Kickass portable solar panels

Tanka · Newbie

Kickass portable solar panels

SnowT · Guru

Give us a Link..

and you need more than a Solar Panel to do what you want...

- Need a solar regulator and cabling..

Juergen

Tanka · Newbie

Juergen,
Link below
www.australiandirect.com.au ... KickAss Portable Solar Panels

Tanka

SnowT · Guru

Tanka, unless you have a Regulator for the Solar Panel it's a waste..

you need to mount a Regulator as close to the Battery as Possible.. the shorter the length/distance the better..
Anyone tell you that a regulator mounted on a Solar Panel just does not know what they are doing..
- the shorter the distance between regulator and Battery the Better[Less voltage Drop]..

Look the best thing is to Fully describe the situation that you have to deal with.. Better to get it right than to stuff it up..

-- How much Power does the fridge draw..?
-- What is it's Duty cycle..? [Time on and off, A domestic[house] Fridge spends about 1/3 of a day On..]
-- Size of the Batteries..?
With out this information you are just blowing smoke..

Juergen

in transit · Senior Member

The ARB website claims this fridge is very frugal at 1.07amp-hrs so if you have a reasonable deep cycle house battery, you should have no trouble keeping everything cold 0/night. Also, if the claim is correct, you shouldn't need a huge panel (120W is a popular and a good value option). In kit form it will include a basic solar regulator and about 5M of pretty ordinary cable. That should still be sufficient to also run some LED lighting and to charge phones, tablets or whatever.
It will also help if you occasionally adjust the panels to expose as much area to the sun as possible. If you get a few overcast days you will need to go for a drive with it plugged into the Mazda's battery, find a 240V socket, or use a generator. Good luck.

KevKim37 · Senior Member

Take note the Rated amp/hr usage (it is an average at fixed Temps/Time usage) advertised with fridges is NOT their Real Time Amperage usage even my 20 yr old Trailablaza with

NEW Danfoss BD35f Compressor operates at similar Quoted readings (as other M/facts) but when operating on Low Speed draws between 3.5 Start up to 2.3-2.7 amps running

and on High speed between 7 amps on Start up to 4.7-5 amps running. When tested with a closed lid over a fixed time/temp even this fridge can come up with Amp/Hr usage

around the 1.5 to 2.5 ah.

Then depending on Ambient weather temps these can fluctuate using more Power for even longer NOT allowing for the variables of how many times a fridge is opened.

I have owned and used Camp Fridges for close to 40 years starting with the original Engels which could draw up to 8 amps running in Hot weather with large good quality wiring.

Also most Deep Cycles AGM included should be taken NO lower than a MAX of 50% Discharge to obtain even a 2 to 4 year reliability and I have learnt the hard way back when

the first WET Deep Cycles for camping become available.

With our van running a 220L Waeco Coolmatic Compressor 2Dr F/F and all 12v Lights,TV etc, usage O/Night or on a very hot day or in 2 days of Cloudy weather, I will Not use or

allow any more than 30 to 40% discharge before topping up and the batteries are 5 years old and still holding well.

Hope this gives an idea of what could be needed.

Cheers Kev.

SnowT · Guru

Well done Kev..

You are on the track for a good life of your Batteries..

- I'm planing on Joining that group of People that are Glamping....

Juergen

tempestv8 · Veteran Member

Anybody got an actual review of a KickAss solar panel product? Their product promo video looks very convincing! :)

PeterD · Guru

SnowT wrote:
Tanka, unless you have a Regulator for the Solar Panel it's a waste..

The OPs link was just to a page of options. If you click on the more information button under the solar panel it takes you to this page. If you scroll down to the bottom you will see there is a regulator included on the panel, it even has the provision to select the battery type.

Jaahn · Guru

Hi,

That's an expensive 150w panel to my way of thinking. Portable panels are usually well overpriced. I bought 500 watts of panels for less than that price and free delivery !! Plenty of good wire available too for a good price. Also regs !

I suggest you look at solar threads on the forum for a couple of pages back. It has all been said before.

What is this figure that was quoted ? 1.07amp-hrs It is meaningless !

Jaahn

-- Edited by Jaahn on Thursday 5th of February 2015 10:28:41 PM

-- Edited by Jaahn on Thursday 5th of February 2015 10:32:48 PM