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Re: Grape Solar 400W Kit ?
Too me the price is too high for the kit. I installled solar panels on my astrovan twice and its a fairly simple project. Originally I had a 120 watt panel but than I upgraded to a 240 watt panel. The panels I just bought off craiglist used since to me it was more of a beginners project. I paid 160 for the 120 watt, the 240 watt I got for 200 dollars. You can find good deals on used panels, as long as they are in good condition they will usually put out rated power for 20 years.
For the small panels you can use the PWM solar charge controller which can cost you 30 dollars for a 20 amp model, these you can use on the larger panels also but it will make the large panel act like a small panel in amp output.
For large panels you need a MPPT charge controller, I use the ecoworthy 20 amp model, which cost me 102 dollars.
To install panel you just need 4 L-brackets, which you can get at home depot for about 8 dollars, they also got the bolts you need to tie the panel down.
The wiring is also simple, plus and minus, connected to the plus and minus of the charge controller , the hard part is how to run the wires into your van, if you got a roof vent you can just run it through there otherwise you will have to install a roof conduit, and run the wires through that.
For batteries, I also bought them off of craiglist they were blemished but in good condition. I got a 145 ah battery for 125 dollars and been using that for over a year. Just make sure you put a circuitbreaker on it and I have fuses on everything connected to it. I also recommend you put some sort of LED voltgauge on it so you can tell at a glance the condition of your battery. I actually have a volt/amp meter (cost me 12 dollars on ebay) its always on even at night its watt comsumption is insignificant. I can see at a glance how much amp is going into my battery when the sun is out.
Even though its a 2 man job, I install the panel by myself in about 3 hours, once you drill holes in your roof you are more or less committed in finishing the project. just make sure you use RV putty tape when you bolt the panel on, its great for installing vents but also works good on the holes you make when putting the panel on.
My recommendation is get a 240 watt panel, that will get you real power, I get 12 amps on full sunlight (mppt) with it, even in cloudy weather you get usable power. A 120 watt panel will only get you about 6 amps with either pwm or mppt.
My system cost me about 500 dollars and it produces real power, never connected my house battery to my engine alternator or shorepower, its 100 percent solar all the time. I run it 24/7 for almost 2 years. Even the 120 watt panel I had (with a 75 ah agm battery) was good enough to run my edgestar fp430 12 volt fridge 24/7 as long as the sun was out.
On my astrovan the 240 watt panel takes up almost the entire roof, I actually had to install it over my 3 roof vents, But I can live with it, I rely on a 12 volt swamp cooler to keep cool, which the solar panel can easily power (it can actually run 3 at the same time). Large solar panel is very good.
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