120 Watt Solar Panel Kit - $200

elfion wrote: ↑ Except there is also a limit on how much power you can draw from a given battery. Some 98Ah batteries can give you 98A, some can't.

i dont actually think there exists a battery that capacity that can't deliver 1C

JulienB1920 wrote: ↑ Thanks op for the effort. Opvoted.

So 200$ but then 1000$ to actually use it.

Yeah I'll just stick with my Ryobi 40V inverter cost me $90--also 300W and takes a battery I already have and which is used in other tools in the platform. Sure I can't charge up the battery with a solar panel like this but then it's also a lot more compact/portable.

This seems good for outdoorsy people though.

brunes wrote: ↑
Er...

The model 3 has a 75 Kwh battery.

Charging 50% of the range with a 120w solar panel would take you 52 days assuming 12 hours of sunshine. Or 104 days for a full charge.

That's assuming 100% efficiency, which you won't have anywhere near close to.

This is exactly why Elon laughs off the ideas of putting solar panels on cars. The economics make no sense. You can completely cover a car in solar and sit it out all day in the Texas sun and only get a few miles of range. Solar needs square meters. It makes sense on a home or utility scale, or off grid camping with low electrical needs. It makes no sense to directly charge vehicles.

Nobody says 1 x 120W panel will fuel all your driving needs.
When people install panels on their roof they get several Kilowatts of panels.
The panels designed for permanent roof installation are typically 300-350W panels and you buy many of them.

This particular 120W kit is designed for a small DIY battery, hence its very small charge controller. You don't power your whole life with one 120W panel you genius

Quentin5 wrote: ↑
This particular 120W kit is designed for a small DIY battery, hence its very small charge controller. You don't power your whole life with one 120W panel you genius

You're the one who brought that up, not me, implying that this kit is good for charging vehicles.

brunes wrote: ↑ You're the one who brought that up, not me, implying that this kit is good for charging vehicles.

I said you can charge a Tesla with solar.
This is a correct statement.

Find some other nit to pick.

Was wondering if one used MC4 parallel adapter kits to hook up multiple solar panels, is it possible (or not advisable) to connect multiple solar panels (but of different brand/output) to increase output?

Quentin5 wrote: ↑ I said you can charge a Tesla with solar.
This is a correct statement.

Find some other nit to pick.

you can charge a tesla with AA batteries too. any other tidbits of wisdom?

miningminer wrote: ↑ you can charge a tesla with AA batteries too. any other tidbits of wisdom?

Not sure why you’re ragging on him. Quentin5 is correct in that some people are actually doing direct charging of their EVs with solar panels. There are even 400-450W panels coming out these days. Of course, you’re not going to get much out of a 120W panel and he never said that this is what’s being used. Will it fully charge your EV in 1 day? No. But will it supplement or top up a little while you’re out camping? Sure why not. Just like if you’re going on a very long distance trip out in the boonies, it doesn’t hurt to bring along a jerrycan of gas or 2.

The Teslas Truck supposedly will have an option for solar panels. https://twitter.com/jrussell614/status/1197888282354470912?s=21

If you don’t need solar panels for your life style, then that’s fine, maybe you park in a garage then solar isn’t for you, maybe you live north of 66 and don’t get much sun half the year then solar isn’t for you, maybe you’re surrounded by a lot of tall trees then solar isn’t for you. Your use case isn’t the only use case.

miningminer wrote: ↑ you can charge a tesla with AA batteries too. any other tidbits of wisdom?

If your stupid and made of money, sure you can.
But why are you choosing to be stupid?

Puff wrote: ↑ Not sure why you’re ragging on him. Quentin5 is correct in that some people are actually doing direct charging of their EVs with solar panels. There are even 400-450W panels coming out these days. Of course, you’re not going to get much out of a 120W panel and he never said that this is what’s being used. Will it fully charge your EV in 1 day? No. But will it supplement or top up a little while you’re out camping? Sure why not. Just like if you’re going on a very long distance trip out in the boonies, it doesn’t hurt to bring along a jerrycan of gas or 2.

The Teslas Truck supposedly will have an option for solar panels. https://twitter.com/jrussell614/status/1197888282354470912?s=21

Well put.
I'm not buying this 120W panel but if i had one of these i would look at combining it with a single solar panel for camping use, it would power phones, LED lamps, radios, even CPAP
https://www.bluetti.ca/collections/port ... er-station

Seems like an ok deal but can I charge my batteries for my power tools in my shed with a 120 watt panel?

I live in an area with frequent power outages, so I have a 100W solar panel all the time connected to a marine battery. When power goes out, I just bring battery in, and hook up my strings of LED lights so we can play cards or whatever in kitchen. No inverters or controllers needed. Just straight sweet 12V DC power. You can power a lot of things this way.

Pure sine wave inverter is much better.

Solar panel brands like Rich, BougeRV, Renogy r better and cheaper.

Just skimmed this thread for entertainment. I was curious about how people actually use a kit like this. I didn't really find an answer, but it's clear that most people have very little knowledge of electricity and power.

I did not read all posts here however, if I buy this kit, it will be used for my laptop and charges cell phones and tablets etc. Not gonna run microwave or anything has peak power > 100W.
Also, the simplest and practical way is to also buy an $100ish UPS from Costco (their warranty or return policy pretests you!) and feed solar to inverter then to UPS then you have things plug into UPS (on "UPS protected/batter" side).
- This avoids you re-invent the wheel and have decent safety IMHO.