like dremel etc.

I am very pleased with the value and quality.

I use the solar panel to charge my camera batteries. The shipping was quick and setup was a breeze. You can charge AA and AAA batteries using a NiMH car charger. The 12V 15W solar panel delivers 1.6 A of peak current (Watts=Volts X Amps). Does not come with a cigarette lighter connector but they are easy to make and you can use one of the adapter cables from the solar panel kit. I used the Green LED cable connector and bought a cigarette lighter receptacle connector and soldered the wires together.

My new deep cell battery recently stopped holding a full charge. This appears to be because I had left some lights on over night a couple of times. Over the next several days, the battery would no longer charge to more than 12.3 volts. (12.7 is considered to be 100% full.)

I tested in full sunlight and am getting over 20 volts on both the solar panel alone and through the charge controller that came with this 50033 solar panel.

Lesson learned:

1) Get a better charge controller (charge regulator) that also acts as a discharge controller to prevent your battery from over depleting. You then run your lights/electronics through the controller instead of attaching them directly to your battery. My new regulator also has a volt meter so you can have a better understanding of the state of charge of your battery.

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2) Make sure you do not deplete your battery to more than what is considered a 50% charge (about 12.0 volts). My battery will no longer hold a full charge. If you opt for this route, get a cheap multimeter to check your voltage.

We got this for charging our tent trailer and boat battery. The charger and controller worked well for 15 watts, however 15 watts is not much power. During the winter we are using it to charge our cell phones. We have a deep cycle battery that charges during the day then charges our phones at night. By 2:00pm the sun has typically fully charged our battery. This won't give you much juice but it will help maintain your battery and let you run small electronic equipment. You must have a basic understanding of electronics and soldering to hook this system up as it comes with bare wires needed some work.

This product delivers enough power to trickle charge a car battery or close to a normal charging rate for ATV/Motorcycle battery. Comes complete and ready for use out of the box with all charging connectors. Very dependable product. Charge controller prevents overcharging of battery.