Hi all: Just a quickie has any one bought solar panels off ebay ? what are your thoughts ? I Know you only get what you pay for but my budget will only stretch to ebay prices. I could wait but I would like them for this years trip away. Thanks AL
We got our solar panels off eBay. When Blue gets home from fishing I will ask him all the details and let you know. They work a treat and we are very pleased with them. OBTW, they are the portable ones.
I purchased my orinal solar panel off ebay, 80w fold up one in a soft cover. It wasnt good enough for my needs and I sold it to a mate and suited his purposes fine. I have now purchased a 190w/24v panel that is fitted to the roof of the van with a regulator that converts it back to 12 volts. This set up cost me very close to $1000 and has been the best money I have spent for a long time. I think you really need to work out your needs. You hear lots of stories where the ebay ones dont meet expectations or the wattage is over stated. cheers blaze
G'day Blaze, ditto your comments re solar. It seems to be a common thread with solar owners finding some of the E bay items not producing the goods. I reckon $1000.00 for 190w and regulator more than fair when the cheaper items fail when you want the power most when freecamping.
Solar panels are great, and I urge people to buy as big as they can afford. I bought an 80w folding setup on ebay and am happy with the purchase. I have a grid connect system on the house and it has reduced my power bill by 2/3! I wish I could have a stand alone system on the house, but Ergon, the power co said it was illegal where there was grid connect.Every panel these days seem to be made in China,but it still is good to check everything. There are a lot of shonks about.
Blue says we paid $390 for two joined 60W panels to make the 120w. They are portable and have a carry case and a regulator. Can't remember which site it was but it was on ebay so I guess you will just have to have a bit of a gander.
Al, I brought a 200 watter, posted from ebay for $529 just last week ,and its a very good panel, I would say go for it, the other 2 cost me around $3gs years back.. they are 110 watts each, but they are 2 face panels work from both sides.......80 watts under neath .....I have them up a little so they get reflection from the under side......Bob
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Land Rover Discovery Chipped TD5 Manual ,Air Springs, Anti Sway. T.C. Auto level. Van, Roadstar 21.6 Voyager 4000 all sola powered.
We recently bought off ebay as well and have been very happy so far with our panels. The company had a delay with the floods at the time and kept in contact with their trucks progress.
How are they connected to the van? This might be a stupid question. But I know nothing about them. Thanks
-- Edited by ChiChi1 on Wednesday 20th of April 2011 06:11:48 PM
Hi chichi1, Dont know if that was for me or what. But its easy to fit panels to a van, I use silicon and pop riverts with a bit of ali.angel, Just dont drill in to the panel where the glass is.. The 2 face ones I have are on a bit off ali that is 10 inches wide and the lenth of the panel, its also painted white under them to reflect the light back..seems to work ok.. They have been there for 120th ks.... The reason I have put a extra 200 watt panel on is Im going up north and they seem to drop off a little in the tropics.. AND its allways raining up there, big smile....
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Land Rover Discovery Chipped TD5 Manual ,Air Springs, Anti Sway. T.C. Auto level. Van, Roadstar 21.6 Voyager 4000 all sola powered.
Thanks Bob & Bev. Already have two on roof (2x34W) and theres no more room up there. The ones I have are wired to batteries already and don't want to upset that. Thought I might be able to have the portable ones as extras.
