Any comparable full kits?? 360 Watts

[1der]

Costco Grape Solar 100 watt panel is on sale right now for $130. It is 40" x 26" which will fit your roof much better. Buy three or four of them.

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by 1der

Costco Grape Solar 100 watt panel is on sale right now for $130. It is 40" x 26" which will fit your roof much better. Buy three or four of them.

I agree!

[boywonder]

Between myself, member Nick and my neighbor we've bought 3 of these panels from this Craigslist seller. His name is Mike and he is very knowledgeable about solar and a nice guy to boot.....

Shipping may be a deal breaker but it doesn't hurt to ask.......

IIRC these panels are about 26" x 52"

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/for/5062485901.html

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by Gatorbait

Also, if I install the isolator and connect it to the stock alternator am I going to run into any issues using the stock alt to charge those house batteries? Obviously I'll try to use the panels as much as possible, but if I'm getting low on a cloudy day and I'm moving campsites, might as well charge em along the way.

Lots of us are doing just that....should be no issues with a stock alternator.

What are you thinking about for house battery amp-hrs?

Where are you mounting the batteries?

Are you considering wet cells or AGMs?

.....and finally consider using a battery separator instead of an isolator. An isolator uses diodes which have a .7V forward voltage drop. Doesn't sound like much but when your total voltage is around 14V or less it makes a difference, ie it can be difficult to fully charge the house batts from the alternator.

[daveb]

Originally Posted by Gatorbait

okay so I'm going to take everyone's advice and start piecing something together. Has anyone heard of altE panels?

Looking at this one.
http://www.altestore.com/store/Solar-Pa ... el/p10354/

Also, if I install the isolator and connect it to the stock alternator am I going to run into any issues using the stock alt to charge those house batteries? Obviously I'll try to use the panels as much as possible, but if I'm getting low on a cloudy day and I'm moving campsites, might as well charge em along the way.

The only issue with a stock alternator (I had the larger stock alternator) is if you have an unusually heavy draw coming from something. For me it was the Starcool (similar to cars with huge stereo amps) which sucked up so much power while running that the stock alternator just couldn't keep up with it. It actually pulled power off the batteries while driving at night or when there was enough overcast to lower the solar output which was supplementing the alternator charge. That said, I also had issues with recharging my large house battery system within a shorter period of time while on the road even with the Starcool off because the stock alternator only supplied a limited amount of charge amperage. Not that it didn't work, but it just took much longer if the battery bank had been taken to a low state. Again, this usually would depend on the amount of sun hitting the solar panels. I'm not saying you need a larger alternator, I'm only pointing out that you might consider matching the charge current to your conversions needs and not fully depend on solar. There is no sense spending the money to upgrade the alternator if you don't need to.

[Gatorbait]

Originally Posted by boywonder

Lots of us are doing just that....should be no issues with a stock alternator.

What are you thinking about for house battery amp-hrs?

Where are you mounting the batteries?

Are you considering wet cells or AGMs?

.....and finally consider using a battery separator instead of an isolator. An isolator uses diodes which have a .7V forward voltage drop. Doesn't sound like much but when your total voltage is around 14V or less it makes a difference, ie it can be difficult to fully charge the house batts from the alternator.

I'm not sure yet. I honestly figured I'd just put as much solar up there as I could fit/afford and then work my way back. I'm going to have the basics that everyone has, microwave, small tv, fridge, a few lights, espar heater, water pump, water heater, and a stereo amp. Obviously not all running at once. I was going to put the batteries under the bed on the drivers side. I'm going to get AGM's.

So I'm going to get 2 of those 140W AltE panels. No one has anything to say about them and I can't find any reviews online, but they're $50 cheaper than the Kyocera's.

So an MPPT controller, a gauge, a separator and some batteries to go right?